New guidance to help businesses prepare for EU trade agreement 

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Farming across the UK, Farming and Countryside Team

The government is agreeing a new deal with the EU to make it easier to trade and move plants, animals, food and related products between the UK and EU. We’ve now published guidance to help businesses understand what these changes could mean in practice and the steps they may need to take to prepare.

Apply now for a water screening study 

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Guest post, Water
Wide landscape view of a green marshland with tall grasses and patches of reeds in the foreground, leading to a calm, narrow stretch of water in the middle distance. A low tree line sits along the horizon, and above it a large, partly cloudy sky shows a mix of soft grey clouds and blue patches with warm light near the horizon.

Farmers in England can apply for a Local Resource Option (LRO) screening study. These studies help groups of farmers explore practical ways to secure reliable water supplies and improve long-term resilience. In this post, we explain how the studies work, what they can help farmers achieve, and how to apply.

Watch: lessons from farmers growing herbal leys in the Derbyshire White Peak

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Farming across the UK

Last summer, we visited farmers in the Derbyshire White Peak to hear what they’ve learned from growing herbal leys in improved grassland systems. Working with Catchment Sensitive Farming adviser Ben Rodgers, they have been exploring how multi-species swards can be integrated into grassland farming. In this post, we’re sharing the first films from that work.

Farming podcast: building resilience through soil and water management

Posted by: and , Posted on: - Categories: Conversations we're having, Defra Farming Podcast
Green background with illustrated farmland and silhouettes of two people walking, alongside text naming speakers Hannah Barrett, Charlie Ennals and Thomas Gent, and three small speaker headshots.

In this episode, a Catchment Sensitive Farming adviser speaks to two arable farmers. One farms in Norfolk and the other in Cambridgeshire. They discuss how natural processes, like soil and water management, can help farms reduce costs.

Farming Innovation Investor Partnerships: helping new solutions reach farms

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Payments for research and innovation
Photograph of a small, gray, porous pellet resting on bright green moss with scattered dry leaves and grass around.

Through the Farming Innovation Investor Partnerships competition, 12 projects are expected to secure more than £40 million in private investment to help bring agri-tech innovations to market. A further competition will open next month.