Agribusiness urged to back farmer-led research
Farming’s commercial interests should follow Defra’s lead and financially support farmers who carry out research on their farms, says BOFIN founder Tom Allen-Stevens.
Speaking at a Westminster Food & Nutrition Forum seminar on the next steps for agricultural policy, Tom said Defra’s Farming Innovation Program had demonstrated what farmers can achieve when properly resourced to carry out research on their own farms.
“Farmers have never really been credited with providing good R&D on farm, but they can do it,” he said.
“No one knows farming businesses better than farmers do, or how to improve them. Give farmers the resources and they can deliver.”
Across five major Defra-funded projects involving BOFIN, almost 100 farmers have delivered around 400 on-farm trials, with more than £650,000 set to have been paid directly to participating farmers by the end of this year.
One example is the recently completed SLIMERS project, where farmers and agronomists delivered 97 on-farm trials over three years.
Their work helped develop an algorithm which can turn a field soil scan into a slug risk map. Initial tests suggest the approach could reduce slug pellet use by an average of 50%, representing a potential industry saving of around £6 million a year.
Tom also highlighted the opportunities emerging through ADOPT, part of Defra’s Farming Innovation Program, which supports farmer-led trials of new practices and technologies. BOFIN currently has 10 ADOPT projects underway, ranging from relay cropping and British baked beans to weed detection using robot dogs.
“In the 30 years I’ve been reporting on agricultural innovation, I’ve never known a time when genuine innovative flair on farm has been so well supported,” said Tom.
“The Farming Innovation Program, particularly ADOPT, is one area where Defra is getting it right.”
Asked whether private finance could play a greater role in supporting farmer-led R&D, his response was unequivocal.
“Yes, absolutely. And yes, please.
“Defra has shown what farmers can achieve when they are given the opportunity and resources. We’d love to see private finance get behind farmer-led research too.”
He added: “Let’s champion the people who are doing this well, do more of it and bring in private finance too. It makes sense for them, and it makes sense for farming.”