5 July 2024

In the final week of campaigning ahead of Thursday's UK General Election, political parties were criticised by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) for their ‘deafening silence’ on climate change. The CBI’s CEO, Rain Newton-Smith, said that the next government must prioritise climate change, biodiversity loss and net zero to ensure economic growth.

Labour pledged their support for rural communities shortly ahead of the election after their analysis showed that over 12,000 rural businesses have closed since 2010. They said they will boost rural growth and improve food security following Brexit setbacks and climate-related challenges which have impacted profits. This comes as farmers in Wales held events to highlight the importance of agriculture and the difficulties currently faced by farmers.

Groundswell, the regenerative farming festival took place in Hertfordshire last week, where a new regenerative agriculture charter was launched. The charter was developed by agronomy firm Hutchinsons, and aims to help growers carry out regenerative practices, avoid common pitfalls and mitigate against risk, pointing to soil as ‘the most important resource on any farm’.

Also at Groundswell, the results of three research projects centred around regenerative farming were discussed. The H3 project found that the use of regenerative practices led to a 70% increase in earthworm populations while the Fix Our Food project stacked regenerative principles and measures their impacts, demonstrating changes in soil organic carbon after 18 months. AgZero+ is creating benchmarks to define pathways to net zero for domestic food production.

New data from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) has shown that over 50% of arable soils fall below their recommended target of pH 6.7 – a sharp drop from previous years. Crop nutrition agronomist Sajjad Awan suggests a number of factors contribute to this decline, including the weather and different sampling protocols. Low pH levels mean that plants are less able to absorb critical nutrients, and arable crops are most efficient in slightly acidic soils.

As part of a series looking at how companies value and protect freshwater systems, an article in GreenBiz has discussed actions being taken by the food industry to restore the ecosystems which support the freshwater supplies they rely on. It describes how companies and investors are increasingly interested in freshwater ecosystems, and are taking actions to reduce their impact on these ecosystems for the multiple benefits they serve, including for soil health, carbon storage and flood protection.

The film Six Inches of Soil, which follows the stories of British farmers who are beginning their journey with regenerative farming has been released for online viewing. Following a successful run of cinema and community screenings after the film’s premier at the Oxford Real Farming Conference in January and the release of a subsequent book, the film can now be streamed online.