Sustainability is an important topic at the moment, especially in farming. With the population growing and natural resources waning, it’s pivotal that we focus on sustainable agriculture. Read on to find out what is being done in the UK to combat this issue and what you can do to help.
Path to sustainable farming
The key way the UK is hoping to increase sustainability in farming is set out in the government’s 2021 path to sustainable farming policy, which proposes a few fundamental changes, including:
– Introducing the Environmental Land Management scheme, designed to incentivise sustainable farming practices and tackle climate change
– Placing more focus on improving animal welfare and health
– Creating a Farming Investment Fund to support productivity and innovation
– Reducing Direct Payments and redirecting funds to new grants and schemes designed to boost farmers’ productivity as well as reward environmental improvements
– Improving already established schemes to reduce the burden on farmers
This roadmap has been established with the goal of enforcing all these changes over seven years so that by 2028, farmers in England will be able to produce healthy food sustainably as well as be able to improve the environment and support animal health and welfare. Aside from this, there is also hope that the changes will help to reduce carbon emissions.
The first steps
As of June 2022, The Sustainable Farming Incentive is available to farmers. This is the first of three new schemes focusing on land management. Throughout these schemes, the goal is to grow sustainable farming with a spotlight on the basics of food production. Healthy soil, biodiverse ecosystems and water will be of particular interest and establishing these core things will help to ensure long-term food security.
Everyday solutions
While these schemes and grants are very helpful in incentivising and promoting sustainability, there are ways you can improve that of your crops even more quickly. Verdesian Life Sciences, for example, has been working on ways to help farmers improve their water quality, the health of their soil and plant nutrition, all leading to improved crop performance. Again, these core elements are the fundamentals to ensuring sustainability and producing the most crops with the least resources.
The Nutrient Use Efficiency solutions created by Verdesian are entirely focused on using science to boost yield and maximise the potential of each plant. The result of their research is a wide range of products that can nurture and benefit your plants, even on as large a scale as farmlands. Alongside government schemes, it is these initiatives that can help sustainable farming to grow in the UK and provide a much more hopeful future for the expanding population.
