Cow’s stomachs could hold key to green fuels
Scottish scientists are investigating how tiny organisms found in the stomachs of cows could be used to create valuable industrial products including biofuels and pharmaceutical building blocks from waste plant materials. A three-way collaboration between life sciences company Ingenza, leading researcher Professor John Wallace, of the Rowett Institute in Aberdeen, and the ARK-Genomics facility […]
Beetles play an important role in reducing weeds
Researchers funded by the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the French Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) have found that ground beetles reduce the amount of weed seeds in the soil. Weeds reduce crop yields and these findings support the need to conserve farmland biodiversity as it plays an important […]
Minister in Big Society debate at The CLA Game Fair
The Governments Big Society agenda was hotly debated today (Friday, 22 July) at The CLA Game Fair. Defras Secretary of State Caroline Spelman, former Daily Telegraph Editor Sir Max Hastings, CLA President William Worsley and former RSPB Conservation Director and blogger Dr Mark Avery debated the topic Big Society in the Countryside Reality or Rhetoric? […]
TV star aims to create countryside showcase at Monmouthshire farm
Monmouthshire County Council cabinet members will meet next week to discuss a plan by top television presenter, Kate Humble to turn a local farm into a UK centre of excellence for rural skills. The scheme involves an innovative joint venture under which the authority, which currently owns the land, would retain a 30% interest in […]
Agriculture Companies Could be Wasting Thousands of Pounds on Fuel Inefficiency, Claims The Fuelcard Company
Agriculture companies facing spiralling fuel prices and shrinking budgets could be wasting thousands of pounds on fuel inefficiency caused by bad driving, according to leading fuel card reseller The Fuelcard Company. Exceeding speed limits, driving in the wrong gear, and braking too hard can increase fuel consumption by 40 percent, which, with the cost diesel […]
Null-Lox malting barley shines out in tour for leading brewers, maltsters and distillers
A group of thirty-five of the biggest brewers in the world, along with major EU and UK maltsters and distillers, have joined in the annual Gleadell malting barley tour through Wiltshire and Hampshire. “This was a very important tour for our customers, as France and Germany have very poor crops due to the extensive drought, […]
‘Working With Soil’ launched
Defra Deputy Chief Scientific Advisor, Dr Miles Parker, today helped launch Working with Soil. Devised by the Institute of Professional Soil Scientists (IPSS), this new professional competency scheme identifies minimum qualifications, skills and knowledge for practising soils scientists carrying out a range of key tasks. IPSS aims to establish the scheme as the de facto […]
Retailers make fruit and veg commitment to help tackle obesity
Retailers have today (Thursday) signed up to a new commitment to help consumers more easily hit the recommended target of eating at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, as part of the battle against obesity. The retail initiative is a response to the Scottish Governments Obesity Route Map and aims to help […]
National Trust acquires new farm in Cornwall
The National Trust has announced the acquisition of the 124 acre (50 hectare) Teneriffe farm, near Mullion on the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall. This purchase not only breathes new life into the farming landscape of this area but also ensures the future of a campsite, now under National Trust management, on this beautiful stretch […]
