Category: BOFIN Insight

Plant breeding could be set to take centre stage as the world follows a different tune in the face of tariffs, suggests Tom Allen-Stevens.

Sir Keir Starmer has decided to “dance with the devil”. Rather than stand up to US President Donald Trump over tariffs, a battle many other world leaders appear to be bracing themselves for, he has chosen to secure a trade deal.

What’s more it’s one he’s hoping will keep the door open to a better deal for UK trade with the EU. It’s admirably British for him to do this, and let’s set aside for a moment whether he can actually pull off a deal that’s beneficial for the UK.

This is probably a defining moment in history. It’s no exaggeration that if our PM makes this his “Witching Hour” and understands how to master the power that POTUS wields, there’s much to be gained. But if he becomes “The Devil’s Advocate”, entangled in the seductive, populist world of the White House, we’ll all lose. And where does agriculture sit in this negotiation? Not since we joined the EU have British farmers had so little influence over the State.

Every single incoming UK government since the 1970s has tried to reduce the support offered to farmers, and offshore food production. But they’ve failed because of the protection offered by the Common Agricultural Policy.

Sir Keir is the first new-administration PM since Brexit, and has already shown he is happy for decades of the Treasury’s pent-up bureaucratic resentment to be unleashed on the perceived protection the farming sector has enjoyed.

British farmers would have been completely buried in the first hint of a trade deal with the US if it hadn’t been for the Putin factor: one unhinged autocrat has dramatically shown what can happen when he is left in charge of the world’s breadbasket and pulls the levers of global food exports.

It’s reset government thinking on how the nation feeds itself. “Food security is national security” is now the mantra and the only reason UK farmers get a look-in on any trade deals.

This is the first time since World War II that government ministers have faced the prospect of both re-arming Britain and making the nation self-sufficient in essentials. It’s scarily serious stuff and Whitehall simply doesn’t have the staff, the skills, the resource to begin to understand how to make an informed decision. So whether or not agriculture is a welcome part of any trade deal, the UK cannot afford to sacrifice it altogether.

Against this backdrop, the British PM meekly engages with the president of the US, the second largest wheat exporter in the world (after Russia), trying to play to the same step. The real question for Sir Keir is whether he can offer enough moves to keep Mr Trump at the top of the Fox newsfeeds and ameliorate the MAGA faithful’s addiction to populist drama.

Which brings us to what agriculture may have in its portfolio that can maintain the staggeringly short attention span of Mr Trump and his craving for ratings as trade restrictions between our two nations ease. It was almost inevitable that our beef market would be opened up and exposed to US imports, although hormone-treated beef and chlorinated chicken appear to remain off the menu on UK plates, for the moment at least.

The easing of restrictions on US ethanol will compete against domestic wheat destined for the biofuel market, although arguably this move doesn’t threaten food security. But then there’s new genetic technologies.

Over 20 years ago, when US interests attempted to exert their corporate authority over the EU and railroad acceptance of genetically modified crops, the move spectacularly backfired. The EU shut out the technology, and remains closed to it. It’s a sore point for the US who would desperately like to see its dominance in GM tech rolled out across the continent.

Moreover, the EU is currently closed to newer precision breeding techniques, such as gene-editing. These differ from GM in that they have been shown to be genetic advances that could happen naturally. But the UK, or more accurately England, isn’t closed to this tech.

The Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act, passed in 2023, will allow crops with targeted genetic changes to be grown from this autumn on commercial English farms.

The first of these precision-bred crops are due to be planted and brought to harvest next year in closely monitored field trials as part of the Defra-funded PROBITY project. English farmers will begin to understand the traits that could transform agriculture and the benefits they hold for the UK food industry before any other farmer in the EU gets the opportunity.

What’s more, there’s an awesome array of talent in UK research institutes – our scientists are global leaders in precision breeding. There are jaw-dropping innovations in glasshouses looking to sink their roots into commercial English soils and demonstrate as yet unseen capabilities to the curious farmer. They’re all diamonds in the rough, but in the right hands, we have the potential to rewrite the agronomy rulebook and deliver true food security, not just for the English farms where they’re grown, but for the world.

That’s the sparkling sequin, the dazzling move that could attract Mr Trump. Chances are, there’s a similar array of novel traits emerging from US glasshouses, making their way into the soils of the Mid West farming belt.

The opportunity to bring these to English farms and shape a whole new dimension to this rebirth in plant breeding could be transformational for the farmers, scientists and others involved on both sides of the Atlantic.

They would be at the forefront of developing lines suited to the wider EU market, with greater acceptance, an understanding of local consumer needs, and proactively addressing their concerns.

This would be a farmer-led platform that shapes new genetic technologies ahead of enabling legislation, expected soon, that would then allow them to be further developed on commercial farms across the continent.

Other innovations will languish at national borders, unable to navigate the trade barriers still scarring the marketing landscape. But a reciprocal agreement on precision-bred crops could be a truly enabling tariff-free trade of talent for the UK.

While the opportunity to expand markets for nascent technologies without having their potential quashed by tariff-embittered former trading partners won’t have gone unnoticed by the US commercial interests bending Mr Trump’s ear.

So the challenge for Sir Keir as he continues his steps on the trade deal dancefloor is to strike out with mesmerising moves that emphasise the technical prowess the UK has in genetics, engage with charisma and a style that draws in these commercial interests, and set a rhythm that puts the two nations’ plant-breeding industry in harmony. Can he pull it off?

The other outcome is that he becomes hopelessly entangled and outpaced by the moves of one dominant partner. For the sake of global food security, he must succeed.

Found in:

Issue #2

Farmers urged to take opportunity to lead innovation

Science, soil and sustainability focus at Manor Farm

Farmer and scientist collaboration helps to unearth soil secrets

Soya swap could cut agriculture’s carbon footprint

Gene-edited crops: A new frontier for England’s farmers?

Learning through on-farm trials

A dance to dazzle

Innovation and collaboration sum up Charles Paynter’s approach to his transition from full-time management of his family farm in Bedfordshire, to one embracing continued learning through on-farm trials.

A neat row of machinery parts gleam on the kitchen table at Rifle Range Farm as Charles Paynter talks through plans for modifying his drill. With his passion for regenerative farming, and a talent for building and adapting farm machinery, his enthusiasm for the project is as bright as the shiny metal components.

With the help of a grant from Anglian Water his modifications should enable relay cropping on the farm because – if all goes to plan – he will be able to lift alternate sets of coulters to protect the established crop, while a second crop is drilled.

Much like his other interventions on the farm – including the move to regenerative principles around five years ago – Charles’s idea is inspired by experiences of another farmer.

This time it was Kent grower Andy Howard who has exchanged visits with Charles to talk about the regen approach and intercropping. Since turning 65 Charles has moved away from full-time management of the family farm – a role which has passed to his brother Simon – and has embraced a new approach.

With more time he has taken to daily field walks, developing a more intimate knowledge of the farm’s biodiversity and soil health, and increased his drive to look for innovative approaches. “I used to look across the fields and see a list of jobs,” he says. “Now I feel more connected to the land and the soil which I had been missing.”

