This is one of the questions being explored by 2026 Nuffield Scholar Matthew Steel. As agriculture faces increasing pressure to reduce emissions, cut input costs and improve efficiency, many farm businesses are already evolving. Renewable energy is already part of the picture on many farms, from solar to AD, but what if the next step …
What if farmers weren’t just producing food, but fuel too? Read More »
Across climates, continents and farming systems, one thing united these Nuffield Presenting Scholars in Aberdeen: soil is no longer just a technical consideration, but a social, economic and cultural one too. From understanding why farmers change their practices, to investigating the future of peatland management, these two scholars offer complementary insights into how soil will …
Jamie Stokes – 2024 Nuffield Farming Scholar Getting an invite to write about what I have learnt from the last 18 months travelling for my Nuffield Scholarship is always welcome. I am a farmer from Cambridgeshire, running my family’s 1000ha ‘high-input, high-output’ arable farm, where we grow both target site and enhanced metabolism resistant blackgrass. …
Yorkshire entrepreneur Hannah Senior NSch has published her Nuffield Farming report ‘Innovating AgTech Entrepreneurship’, sponsored by the Elizabeth Creak Charitable Trust. The full report is now published and available on the Nuffield Farming report library. A recording of Hannah presenting at the Nuffield Farming Conference watch via the QR Code. During her Scholarship, Hannah travelled …
Nuffield Recommendations for ‘AgTech’ entrepreneurship and development Read More »
Written by Tim Stephens NSch, Catchment Management Specialist, Wessex Water A vital element Phosphorus (P) is essential for life in all its forms, but many UK rivers, lakes and wetlands suffer from an excess of this critical element. Too much P causes growth of algae and duckweed, which smothers aquatic life and starves the water …
As I embarked on my Nuffield scholarship in 2022, I held soil carbon markets (SCMs) in very high regard. The media buzz portrayed them as a transformative solution for promoting regenerative farming in UK agriculture. Sceptics of SCMs were dismissed as ‘killjoys’ and those likening it to the ‘wild west’ considered ‘spoilsports’. Soil carbon dynamics …
Written by Harry Barnett I never dreamt that a soil disturbing potato farmer like myself would be writing an article for the Direct Driller magazine but I feel privileged to share some of my findings and views. I am based on the Holkham Estate in North Norfolk, where I run a potato growing enterprise growing …
My name is Andrew Sincock and I grew up on my grandparents mixed Dairy, Beef and Arable Farm in Cornwall. My first job on the farm was mucking out an old stable that served as a temporary home for new mothers and their calves. The stable was 3 meters wide, roughly 6 meters long and …
Farming carbon or farming better? – A Nuffield Perspective Read More »
Written by Ranald Angus Ranald Angus NSch 2021 Before my Nuffield Farming Scholarship journey, I was fortunate enough to be given the chance to visit Argentina in 2014 on a Young Farmer’s study tour as part of a group of 15 enthusiastic young Scots. We gained a unique insight into an agricultural colossus on a …
By Toby Simpson NSch @tjsimpson Cast your mind back to January 2021, that particularly cold, dark, and dreary month made infinitely worse by the fact we were in a third lockdown with no end in sight. For me this was the background to an epiphany, while sat by the fire reading through old Nuffield papers, …
