Soil Testing Pastures
Status: Ongoing
Contact person: Jenny Rhymes (j.rhymes@bangor.ac.uk) / Prof Davey Jones
Funding sources: BBSRC/NERC SARIC programme
Background: Soil testing in agriculture is associated with many economic and environmental benefits. However, there are ~30% of UK farms, predominantly grassland farms, which do not soil test. We are carrying out analysis on a 5-year soil testing record dataset to identify differences between arable farmers, who routinely soil test, with grassland farmers.
Aims:
- To assess the barriers to, and opportunities for, effective soil sampling on sector-specific livestock farms to drive efficient resource utilisation and production of quality forage
- To undertake 'sentinel' on-farm demonstrations in 'slow adoption' regions to illustrate the multiple benefits of effective soil testing in its widest sense (i.e. beyond just economics)
- To evaluate what new soil testing technologies are on the horizon and the likelihood that farmers will adopt these technologies
Collaborators: Rothamsted Research, Caewood Scientific, ADAS, Farming Connect
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