Learning and innovating

Regular soil testing and recording his findings via the Soil Mentor app are part and parcel of this. He also makes time to read and listen to audiobooks and podcasts, learn from experts and is making his way through the Groundswell talks on YouTube.

The farm was originally purchased by Charles’s grandfather in 1933 and expanded with the purchase of a second block of land in the 1980s, bringing it up to 221ha. Before joining the family business Charles worked for Velcourt. Adapting and innovating is nothing new for the family. Charles recalls his father Richard’s involvement in the ‘10-ton club,’ a commitment to improving crop yields and exploring new techniques.

Even now in his nineties Richard maintains his interest in the farm and has also been enjoying the Groundswell talks on YouTube. Charles and Simon have inherited his love of learning and innovating. Alongside the farm they have both used their talents with machinery to develop gate automation businesses.

Around five years ago, a perfect storm of challenges prompted them to commit to regenerative principles alongside a neighbour with whom they shared machinery. Increasing crop losses, persistent problems with cabbage stem flea beetle and blackgrass, and a growing awareness of climate change, led them to think differently.

They took the plunge, invested in a drill and committed to a no-till approach. “We learned a lot and did OK financially, but the biggest gain was that the soil was gaining fertility and resilience, and we had greater biodiversity.

Understanding soil

“Like most farmers I used to be more focussed on what’s going on above ground. We knew about organic matter, but we didn’t know about the microbiome. As I learned more, I stopped focussing on cash cropping and started helping our soils to help us.”

Keeping meticulous records has been important with this, he says. “I record my observations in the field and keep records of every chemical input too.” The next step is to explore biologicals and Charles plans to purchase a second-hand sprayer for applications.

“I’ve created compost and used it to create an extract – a stable liquid product you can apply to seed. “The theory is that it sparks interactions with the soil and will reduce reliance on nitrogen. Even if we can’t see exactly what it is doing, it is part of a beneficial process and diversifying the farm’s microbiome.”

The focus on soil health has unlocked other benefits including improved water management, reduced carbon emissions, and enhanced resilience. Charles is also passionate about the links between farming practices and improved nutritional value of the food they produce.

This year the farm is producing winter wheat, two varieties of spring wheat and peas and has a Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) agreement which covers various initiatives including floristic margins. The Paynters also continue to seek ways to create more protected income streams and working with other organisations to explore new avenues for innovation and diversification.

Slug Sleuth

Trial work is one such area. Charles joined the British On-Farm Innovation Network (BOFIN) soon after its launch in 2020 having become interested in its aim to connect farmers who are committed to on-farm trials.

He then joined its SLIMERS – Strategies Leading to Improved Management and Enhanced Resilience to Slugs – project as a ‘Slug Sleuth’ in 2023. The role involves slug monitoring on the farm – setting traps and collecting data on slug presence.

This feeds into research by Professor Keith Walters at Harper Adams to understand slug behaviour in different conditions and is helping to develop a predictive model. In May 2025 Charles was also involved with night-time data collection on his farm with Dr Kerry McDonald-Howard of UK the Agri-Tech Centre, one of the project partners.

Together with work carried out by other project partners – Agrivation, Fotenix and Farmscan Ag – this is leading to the development of an AI-based precision treatment solution.

The project partners’ collective vision is a system which can predict where slug patches will be, identify individual slugs in the field and treat them individually with nematodes, therefore avoiding the need for broadscale slug pelleting.

Charles’ role in the project has also included trialling four ‘slug resistant’ wheat varieties on the farm. These are varieties from the John Innes Centre’s Watkins collection crossed with Paragon, which were identified as potentially resistant to slug damage by scientists. Charles’ four trial plots have established well, and he has been monitoring them for damage. Meanwhile Dr Simon Griffiths and his team at the John Innes Centre, which is the sixth partner organisation, are exploring the varieties further to identify the genes responsible for the apparent resistance trait and whether it could be introduced to commercial varieties.

This work is helped by Dr Victor Soria-Carrasco and his team in the insectary who are continuing feeding trials with slugs on the unusual wheat lines. Charles’ involvement in the SLIMERS project is timely, with regenerative practices and the resulting increase in crop debris leading to an increased slug burden on the farm.

The knowledge sharing element of the project is also important and mirrors his commitment to creating a legacy of regeneration. “Every farmer has something to share, and you learn something from them all,” he says.

Charles believes in the value of working with scientists and researchers to increase knowledge, but that farmers must be centre stage of projects, something which the BOFIN project upholds.

“All roads come back to the farmer,” he says. “As individuals we may not be the most technical, savvy or proficient, but we have farmer experience and instinct, and no amount of research can replace that.”

Found in:

Issue #2

Farmers urged to take opportunity to lead innovation

Science, soil and sustainability focus at Manor Farm

Farmer and scientist collaboration helps to unearth soil secrets

Soya swap could cut agriculture’s carbon footprint

Gene-edited crops: A new frontier for England’s farmers?

Learning through on-farm trials

A dance to dazzle

Precision breeding offers exciting opportunities for agriculture according to PROBITY project scientists, and with recent changes in legislation they will soon be taking root on farms in England.

Small changes in wheat DNA can make a big difference to how it performs on farm, according to Professor Cristóbal Uauy, scientist and incoming director of the John Innes Centre.

As scientists’ understanding of the vast wheat genome grows, there’s potential to make precise changes, tailored to farmers’ needs. Speaking at a webinar hosted by BOFIN for the PROBITY project, he explained that the genome is essentially a code which determines a species’ characteristics, and for wheat it is particularly complex.

“If I were to write out the genome for wheat it would take up 3.1 million pages, which when stacked up would be taller than all the London landmarks at 323 metres,” he said.

PROBITY – A Platform to Rate Organisms Bred for Improved Traits & Yield – is a three-year, £2.2m farmer-led project, funded by Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme Small R&D Partnership Round 3). With technology now more available to sequence the genome, plant scientists can get hold of the information in those pages more easily, he continued.

“What we have found is that a lot of the changes we see in the field such as improved resistance to a pest or disease come down to very small changes in the genome.”

This can happen through natural process, but scientists have to hunt through the ‘pages’ of the wheat genome in the hope they can find the small changes needed to generate the beneficial traits. This is both slow and costly. But precision breeding is different. It allows precise, targeted changes to be made to the DNA sequence, that could have happened through traditional breeding or natural processes.

He describes the CRISPR method of gene editing as a ‘Google search box’ for DNA, which guides molecular ‘scissors’ to exact locations to cut the DNA and generate specific mutations.

“These edits are indistinguishable from natural mutations, which is why gene editing is often described as a way to accelerate natural processes rather than create something entirely new,” he said.

The precision made possible by these techniques means that instead of waiting years to find a naturally occurring mutation, scientists can directly create the desired change and then test it in the field.

Gene editing is therefore part of a ‘toolbox’ to improve existing varieties rather than producing completely new ones from scratch. This approach can speed up the development of crops with improved traits such as mildew resistance, yellow rust tolerance, altered starch composition, or deeper roots, he added.

