- Analysis will help farmers to increase resilience to climate change and better support wildlife
- Visit UKCEH’s stand at Groundswell festival from 1-2 July to find out information
Farmers are being invited to sign up for a free whole-farm environmental analysis to guide their actions to support biodiversity and safeguard crop production.
Scientists from the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) will be available at the Groundswell regenerative farming festival to discuss the ‘Farm Health Check’. They say it is the most comprehensive assessment of its kind – and requires minimal input from the farmer.
The audit is derived from over 20 unique national datasets collected by UKCEH and other organisations using a combination of satellite and ground-based surveys.
The Farm Health Check can provide any farm in Great Britain with the following insights:
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Detailed mapping showing habitats and landscape features at a resolution of just three metres, including individual trees, hedges, field margins and ponds. The extent and height of hedgerows is also mapped using aircraft-borne laser technology.
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Crop mapping showing the diversity of both food and cover crops grown on the farm in the past 10 years.
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Important information on the farm’s soils including type, how much carbon they are storing and susceptibility to drought and waterlogging.
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An assessment on the potential of the farm to support wildlife including birds, insects, mammals, amphibians and reptiles, and opportunities to support nature recovery.
For this free evaluation, farmers just need to provide their SBI number. Those who use Omnia farm management software can give UKCEH access to receive additional assessments which will help support farmers’ decisions on fertiliser and pesticide use.
A measurement of nitrogen efficiency is based on a comparison between fertiliser inputs and yield data, while a separate feature of the health check calculates the environmental risks associated with a farm’s pesticide use.
Informing decision-making
Dr Margaret Bolton, a spatial data scientist at UKCEH, explained: “Armed with these invaluable data, a farmer can then make informed decisions that will not only benefit the environment but also boost their income, through greater efficiency or enabling them to secure additional funding.
“While companies provide assessments of separate aspects of farm management, we are providing a comprehensive, whole-farm environmental audit.”
UKCEH says the information provided by the health check will enable farmers to make their land and habitats more resilient to climate change, in order to improve crop production and better support biodiversity. If suitable, farmers’ actions could include agroforestry, natural flood management or deep-rooted herbal leys as well as improving soil organic carbon content, crop diversity and connectivity between habitats.
They can use digital tools to guide decision making such as UKCEH’s e-Planner. This free tool helps identify the most suitable sites within their farm for different environmental management options, such as woodland creation, pollinator-rich habitats and wet grassland restoration, via easy-to-use, interactive maps.
Julian Gold, farm manager at the Hendred Estate in Oxfordshire, said: “My first impression of the Farm Health Check is that it is an accessible and user-friendly platform that brings together the myriad of environmental issues and considerations that our farm business increasingly has to take account of alongside our food production activities.”
He added the recording and scoring of environmental features and actions would be really useful to enable Natural Capital benchmarking.
Unique perspective
UKCEH has already agreed to provide Farm Health Checks for 20 farmers initially through a collaboration with the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), with a further 150 planned by the end of the year.
Mary Vickers, Senior Environment Manager at AHDB, said: “The Farm Health Check brings together a wealth of data that provides a unique perspective for farmers, in a way that can help them make management decisions that benefit their business and the environment.”
UKCEH will again be based at Stand C36 in the Demonstration Field during Groundswell, held at Lannock Farm, Hertfordshire, 1-2 July, and we are inviting anyone interested in receiving a free Farm Health Check to visit us then. Alternatively, go to agzeroplus.org.uk/farm-health-check for more information and a sign-up form.
The free Farm Health Check is part of the AgZero+ research programme, which receives UK Research and Innovation funding. It is supporting the UK’s transition towards domestic food production that is sustainable, carbon-neutral and has a positive effect on nature.
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Media enquiries
For interviews and further information, please contact: Simon Williams, Media Relations Officer, UKCEH. Email simwil@ceh.ac.uk or call +44 (0)7920 295384.
Notes to Editors
In addition to being at Groundswell, Professor Richard Pywell of UKCEH, who co-leads Agzero+, will be discussing the Farm Health Check at Reset Connect, the flagship London Climate Action Week event. He will be speaking at a session on managing land in a changing climate alongside UKCEH peatland biogeochemist Chris Evans from 10.30-11am on 23 June at the conference at Excel London. Registration for visitors and journalists is free in advance.
About our remote sensing data
UKCEH’s Land Cover Map series uses satellite imagery to depict broad habitats including grasslands, arable, water, woodlands, urban and suburban across the length and breadth of Great Britain. We have built on this to produce an enhanced version covering more habitats (eg hedgerows and field margins) at a finer resolution, with each pixel representing a three-metre square of land.
We have also recently produced a soils map, which provides more detailed, harmonised and easily updated information on key aspects of the soils that underpin the UK’s ecosystems and food production.
UKCEH’s hedgerow map, comprising data on heights and widths, was derived from aerial laser scanning of England’s entire landscape.
About AgZero+
This five-year programme brings together a community of researchers and farmers to evaluate innovative farming methods and to define practical pathways to achieving “net zero plus” arable and livestock farm systems.
UKCEH is leading implementation of AgZero+ and supporting its operation working in partnership with, Rothamsted Research, British Geological Survey, Plymouth Marine Laboratory and the National Centre for Earth Observation. Funding is provided by the Natural Environment Research Council and the Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council, which are both part of UK Research and Innovation. agzeroplus.org.uk
About the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH)
UKCEH is a world-leading independent research institute delivering environmental science across land, water, and air. With over 600 scientists, we have worked with the farm industry for over 30 years to turn data and evidence into practical insight for regenerative and resilient agricultural systems.
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