10 May 2024
An annual survey by the National Farmers Union (NFU) has shown that farmer confidence is at an all-time low in UK. The survey asked 800 farmers to rate confidence in their business’ prospects, with short-term confidence falling seven points behind the previous low (-25 in 2024 vs -18 in 2016). The NFU say this decline in confidence is due to extreme weather and the phasing out of EU subsidies.
The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) has criticised the government’s efforts to improve water quality. Their recently published report looked at the laws which protect waterways from pollution and found that enforcement of the laws was inadequate. The OEP showed that under their worst-case assessment, just 21% of rivers would be in good ecological state by 2027, falling short of the target of 77%.
Waitrose has announced new plans to source all meat, milk, eggs, fruit and vegetables from UK farms which use regenerative practices by 2035. The supermarket says that it will develop mechanisms to help farmers access affordable finance to support their transition, provide a market for regeneratively produced products and enable knowledge sharing and training via a permanent Centre for Excellence. This comes as outdoor brand Patagonia launch a new regenerative beer in partnership with Fieldwork Brewing.
Experts have warned that gardeners could be killing earthworms via the application of soil conditioners. The products, which are intended to remove worm casts from lawns, can contain saponins which are highly toxic to earthworms, even if they are labelled as organic. Campaigners are calling for the use of soil conditioners to be suspended until fully investigated and their impact on wildlife is understood.
The University of Lancaster have published a report which includes a series of recommendations for reducing the amount of soil which goes to landfill each year. Currently over half of soil from construction and demolition sites in England end up in landfill, the majority of which is safe and healthy. The report’s recommendations include the introduction of a soil specific legislative framework which includes forest, peat and urban soils, rather than solely agricultural.
Biodiversity expert Ash Welch has said that understanding soil health is critical to tracking the progress of nature restoration projects. The expert from consultancy firm AECOM says that you must understand soil health in order to plan and measure nature restoration projects because soil health will dictate what is or is not able to grow. Welch points to the value of eDNA to measure biodiversity without disturbance.
A team of researchers from Herriot Watt University have been awarded funding from the EU Horizon programme to determine whether pre-historic soil microbes could help improve present-day plant resilience. The project will examine soil samples from below the Arctic and test whether its DNA can help plants resist drought thanks to their adaption to a warming climate hundreds of thousands of years ago.
The Soil Association are asking the public to dance on the soil to draw up worms and count their numbers in order to gain an understanding of worm abundance across the UK. The worm count will be used as an indicator for healthy soil, and data submitted will be used to create a map showing where in the country the healthiest and most biodiverse soil is.