Regulatory changes

Recent regulatory changes in England are paving the way for gene-edited crops to reach farmers more quickly, explained PROBITY project technical lead Professor Nigel Halford of Rothamsted Research.

Two years ago, the government simplified the process for field trials of gene-edited crops, requiring only a notification to Defra. More recently, the introduction of the ‘precision bred organism’ or PBO category by the Genetic Technologies (Precision Breeding) Act 2023 made it possible for gene-edited crops to be marketed without being classified as genetically modified organisms (GMOs), provided they contain no foreign DNA.

The secondary legislation, which sets out exactly how this will happen and the processes required for approvals, was introduced into parliament in February 2025. It suggests that there will be two categories of PBO – one for research only and a second for marketing – and once the secondary legislation is passed it will be possible for gene-edited varieties of some crops to be marketed, explained Prof Halford.

“There will be an approval process involving Defra’s scientific committee ACRE to confirm that they agree it is a true PBO, that is, a genome edited, non-GM organism. Then the Food Standards Agency will also have a process which they assure us is going to be straight forward.

“You could argue that as the mutations from gene editing are the same as those that occur naturally – they are just targeted – that we don’t need any additional oversight compared to a variety produced by the conventional plant breeding. But we have this process to ensure that everyone is reassured, and I hope that it will be straight forward.”

Dr Dylan Phillips from Aberystwyth University explained that once the legal framework is fully in place, scientists and breeders will be able to submit gene-edited varieties for approval and begin field testing them more widely. This regulatory clarity will encourage innovation, especially for niche crops and traits that have been difficult to improve through conventional breeding.

“We’re expecting the first applications to Defra in the Autumn and they have 90 days to review the application and if it’s rubber stamped it will be passed onto the Food Standards Agency panel,” said Dr Phillips.

While England is progressing its regulatory processes, governments in Scotland and Wales have not yet made decisions on the same, he explained. However this only applies to cultivation – approved PBOs will be able to be sold UK-wide.

Farmer’s view

Yorkshire tenant farmer Paul Temple explained that he was a ‘farmer sceptic’ many years ago, but ‘driven by science’. He got involved in field scale evaluation trials of GM crops and from that learned a great deal about the value and importance of breeding, and how GM was presented in the mainstream media.

“Subjective and unfounded arguments were laid into the science, and I found that really frustrating.” More recently as a member of the Global Farmers Network he has gained insight from seeing application of plant science across the world and what appeals hugely to him is that it is not just large-scale farming that gains.

“Precision breeding is of benefit to the smallest of growers too,” he says. Looking to the future, growers should be concerned over the stagnation of wheat yields, he added.

“Last year was a wakeup call – we had the lowest wheat yields since 1983.” Add to that the challenges of more extreme weather events and the loss of important agri-chemicals and the challenges are enormous.

“Plant breeding is absolutely vital in how we meet those challenges.” While genome editing is not a silver bullet, it represents a powerful addition to possible solutions concluded Prof Uauy: “The challenges are so vast, I think that we need everything we can to address them.”

Found in:

Issue #2

Farmers urged to take opportunity to lead innovation

Science, soil and sustainability focus at Manor Farm

Farmer and scientist collaboration helps to unearth soil secrets

Soya swap could cut agriculture’s carbon footprint

Gene-edited crops: A new frontier for England’s farmers?

Learning through on-farm trials

A dance to dazzle

Revised figures reveal the full extent of the savings that would be made possible that increasing pulse production and displacing imported soya could replace.

Increasing production of pulse crops and reducing the amount of imported soya bean meal fed to livestock, could drastically reduce the UK’s agricultural carbon footprint, bringing a raft of other social and environmental benefits too.

New data presented at ‘From Soya to Sustainability’ in Peterborough in January showed 3.4Mt of CO2 equivalent could be saved which would cut the agricultural industry’s footprint by 7%.

The revised figures, from a study by Farm Carbon Toolkit, suggest the potential to cut carbon emissions through better use of home-grown pulses is more than 2.5 times previous estimates.

The reduction can be achieved by increasing pulse production to 20% of the current total area and replacing 50% of the imported soya bean meal currently being fed to livestock, explained John McArthur, managing director of McArthur BDC.

Showing what can be achieved by this shift are the twin aims of the NCS Project – a four-year, £5.9 million project funded by DEFRA’s Farming Futures R&D Fund.

“That saving is driven by four main factors – fuel use, synthetic nitrogen fertiliser use, both directly and indirectly, and swapping imported soya bean meal to UK pulses,” he said.

The 17 partner organisations in the project had initially set out to show its twin aims would achieve a net target carbon reduction of 1.5Mt. But data processed since the project began in April 2023 have revealed the potential gains that can be made from a move away from imported soya to UK grown beans are far greater than previously estimated.

Philip Lymbery, Global CEO of Compassion in World Farming International spoke about the need for farmers to be part of the solution to climate change: “There needs to be a change, but don’t pile it on farmers and farming to find a way out and to fund it. We as a society need to get behind the farming community, to get behind the leaders that are bringing together the innovators, and make it happen. Enable them and bring public money forward.”

Gemma Hoskins, UK Director of Mighty Earth highlighted the link between imported soya and deforestation in Latin America. Estimates of deforestation and conversion-free soy volumes quoted by traders like Cargill, use “maths jiggery pokery” with little public transparency of the data used to calculate their claims, she said.

EU deforestation legislation coming into force on 30th December 2025 would cover a range of commodities and covered both illegal and legal deforestation, she said, whereas the delayed UK legislation fell short by only covering illegal deforestation “To confirm if you have legal or illegal deforestation within your supply chain, you require farm-level traceability data from your soy exporters.”

Certification has been designed to signal market demand for deforestation-free soya, but traceability was an issue here too, she warned.

“The credibility of certificates and the ability to drive a ‘clean supplier’ approach has been really limited within the soya supply sector.

“What we want to see now is farmers and the feed companies at the heart of this conversation and to empower them to put pressure on traders for deforestation and conversion-free soy.”

A route out of soya for livestock sector Solutions presented by partners in the NCS project included presentation of research carried out by SRUC, The James Hutton Institute and Agrii and the experience of farmers involved in the project.

Lee Truelove, Head of Regenerative Farming at First Milk said the cooperative was working to support the supply chain to find a ‘route out of soya’. “Is certified deforestation-free soya the end game? I suggest it isn’t,” he said.

“Even if that soy is certified questions still exist about how it’s grown. “We also need to think about ghost acres. It’s all very well being efficient on the farm, but that can be undermined by how many acres somewhere else in the world are needed to supply feed for the cows.”

The alternative was obvious, he said. “We’re talking about UK-grown proteins including beans, and we definitely support that at First Milk.”

Feeding trials by First Milk producers had been positive and would be repeated this winter, he said. “We’re going to expand it, but we do think the potential is there. As a dairy cooperative, we’re looking to help the supply chain because we do think there is a route out of soya.”

Jos Houdijk of SRUC said that faba beans were also viable as an alternative to soya for growing pigs and chickens, but processing made them better. “If we dehull faba beans we lift the digestibility and the concentration of amino acids, and that gives us opportunity to increase soya replacement potential.”

