Join us in this special episode where we are joined by Lucy Cottingham from Agrii.
Agrii is one of the project partners for the £5.9 million DEFRA-funded NCS project looking to help reach the communal aim of reducing carbon emissions by up to 1.5M tonnes. Tom and Lucy went into detail about pulses, AI advancements and women in agriculture, discussing upcoming trials and future forecasts.
Pulses are leguminous crops harvested for dry protein-rich seed, with peas (pisum sativum) and beans (vicia faba) being the major crops in the UK.
The British On-Farm Innovation Network A network of farmers who carry out their own on-farm trials and share the results, seeking a scientifically robust way to progress farm practice.
Nitrogen Efficient Plants for Climate Smart Arable Cropping Systems (NCS) is a four-year £5.9M ambitious research programme involving 200 UK farms and 18 partners. The project is funded by the Defra Farming Innovation Programme, delivered by Innovate UK. The consortium of UK companies, research institutes and farmer networks, led by PGRO, aims to bring about a reduction of 1.5Mt CO₂e per annum or 54% of the maximum potential for UK Agriculture. This will be achieved by increasing pulse and legume cropping in arable rotations to 20% across the UK (currently 5%). In addition, 50% of imported soya meal used in livestock rations will be replaced with home-grown feeds. Both of these ambitious aims will be steered by science and proven by real farm enterprises, with significant benefits for both crop and livestock productivity, including cost savings of over £1bn/yr.
