Showing posts with label agri-science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label agri-science. Show all posts

Thursday, 8 January 2015

Can environmentally-friendly farming also be productive?

Professor James Bullock of the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology is one of the speakers at this week's 2015 Oxford Farming Conference, held at the Oxford University Examination Schools from 6-8 January. Prof Bullock took part in the Smart Farming session, presenting research into agri-environment schemes, including the CEH-led Hillesden Farm project.


Other speakers at the event included Defra Secretary of State Elizabeth Truss, Shadow Minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Huw Irranca Davies, Guardian columnist George Monbiot and Lord John Krebs, Principal of Jesus College, Oxford and a former chief executive of the Natural Environment Research Council.

Related links


A video of James's presentation is now available on the Oxford Farming Conference website.

Oxford Farming Conference 2015 programme

Oxford Farming Conference website

Staff page of Prof James Bullock

CEH's Sustainable Land Management science area

Thursday, 25 July 2013

CEH's agri-science research showcased in new timeline

Research carried out by scientists from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology over recent decades is showcased in a new timeline, published by Research Councils UK (RCUK) to coincide with the government's agricultural technologies industrial strategy. RCUK is the strategic partnership of the UK's seven research councils, who annually invest around £3 billion in research.

The timeline, "Growing with agri-science", highlights key research that has taken place since the 1940s, demonstrating the variety of approaches the research councils take to support innovation and deliver long-term impact from the research they fund.

Highlights from CEH include:
  • Training farmers to create bumblebee habitats through Operation Bumblebee in 2008 (a forerunner of Operation Pollinator)
  • CEH's work on assessment of agri-environment schemes for Natural England and Defra
  • Our major contribution to the UK National Ecosystem Assessment (UKNEA) in 2011
  • Our work on assessing the risk to crops from ozone damage (which includes this recent report)
  • Development of the MySoil smartphone app with BGS which calls on members of the public to help map soil type across Europe
  • Recent research that found that bacteria responsible for Johne's disease (chronic intestinal inflammation in cattle), and also implicated in Crohn's disease in humans, are widespread in UK rivers and soil
  • Our leadership of the UK Farm Scale Evaluations, informing UK and EU policy decisions on genetically modified crops
 The timeline can be viewed on the RCUK website.


CEH's research covers agri-science across the landscape


 Related links


UK agricultural technologies strategy

NERC welcomes the UK's strategy for agricultural technologies