We are always searching for pioneers in farming to join us as trialists Our main recruitment period opens in the summer but you can find out more and register your interest below.
We will need more on-farm trialists to join our projects exploring soil health, the potential of pulses and sustainable slug control.
What’s in it for you?
– You’ll get paid for your involvement – Full support and back-up from the BOFIN team and community – The great feeling of helping bring scientific innovation from lab to field!
Find out more about what each of these roles look like below:
A Pulse Pioneer is a farmer, paid to carry out on-farm trials in our NCS project while also acting as a project ambassador. The project is focussed on increasing pulse and legume cropping in arable rotations across the UK and reducing imports of soya for livestock feed rations.
Pulse Pioneers are required to enter their pulse crops into YEN and complete the required sampling. They also need to carbon baseline their farm using the Farm Carbon Calculator and collect N-min soil samples. Another part of the Pulse Pioneer role is to act as a project ambassador. This involves sharing knowledge online, at events, with the press and within their own farmer networks.
A Slug Sleuth is a farmer, paid to carry out on-farm trials to ground truth and develop the technologies while also acting as a project ambassador for SLIMERS.
Our Slug Sleuths need to set out 100 slug traps across a 1ha plot and visit it once a week for 5 weeks. They then upload data to the HUSK app using details provided by BOFIN. A key part of the Slug Sleuth role is to act as a project ambassador. This requires sharing knowledge online, at events, with the press and within their own farmer networks.
A Root Ranger is a farmer paid to carry out on-farm trials to inform SSM practices and to evaluate novel genetics and bioproducts while also acting as a project ambassador for the TRUTH project.
Root Rangers are required to collect soil cores, rhizosphere and bare soil samples and, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) samples. We are also asking our Root Rangers to plant a strip of one of the exciting wheat varieties provided by John Innes Centre. Another part of the Root Ranger role is to act as a project ambassador. This involves sharing knowledge online, at events, with the press and within their own farmer networks.