An NCS trial using the bean variety Lynx, combined with dehulling and toasting, found that broilers (meat chickens) fed this variety up to 30% reached the same finished weights as those fed on soya, but with an improved feed conversion ratio.

“We produced these chickens with 68% less soya bean meal input and the carbon footprint saving was almost 40%,” he said.

Arable and poultry producer John Seed said he started looking to replace soya when the egg price was below the cost of production, but soon also saw the environmental cost. “Eighty-two per cent of the carbon emissions from my farm came from purchased feed and the soya predominantly.”

He praised the NCS Project, in which he is involved as a Pulse Pioneer, paid to carry out on-farm trials. Trialling new approaches can be both expensive and ‘heartbreaking’ he said. “You need to have government support.”

The potential for pulses in the arable rotation Including legumes in the arable rotation clearly has the potential to lower environmental footprints, said Prof Pete Iannetta of The James Hutton Institute. “It’s not just greenhouse gases. There’s water quality improvement to be gained and a whole host of other benefits.”

Citing NCS research on unique long-term crop rotation data from the ‘Centre for Sustainable Cropping’, which compares spring barley crops that had been preceded by either spring beans or spring barley, he said: “There was a 1.2t/ha yield uplift in the barley following beans, despite synthetic nitrogen fertiliser use reductions in-line with RB209 recommendations. The environmental impact reductions were apparent despite a winter fallow after the beans.

“That’s interesting because the bean nitrogen-rich residues left in-field after their harvest would have been all-but lost by the time the following spring barley crop was sown. We need more data on that, but I don’t believe the barley benefits are simply due to soil nitrogen levels. There are likely changes to the soil structure, and we know already that beans support a ‘symbiotic microbiome’ – changing the diversity of the microbes associated with plant roots to more-favourable types.”

Consistency of performance of field beans is “a bit of a nightmare” admitted Agrii agronomist Todd Jex. “A lot of the potential is lost in the very early stages. You cannot grow them tightly in rotation because of build-up of soil-borne pests and diseases and you need to consider all three aspects of soil health – physical, chemical and biological.”

When it comes to putting the crop in the ground there are four considerations: drilling date, variety, establishment system and seed rate. Todd stressed the importance of early drilling. “As soon as wheat drilling is finished, we’ll put winter beans in, from the middle of October onwards.” Spring beans could be drilled in January, he added. “The earlier the better.”

Progress for the Pulse Pioneers

Oxfordshire farmer and founder of the British On-Farm Innovation Network (BOFIN) Tom Allen-Stevens called for more farmers to sign up as Pulse Pioneers, who are paid to carry out the on-farm trials in the NCS Project.

“This year we have 20 taking part but next year we are ramping that up to 40. Supported by the scientists and other experts in our partner organisations the trials are a real opportunity to find ways to grow better, more consistent crops.”

Sharing that knowledge between Pulse Pioneers, the ‘Pulse PEP’ NCS community and the wider industry, was another large part of the project and BOFIN’s role within it, he explained.

Achieving consistency is the main goal for NCS bean trials carried out by Rob Waterston, farm manager at Welford Park Estate. “The inconsistency drives me mad. I love them some years, but then others they are sparse and I think, why do we bother?”

His Pulse Pioneer trial was a 3ha block of beans from which he took leaf samples to send away for analysis. “On the back of that we tailor made a nutritional programme. We did that twice in the build up towards flowering to make sure the plant gets everything it needs to maximise the flowering potential. It was quite an expansive list of micronutrients that went on.”

He achieved a 0.2t yield uplift in that area and a wealth of benchmark data from ADAS Bean YEN, into which his crop was entered, to analyse and interpret its performance.

Paul Barnes, Estate Manager at South Ormsby Estate said that as an organic producer beans were an important part of his seven-year rotation. As a Pulse Pioneer within NCS he runs trials on his farm. In year one he was looking at applications of two products that capture atmospheric N, comparing plant health above and below the ground with those of untreated crops.

This revealed higher levels of nodulation, plant growth and vigour scoring in the treated crops compared with untreated. This year he will also be assessing the following spring milling wheat crop to confirm the impact the beans had made, as part of the NCS on-farm trials.

Paul stressed how important knowledge exchange was and the value of the 20 Pulse Pioneers involved in the NCS Project sharing what their learning had been from the on-farm trials. “Let’s get more on board – bring it on,” he said.

The conference brought together more than 100 representatives of feed companies, research institutes, farmers and others across the supply chain. But despite invitations sent to the UK’s major retailers, none were directly represented, a point noted by several delegates during discussions.

Found in:

Issue #2

Farmers urged to take opportunity to lead innovation

Science, soil and sustainability focus at Manor Farm

Farmer and scientist collaboration helps to unearth soil secrets

Soya swap could cut agriculture’s carbon footprint

Gene-edited crops: A new frontier for England’s farmers?

Learning through on-farm trials

A dance to dazzle

Farmers and scientists working on the TRUTH Project have revealed some intriguing findings from their first year of working together. TRUTH (Thriving Roots Underpinning Total soil Health) is a three-year £1m project with twin aims of boosting productivity while improving soil health.

The project is led by the British On-Farm Innovation Network (BOFIN) with four partners: the UK Agri-Tech Centre, the John Innes Centre, University of Nottingham, and PES Technologies.

Ten ‘Root Ranger’ farmers were paid to carry out on-farm trials in year one (2024), with an additional 10 recruited recently for year two (2025). The Root Rangers’ farms represent varied soil types across conventional, regenerative, and organic systems.

They are based across the UK, from East Lothian in Scotland to Downpatrick in Northern Ireland and as far south as the Isle of Wight. The farmers each chose a treatment they wanted to assess and have been trained in soil sampling methods.

Microorganism Discovery

Dr Tom Thirkell of the Crop Science Centre in Cambridge is an expert in mycorrhizal fungi, which he has been studying in wheat root samples taken by the Root Rangers. As well as healthy populations of mycorrhiza, Tom’s analysis of the Root Rangers’ samples has also uncovered some “unidentified foreign organisms” (UFOs). Some of these appear to be bacteria, while others are likely to belong to an ancient but newly-described group of fungi known as Mucoromycotina.

Tom said: “We believe these can also form beneficial interactions with cereal crop roots, but there has been very little study of them compared to the arbuscular mycorrhizas.” They were found in several samples and are not unique to a specific type of farm. “They are random in how they crop up, but a strength of this project is that we can repeat these tests in years two and three and see if there are any patterns.”

Tom also hopes that DNA sequencing of these samples may be possible in future, so that the ‘UFOs’ can be identified. His findings from year one suggest that variations in fungal presence are influenced more by individual farms’ management practices rather than the different treatments being trialled, but repetition of sampling in years two and three will develop this understanding further.

“There is a lot going on underground, but it can be uncovered through collaboration with farmers and other researchers through projects like TRUTH. It’s been well-documented that farm management impacts the soil microbiome. Moving forward, with an increased focus on sustainability and reduced chemical use, it is going to become more important.”

