Thomas Wilkinson
ADAS are pleased to be part of a cross industry project which aims to enable the reduction of agricultural emissions by 1.5Mt CO₂e a year. The project, ‘Nitrogen Efficient Plants for Climate Smart Arable Cropping Systems’ (NCS) is a four-year, PGRO led, ambitious research programme involving 200 UK farms and 17 industry partners.
The project aims to help farmers reduce agricultural emissions by 1.5Mt CO₂e a year by:
- Increasing pulse and legume cropping in arable rotations from 5% to 20% across the UK.
- Replacing up to 50% of imported soya meal used in livestock feed rations with more climate-friendly home-grown legumes
The Farm Carbon Toolkit will give 200 UK farmers direct support to establish their business’ carbon baseline. The GHG emissions from these farms will then be tracked throughout the project. The leading innovators among them will then be paid to co-design with scientists crop and feeding trials they will carry out on their farms, incorporating some of the latest research and innovations from leading UK institutes and tech companies. Data will be used to carry out the UK’s first full lifecycle analysis of cropping rotations and livestock systems.
ADAS will help collect field scale data via the Yield Enhancement Network, and will also launch the PulsePEP (Performance Enhancing Platform). The PulsePEP will be a hub for the farmer-led community striving to achieve the best from pulse crops and reduce carbon emissions, as well as a place for discussion on best practice on pulse cropping.
The project will be officially launched on the PGRO stand at this year’s Cereals Event (13-14 June), with a follow up webinar to explain the initiative and what’s on offer for farmers who wish to take part on Thursday 15 June at 2:00pm.
The project team urge farmers interested in being involved – or those who just have a passion for pulses – to sign up now by clickinghere.
More information about the NCS project can be found at ncsproject.co.uk