European dairy cooperative Arla has started to pay out a monthly incentive to its farmer owners based on their sustainability efforts.

The incentive is a data-driven and science-based points system that rewards climate activities and other environmental initiatives on farms.

Arla expects to pay out €2.2 billion (US$2.39 billion) until 2030 for the farmers’ sustainability efforts.

When Canadian dairy farmer Ben Loewith's calves are born next spring, they will be among the first in the world to be bred with a specific environmental goal: burping less methane.

Loewith, a third-generation farmer in Lynden, Ontario, in June started artificially inseminating 107 cows and heifers with the first-to-market bull semen with a low-methane genetic trait.

"Selectively breeding for lower emissions, as long as we're not sacrificing other traits, seems like an easy win," Loewith said.

A low-tech solution to help farmers make more money from their muck could also help reduce the spread of antibiotic resistance from sewage and manure, scientists say.

Adding conductive materials, such as biochar, to anaerobic digestors when processing sewage sludge and manure on farms has been proven to help boost biomethane production, which can then be sold.

But now it’s also been found that adding relatively low-cost additive materials like biochar to the process could also help reduce the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) by more than 90%.

The NFU has said it is 'shocking' that just over half of the food eaten by the British public is grown in the UK.

The finding is included in a new EFRA committee report, which also found that the number of households experiencing food insecurity was at a greater proportion than it was during the pandemic

One fifth of households experienced moderate or severe food insecurity in January 2023, according to the food security report.

Fourteen research projects are to receive a share of £9m of government funding to tackle endemic disease in the UK livestock sector, to improve the productivity, health and welfare of animals.

Phase two of the £11.5m Endemic Livestock Diseases Initiative has made grants available of between £500,000 to £1m for each project to tackle challenges associated with endemic disease in livestock.

The projects span the breadth of the livestock sector, encompassing pigs, poultry, beef, sheep and dairy, with significant emphasis on digital agriculture and machine learning. Nine of the projects incorporate cutting-edge technologies to advance disease monitoring, diagnosis and prevention.

The government has been told by a cross-party group of MPs to commit to a 'sea change' in its attitude towards food security. The new report, by EFRA Committee, pointed out that only a little over a half (54%) of the food eaten in the UK is home-grown or home reared.

It said shocks to international trade such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Brexit had exposed some of the UK’s vulnerabilities. MPs who sit on the Committee urged the government to develop a suite of key food security indicators – from farm inputs to retailer outputs – to monitor and ensure food security.

A government failure to step in and protect the domestic production of nitrogen fertiliser and ammonia poses a major food security risk, MPs have warned.

Nitrogen fertiliser is used by UK farmers on 89% of crop area for tillage crops such as wheat, barley, potatoes and sugar beet and 59% of grass, but there is only one producer in the country – US-owned CF Fertilisers.

This company, which recently announced it would permanently close its Billingham site for producing ammonia, used to make fertiliser, only meets about 40% of UK need.

A new research project aims to explore the potential for domestic production and pump-prime the UK’s first chickpea breeding programme.

The two-year study 'Cicero' has been awarded £500,000 to crop science organisation NIAB, with it focusing on the cool-season legume, chickpea (Cicer arietinum).

In common with other nitrogen-fixing legumes, the crop has the potential to reduce on-farm fertiliser requirements and emissions associated with fertiliser production and application.

A new approach to growing algae in Scotland could offer a sustainable boost for the aquaculture and agriculture sectors, by providing locally sourced, alternative protein sources and ingredients for feeds.

Experts in animal nutrition from Biosimetrics and Abrimar, both based in Edinburgh, are working alongside researchers at the Scottish Association of Marine Science (SAMS) to explore the optimum conditions required for growing algae as a novel feed ingredient. Funded by the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC), the results of the project could help to unlock new Scottish supply chains for natural and sustainable feeds.

Previous studies have demonstrated the potential of algae as a high-quality, nutritious alternative to imported soy and fishmeal protein, however, the cost and complexity of scaling up to mass production has meant the process has not yet been developed further. For this project, species were specifically selected for their commercial viability, to minimise potential waste and maximise value.

Scientists are using automated sensors and AI over the next four years to demonstrate the effectiveness of on-farm environment and peatland restoration schemes.

The UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) will be deploying solar-powered biodiversity monitoring stations comprising camera ‘traps’ and acoustic recording equipment at farms to monitor wildlife.

There will be stations at farms that are undertaking practices to reduce emissions, increase carbon capture and support wildlife, such as agroforestry and wildflower hay meadows. Stations will be placed in areas of the farm that do, and do not, have agri-environment measures, and will be used to measure the impacts of these schemes on species populations.