Microbial Analysis

Dr Maria Hernandez-Soriano of the John Innes Centre is leading a fascinating investigation into soil microbial diversity. Her work involves analysing DNA from soil samples collected by Root Rangers across 10 farms, revealing a staggering 15,686 individual species. At the John Innes Centre laboratories in Norwich, some 222 samples from the Root Rangers were carefully processed to extract the DNA. The DNA was then prepared for sequencing by specialists to ensure the best quality analysis, and finally sent to a leading provider of sequencing services.

The scientists then compiled a ‘library’ of all the DNA found in the samples, naming matched sequences using extensive databases. The result is a vast spreadsheet listing all the individual species found in each sample – a total of 15,686 across the Root Rangers’ soils. From there, the data was analysed, drawing comparisons across different systems and the whole dataset, but also drilling down into individual farms’ results to assess and compare diversity.

Maria said: “At the moment the results are suggesting that management is the strongest influence.” In particular, the organic farmers amongst the Root Rangers had the most diverse samples, with a significant difference in nitrification too. Diversity is important because these microbes work together as part of a complex network, both in cooperation with each other and regulating their different roles in soil. “It’s a huge community – some of which we know a lot about while others are yet to be characterised.”

Understanding the activity of nitrification bacteria helps in improving nitrogen use efficiency, Maria added. She has been looking closely at two of the most prevalent nitrifying communities, Nitrososphaera and Nitroscosmicus archaea. These have become the biomarkers in the rhizosphere of modern cultivars following N-fertiliser application, to the detriment of other communities, she explained.

“The abundance of these microbes in soil dramatically increases when you apply ammonium-based fertilisers, rapidly turning ammonium into nitrate, which is highly soluble and easily lost to the environment through leaching or gas emission as nitrous oxide.”

Year two of the project will focus more on the rhizosphere and, now with 20 Root Rangers on board, the sampling will produce an even stronger dataset. “Working on the TRUTH project is a dream,” concluded Maria. “The farmers have been brilliant and have sent us quality samples, meaning that scientists like me can focus on what we do best. Through our work together we can deliver information that is of real value to the farmers.”

A 360° View of Soil Health

The Root Rangers have also been given a unique view of their soil structure and root systems through X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) scanning. Dr Craig Sturrock of the University of Nottingham explained that CT scans were used to compare soil ‘cores’ from the different farms.

The farmers took samples from their chosen fields of first winter wheat using sections of plastic pipe (15 cm x 8 cm). These were hammered into the ground before being carefully excavated to preserve the structure of the soil and roots inside. Each Root Ranger took 10 samples in a typical W-formation: five from the treated area under scrutiny in their trials and five from the untreated area.

Craig explained: “It’s been a really exciting first year of the project, using the imaging technology to visualise the structure of soils across the UK, completely non-destructively, which is usually really difficult to see. We’ve found some nice differences between the soils. There’s variation between geographical location, soil texture, treatments, and differences in the root structure.”

The research highlighted the impact of management practices such as ploughing and grazing. The results were not always as expected, with ploughed soil showing minimal differences to min- or no-till. This may have been related to the time of sample collection being relatively late in the growth season (May 2024), where the soil had time to settle after cultivation the previous autumn. “This year we plan to sample in March so tillage differences between sites may be more apparent.”

In year two, the Root Rangers will repeat the sampling process, but this time with five soil cores just from untreated areas. Craig concluded: “I’m really looking forward to year two of the project, seeing how the results will look and what more we can learn from repeating the sampling.”

Root Ranger Feedback

Anna Pearce, an organic farmer and seed producer from Northumberland, joined the TRUTH project as she was keen to work with scientists to learn more about the health of the soil on her farm.

She said: “As farmers we don’t often get the opportunity to interact with scientists and this is a huge opportunity to be able to put our heads together.” Anna was particularly interested to find out how her soil compared to other farms and to see the soil core CT scans.

“It is fascinating to see pictures of what is under the ground,” she said. “It was reassuring to learn that my soil copes well with being lightly ploughed and that there is enough life in it to repair any changes to structure.”

Hertfordshire farm manager Ted Allen-Stevens also welcomed the opportunity to take part in the project, particularly as it validated the introduction of regenerative practices on the farm.

He said: “When I saw our results from the TRUTH project I felt that I had some real evidence that soil health had improved since we brought in regenerative practices here. It’s only when you drill down into the detail of your own farm that you can get that substance and reassurance of what you’re actually achieving.”

Next Steps for the TRUTH Project

The second year of the project will build on the successes so far, with the soil/root testing tools under further scrutiny by the farmers and scientists. An innovative soil health sensor, developed by PES Technologies, will also be circulated among the Root Rangers, who will put it through its paces. The sensor is designed to measure microbial diversity and the fungal-to-bacterial ratio.

Also in year two, novel wheat varieties are being multiplied ready for trialling on Root Rangers’ farms in the final year of the project. These include a ‘remarkable’ variety that can moderate its own nitrogen supply. Originating from Iran, this particular wheat landrace is part of the historic Watkins collection at JIC.

Maria Hernandez-Soriano explained: “What is interesting about this particular wheat is that it has demonstrated capacity to decrease the transformation of ammonium into nitrate in the soil. This is believed to be an adaptive trait.”

It means much less nitrogen from fertilisers is potentially lost to the environment and more is taken up and used by the wheat plant itself, because it is controlling the transformation in soil and optimising uptake. “We haven’t observed that same capability or trait in any commercial wheat cultivars yet, so that is remarkable.”

Tom Allen-Stevens, managing director of the British On-Farm Innovation Network (BOFIN), which leads the project, said: “The quality of samples and resulting data has proven again the value of on-farm trials and what can be gained when farmers and scientists work together. There is a huge appetite among farmers to learn more about soil health. This project is paving the way for discoveries about how we can improve the long-term productivity of our farms through improved understanding and management of our most precious resource.”

Found in:

Issue #2

Farmers urged to take opportunity to lead innovation

Science, soil and sustainability focus at Manor Farm

Farmer and scientist collaboration helps to unearth soil secrets

Soya swap could cut agriculture’s carbon footprint

Gene-edited crops: A new frontier for England’s farmers?

Learning through on-farm trials

A dance to dazzle

Former GP Tom Pearson took over management of his family’s Cambridgeshire farm in 2016 and has since made some major changes, including committing to a regenerative approach and a series of on-farm trials.

When Tom Pearson took over management of Manor Farm in Caxton it wasn’t just about continuing a family tradition – he also began crafting a new narrative involving science, soil health, and sustainability. Despite having no formal agricultural training, Tom’s scientific background and thirst to ‘do different’ set the stage for a transformative journey.

With only a 12-month handover period from his father, he faced a steep learning curve and grasped any informal learning opportunities, particularly through AHDB Monitor Farms and events like Groundswell. Together with his scientific mindset, it sparked an interest in soil health and regenerative farming principles. Tom’s approach to farming soon evolved to focus on key themes of regenerative principles and active participation in research, alongside creating a profitable and sustainable business.

While his interest in regenerative farming was piqued by the promise of reduced spending and risk, it went beyond economics. Tom says: “I recognised the fact that a lot of people can’t do much about climate change – but as farmers we have a big opportunity and should do the best we can. I felt that using fewer inputs and using nature to help me farm was the right choice in the long term, both from an economic and sustainability point of view.

“I also liked the idea of doing something different to the norm,” he admits. “But above all, regen put the excitement back into farming for me.”

Regen transition

He transitioned the 480ha farm in blocks, introducing cover crops and catch crops on an increasing area. Then in 2022, with the whole farm committed to regenerative principles, he recruited Rhys Jones as farm manager. A Harper Adams graduate with a passion for soil health and regenerative farming, Rhys was keen to take this forward with Tom, and strengthen the farm’s regen credentials further. They boosted the team further still in 2024 when Shona Russell took on the role of regenerative farming research and data lead. Shona’s CV includes a master’sdegree in agroecology and a stint as trials coordinator for a large farming company. 

Rhys explains that the aim is to always have diverse living roots growing, alongside a commitment to controlled traffic and no-till. “At harvest we drill straight behind the combine, growing a diverse catch crop for six to eight weeks before drilling the winter crops, or up to six months of diverse cover crops when drilling our spring crops.”

They are looking to find ways to improve the system too and have been working to perfect both companion and cover cropping. With the latter they now favour a phacelia, white vetch, linseed, clover, buckwheat, fodder radish and smart radish mix; each species bringing its own benefits. 

Rhys has also implemented a grazing system for these, bringing a local sheep

farmer on board. He explains: “The aim with the cover crops is that the sheep graze a third, trample a third and leave a third. We take biomass samples before it’s grazed to understand the nutrition that’s gone into the soil and the sheep, which means we can amend future input plans accordingly.

“We look at how much phosphorus, magnesium, zinc and potash is in the field and how much is available to the next crop once it’s gone through the sheep. “I believe there is huge potential in cover crops.”

The visiting sheep also graze wheat crops in late winter, until early March or the wheat reaches growth stage 31. 

“Grazing it back like this clears out any fungal disease because the sheep eat the infected leaves. The action of grazing also encourages exudation, promotes tillering and has a growth regulating effect. We compared grazed areas to control plots and there was no yield penalty as long as the grazing is done before the ear is at 1cm,” says Rhys.

The move to Controlled Traffic Farming (CTF) required investment but has already brought about improved soil infiltration rates, says Tom: “We sold off all the big horsepower tractors and cultivation kit which covered the cost of the remaining set up we needed including a new trailed sprayer and drill. We now have much less kit but it’s very expensive. You must have buy-in from your team and you need to know they will look after it. I’m very grateful that Rhys keeps an incredibly tidy cab!”

Rhys adds: “In theory we could operate with two tractors and rent one more for harvest, but we have kept a couple of old ones for corn carting. We used to have 2hp/acre across the farm and have halved that.”

Unfortunately, the fuel bill hasn’t also halved, says Tom. “We chop straw and that uses plenty of fuel, but we have reduced from 46,000 litres to around 30,000 litres.” Fertiliser use is another big saving made through the changes, and instead they are investing in foliar nutrition.

Taking part in research has also been a theme for Tom. He says: “The medical world is obsessed with research and evidence, so it was natural for me to look for it in agriculture. My attitude has always been that if there is evidence out there and it’s good, you should follow it. If the evidence is of poor quality you need to tread carefully, but if the research hasn’t been done then that is not a reason to avoid having a go!”

As a Nuffield scholar, Tom studied how farmers can make a positive impact on local community health, visiting Europe and North America to bring learnings back to the UK. “People really care about health and food and land, and I believe that agriculture and health should have better connections.”

This also ties in with the farm’s involvement in the H3 – Healthy Soil, Healthy Food, Healthy People – project which is scientifically measuring the farm-scale effects of a transition to regenerative farming practices.

Root Rangers

Tom was also one of the earliest members of BOFIN. His first contribution to a BOFIN project involved taking wheat root samples as part of a study on mycorrhizal fungi by the Crop Science Centre (CSC). This led on to the creation of the TRUTH Project – Thriving Roots Underpinning Total soil Health, a £1m research project led by BOFIN with four partner organisations: the John Innes Centre, University of Nottingham, the UK Agri-Tech Centre and PES Technologies.

Joining TRUTH as ‘Root Ranger’ farmer trialists involves taking soil samples which are analysed by the project scientists. Each farmer also runs a trial of their choice within the project and for year one of TRUTH (2024), Rhys chose to study the impact of sheep grazing winter wheat in late winter and early spring. He is continuing this in year two while also overlaying a variety trial.

Rhys says: “Different seed houses think their varieties have interesting rooting characteristics but this is a chance to test it for ourselves. We are trialling two tramlines of RAGT’s Illustrious and studying the soil interactions through the sampling compared to the farm standard variety (Nelson). Our priority here is soil health and our mantra is living roots and biodiversity,” he continues. “The TRUTH project gives us insight into how our living roots are working for us, and by undertaking the trial on our three-way wheat blend with microclover understory last year, we got some quantifiable and benchmarked results about the value of companion cropping and wheat blends.”

Rhys says: “In 2024, as part of a wider strategy, this allowed us to grow milling wheat without the use of fungicides or growth regulators. The soil sampling undertaken through the TRUTH project will hopefully allow us to understand the wider benefits of this approach, alongside the cost savings!”

Slug Sleuths

Rhys is also a ‘Slug Sleuth’ within the SLIMERS – Strategies Leading to Improved Management and Enhanced Resilience to Slugs – project. This is another project led by BOFIN with six partner organisations: the UK Agri-Tech Centre, Harper Adams University, John Innes Centre, Agrivation, Fotenix, and Farmscan Ag.

Rhys says: “The brassicas in our cover crop mix are a slug haven so SLIMERS is another opportunity to explore reduced inputs.” For the Slug Sleuths, the project involves slug monitoring by setting out simple ‘traps’ and collecting data on slug numbers over the winter months. This data is helping the SLIMERS scientists gain better understanding of slug behaviour and is contributing to the development of sustainable control solutions including patch treatment and use of AI and automation.

Rhys is also trialling varieties of ‘slug resistant’ wheat. This is a variety from the John Innes Centre’s Watkins collection that has been identified as potentially slug resistant by feeding trials run at the centre.

The trials are in their third year, and results from the field so far appear to back up findings from the lab that suggest the wheat is consistently spurned by slugs. As well as supporting the BOFIN trials work, Shona is working with Rhys to quantify the farm’s carbon footprint. She is also conducting Manor Farm’s own trial into biologicals and composting.

Having set up a Johnson-Su composting system in a series of IBCs, she is testing out different compost recipes based on a 50/50 green and brown mix with ingredients including straw from non-fungicide wheat, wood chip from a fallen tree, cover crop above-ground material, ‘hay’ from a neighbour’s wildflower margin, as well as grass, clover, and nettles all mixed with a forklift. Once well-rotted, this will be used to create a liquid ‘tea’ rich in beneficial fungi, bacteria, protozoa, and nematodes, which is diluted with water and applied with the drill to deliver droplets of the liquid around the seed.

The team particularly appreciates the farmer-led approach in the TRUTH and SLIMERS projects. Tom says: “BOFIN brings a farmer-oriented approach to the party, delivering proper research outcomes that ask questions that are relevant to farmers. It has also brought a new age where farmers are recognised for their contributions to research and paid for their time. But it’s not just about that, it is good to be part of something that is helping the industry while also contributing to making my farm a more exciting workplace.”

“With such an investment of time and resources into research, it’s essential that it delivers”, concludes Tom. “It is a leap of faith to go down the regen route and stick to it, and there aren’t many things you can measure to give you confirmation that you are doing the right thing. There’s no column in a spreadsheet to value what we are doing for soil health, for example. Generally, we need to be better as an industry at quantifying those gains, but at least by getting involved in research you get some answers.”

Found in:

Issue #2

Farmers urged to take opportunity to lead innovation

Science, soil and sustainability focus at Manor Farm

Farmer and scientist collaboration helps to unearth soil secrets

Soya swap could cut agriculture’s carbon footprint

Gene-edited crops: A new frontier for England’s farmers?

Learning through on-farm trials

A dance to dazzle

Are you ready to turn your innovative ideas into real on-farm impact? As the leading provider of farmer led innovation services – and approved project facilitators for the ADOPT programme – BOFIN is here to support your on-farm research journey.

The Accelerating Development of Practices and Technologies (ADOPT) Fund, opened for round one applications in April 2025. Part of Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme and delivered by Innovate UK, ADOPT provides grants from £50,000 to £100,000 to support collaborative, farmer-led on-farm trials and experiments aimed at testing and demonstrating cutting-edge agricultural practices and technologies. The fund targets projects that address key farming challenges by improving productivity, resilience, and sustainability. Projects should be designed not only to benefit the individual farms involved, but also to generate knowledge and confidence for adoption across the industry. So how can BOFIN help with ADOPT projects?

Project Management – We work alongside you from the outset, helping to shape your project idea, plan its delivery, and prepare a strong funding application. Once underway, we manage timelines, deliverables, milestones and budget.

Community Engagement – Collaboration is at the heart of what we do. We specialise in building communities of organisations and individuals with a common cause. Our expertise lies in engaging farmers and fostering two-way knowledge exchange, ensuring their experience is valued and recognised.

Technical Delivery – We turn ambitious project objectives into manageable, actionable tasks. With our extensive networks and contacts, we can bring in specialist skills whenever needed to deliver something truly outstanding and transformational. Crucially, we turn your collective expertise into robust data and professional analysis (if required), inspiring confidence and supporting informed decision- making for you and the wider project community.

“The ADOPT programme puts farmers in the driving seat of innovation, enabling them to test the new technologies or practices they believe could bring real productivity gains,” said BOFIN managing director Tom Allen-Stevens. “Our role is to ensure farmers can access these opportunities easily and receive the support they need to succeed.”

Register your interest in working with BOFIN at www.bofin.org.uk/ADOPT

Found in:

Issue #2

Farmers urged to take opportunity to lead innovation

Science, soil and sustainability focus at Manor Farm

Farmer and scientist collaboration helps to unearth soil secrets

Soya swap could cut agriculture’s carbon footprint

Gene-edited crops: A new frontier for England’s farmers?

Learning through on-farm trials

A dance to dazzle

Scientists are making progress towards finding what makes some wheat varieties resistant to slugs – potentially offering sustainable solutions to slug control.

One area of focus for scientists involved in the SLIMERS project is identifying what makes some varieties of wheat more ‘slug resistant’ than others. Research at the John Innes Centre is based on previous studies of the Centre’s Watkins collection of landrace wheat varieties which identified Watkins 788 as potentially ‘slug resistant’.

Dr Simon Griffiths crossed Watkins 788 with other varieties to create 77 Recombinant Inbred Lines (RILs) for further testing to help identify the gene or genes responsible for slug resistance. The centre’s Head of Entomology and Insectary Platform Dr Victor Soria-Carrasco is running trials on these RILs using slugs provided by the ‘Slug Scouts’ volunteers who capture grey field slugs in their farms or gardens and post them to the centre.

Three slugs are added to each tray with a selection of pre-soaked seeds and then left for two days. Seeds are weighed before and after the trial period and also scored for levels of damage before being left for a further seven days to assess the impact of the slug damage on germination.

Trial replications revealed RILs that appear to be slug resistant, as well as those that are more susceptible. Dr Soria-Carrasco and team will continue to test RILs further in the lab to help identify the part of the plant DNA associated with slug resistance – the quantitative trait locus (QTL).

“Detecting which wheat the slugs like is as relevant as finding the varieties they don’t like, as it will all help us identify the QTLs,” says Dr Soria-Carrasco.

Meanwhile two of the RILs – one which is susceptible and one showing resistance – plus Watkins 788 have been multiplied up for on-farm testing in 2024-5.

Tom Allen-Stevens says: “Seeing how the RILs perform in the field is the crucial next stage. We have six farmers establishing blocks of Watkins 788 and the two RILs, alongside farm standard wheat this autumn. They will take measurements and samples to fully assess whether they are indeed spurned by slugs and could offer a potential solution to farmers.”

SLIMERS is a three-year £2.6m research programme involving more than 100 UK farms and seven partners. SLIMERS is funded by the Small R&D Partnership Projects, part of Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme which is delivered by Innovate UK. Project number: 10053286.

Visit slimers.co.uk to find out more.

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Issue #1

Will you take the #PROBITYPledge?

Root Rangers to trial ‘remarkable’ wheat

Turning witchcraft into wizardry

Reducing soya imports has ‘never been so important’

Cracking the code for ‘slug-resistant’ wheat

A new event organised by partners in the NCS Project is setting out to drive the transition to a more sustainable, resilient and secure food system in the UK through reduced dependency on imported soya. ‘From Soya to Sustainability’ will be held on January 22, 2025 at KingsGate Conference Centre, Peterborough. It will bring together farmers, processors, manufacturers, researchers, policymakers and industry leaders to explore innovative strategies for integrating beans and other pulses into livestock diets, reducing the need for imported soya.

Headline speaker Philip Lymbery will emphasise the urgent need for change in our food systems. Philip is Global Chief Executive of Compassion in World Farming and author of Sixty Harvests Left: How to Reach a Nature-Friendly Future with other roles including visiting Professor at the University of Winchester.

Philip says: “I am delighted to be speaking at this new event which is setting out to drive the transition to a more sustainable, resilient and secure food system in the UK through reduced dependency on imported soya.

“It has never been more important to reduce soya imports for animal feed. Vast areas of rainforest and savannah in Brazil and Argentina are cleared essentially to grow soya to feed industrially reared animals, not least in the UK and Europe. The consequences are devastating to wild animals and the environment.

“There are much more compassionate, environmentally friendly, and sustainable ways to produce food, and I am looking forward to exploring these with participants at the conference.”

Other speakers will include experts leading the charge for reduced use of soya in the UK who will share the latest research and innovations in the production and use of peas and beans.

There will also be ample networking opportunities enabling delegates to connect with like-minded experts from across the supply chain. Roger Vickers of PGRO and NCS Project lead says:

“This event is a call to action for all in the agri-food supply chain to play their part in the move from soya to sustainability, which is urgently needed if we are to reduce our environmental impact.

“Growing more pulse crops in the UK and using them in livestock feed would help tackle our dependency on imported soya while also promoting agricultural practices that benefit farmers and the environment. There are multiple wins, but it is not an easy fix.

“We need urgent and concerted action across the supply chain if we are to make a difference. I encourage anyone working in the agri-food supply chain to attend and be part of a movement for change.”

The NCS project is a four-year £5.9m research programme led by PGRO with 17 partners. It aims to enable UK agriculture to bring about a reduction of 1.5Mt CO2e per annum through increased pulse and legume cropping. The ambition is to increase pulse and legume cropping in arable rotations to 20% across the UK from the current 5% and to replace 50% of imported soya meal used in livestock feed rations with home-grown legumes. The NCS Project is funded by the Farming Futures R&D Fund: Climate smart farming, part of Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme, which is delivered by Innovate UK. Project number 10043778.

Visit ncsproject.co.uk to find out more.

Found in:

Issue #1

Will you take the #PROBITYPledge?

Root Rangers to trial ‘remarkable’ wheat

Turning witchcraft into wizardry

Reducing soya imports has ‘never been so important’

Cracking the code for ‘slug-resistant’ wheat

On the Isle of Wight, Rachel and Jacob Holmes are keen that science steers the course on their journey into regenerative agriculture.

At the side of the yard are three IBC containers. The plastic tanks have been removed, and in their place is a black semi-permeable membrane, with each container about half full of what looks like compost. But it’s the four-inch diameter terracotta-coloured drainage pipes protruding from the IBCs that denote their purpose.

“The key requirement of a Johnson-Su bioreactor is that the compost must be kept aerobic,” explains Rachel Holmes.

Cable ties keep the pipes no more than 30cm apart, while holes drilled down their length keep the bacteria, fungi and other microbes multiplying in the compost.

The aim for the microbes in the bioreactor is to breathe new life into the loam over brash soils of the 340ha arable farm Rachel farms with her son Jacob on the Isle of Wight. The farm business, Independent Farms, has set a course on regenerative agriculture, reducing cultivations and introducing cover crops into a rotation that includes wheat, wholecrop rye and oilseed rape with additional breaks of stewardship legume fallows.

“The soils have been very intensely farmed over the years,” says Rachel. “The turning point was the drought of 2022 – cover crops simply didn’t germinate, and you just wonder whether there’s enough life in the soil to pull it through periods of more extreme weather.”

She takes a trowel and, leaning over the side of an IBC, doesn’t have to dig too far to find several worms, helping the process of breaking down the raw materials into a rich soil-like matter with an abundance of microbes. “There’s no question there’s life in this compost – Jacob has confirmed that by taking regular samples and studying them under a microscope,” continues Rachel.

“The big unknowns are whether we are being successful with transferring them into the field, and the difference they’re making to the health of the soil and the crop roots within it.”

This is why Rachel has joined as a Root Ranger with the TRUTH project. Independent Farms is one of 20 farms across the UK conducting crop trials and taking intensive soil samples to understand the microbial community within it, and the effect of applications of products or mixes claimed to be beneficial.

For Rachel and Jacob it’s the compost ‘tea’ they produce that’s under scrutiny. This starts its life in the Johnson-Su bioreactor – a DIY kit developed by Dr David Johnson, a molecular biologist at the University of New Mexico, and his wife, Hui-Chun Su. The compost created in this set-up is then brewed to produce an extract which is sprayed on the land or can be applied to seed.

Rachel explains that the key to the process is finding the right mix of raw materials for the bioreactor. “We’re keen to use material found locally and have also added spent coffee granules from a local café. It’s quite addictive – once you get started you get hooked on finding the right recipe.”

A tag on the side of this IBC reveals woodchip, manure and coffee are the ingredients being turned over by the worms. In the next-door container hay has been added, while a mix of hay, fresh-cut grass, manure and chopped rye complete the trio.

The mix can spend over a year going through its process before it’s ready, and while it doesn’t need to be turned, like regular compost, it should be monitored and kept moist. Just to the side, in the yard, there are two containers of vermicast. “It’s essentially worm poo,” explains Rachel.

“You can buy it, but ours is home-grown from kitchen scraps. A bag each of the vermicast and compost are dropped into the brewing container, like two giant tea bags.”

Wandering over to the spray shed, another set of IBCs, this time with plastic tank intact, form the brewing set-up, and Jacob talks through the process. “The bags are a 400-micron mesh, that can let microbes as large as nematodes through, but not the residue. Each 1000-litre tank is filled with water and we add one litre of Actiferm, a liquid mix of fungi, yeast, lactic acid bacteria, phototropic bacteria and actinobacteria, along with a dollop of molasses.

“Air is then bubbled through the tank for 24 hours and it’s ready to apply. That’s the tricky bit – you have to be sure you can spray at the right time or the mixture will go past its best. Extract with twice as much bacteria as fungi is the ideal, and according to the literature, an application of around 200l/ha puts down 60 million bacteria and fungi per square metre.”

Jacob has a voracious appetite for information on all aspects of soil biology he’s gleaned from the likes of Dr Elaine Ingham, the webinars he’s attended and contacts he’s made. “Living here on the Isle of Wight it can be difficult to get to events geared towards understanding soil biology. But we’ve been to Groundswell and the Green Farm Collective event – both of these have proven useful, especially to hear other farmers discuss what they’re doing,” he says.

He collates this all into a referenced document that helps him understand the microbes he monitors using his microscope. Much of the data has also been brought into a handy app he’s developed that aids the somewhat complex calculations he makes to ensure the right balance of microbes in the extract brewed and applied to the fields.

“Preparing and applying biology to the soil through a sprayer is totally different to using chemistry as it’s a living material that changes by the hour. For instance, bacteria multiply in the brewed extract every 20 minutes, fungi typically every 4-6 hours, protozoans multiply threefold in 24 hours, while that’s too short a timespan for nematodes to multiply. But maintaining the right balance is crucial, as they all have different tasks and respond differently to environmental factors in the field.”

And it’s this response in the field that has been the missing piece of the jigsaw. Jacob has gone to admirable lengths to explore the microbiome he can introduce to the soil, its interaction with the specific environmental factors it faces, and the issues with bringing it, in the right balance, to where it can get to work.

“This is a brand-new school of science we’re just beginning to learn,” he enthuses. “There are so many living organisms in the soil and in our attempts to harness them, we’re not sure whether we’re creating brown gold or doing a sh** job of being King Midas. The science is good, but without results it’s just witchcraft. Anything we can do to fill that void will help turn the witchcraft into wizardry.”

Found in:

Issue #1

Will you take the #PROBITYPledge?

Root Rangers to trial ‘remarkable’ wheat

Turning witchcraft into wizardry

Reducing soya imports has ‘never been so important’

Cracking the code for ‘slug-resistant’ wheat