Prehistoric farmers located in what is now Britain pioneered dairy farming around 7,000 years ago, archaeologists say.

Molecular remains of food left in pottery used by Europe's first farmers was analysed by scientists from the University of York.

They report evidence of dairy products in 80% of the pottery fragments from the Atlantic coast of what is now Britain.

Europe is heating faster than the global average as new data indicates that last year was the warmest on record.

While globally the year was the second warmest, a series of heatwaves helped push the region to a new high mark.

Over the past five years, global temperatures were, on average, just over 1C warmer than at the end of the 19th century. In Europe, in the same period, temperatures were almost 2C warmer.

A High-Performance Computing (HPC) platform that will increase the pace of crop science and climate change research has been established by six leading UK research organisations.

The new HPC cluster is dedicated to the study of crop genetic diversity. It will enable crop researchers to share data, develop new methods of analysis and deliver training, and act as the basis for establishing new collaborative programmes of innovative science.

Funded by BBSRC, and with support from the Scottish Government, the project has been led by the crop research organisation NIAB, in partnership with the James Hutton Institute, the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Scotland’s Rural College, the Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh and the Natural History Museum.

NFUS vice-president Martin Kennedy has highlighted the drastic fall in air pollution in UK cities as a result of Covid-19 lockdown measures has confirmed agriculture as ‘part of the solution’ to mitigating climate change.

According to data collected by the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS), a 50-60 per cent reduction in the use of transport during the crisis has resulted in a major drop in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, particularly nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM2.5)

With emissions from agriculture accounting for just 10 per cent of the UK’s GHG emissions, Mr Kennedy said the data was useful in highlighting how agriculture had been unfairly demonised for its contribution to climate change.

Scientists have made a gene breakthrough in the fight against weeds, allowing - for the first time - a chance to study the genetics responsible for herbicide resistance.

Since the invention of weed killers, farmers have been caught in a never-ending arms race with weeds – from the moment of first spraying weeds start to develop resistance to the chemicals – and year on year, the armoury is shrinking.

Now scientists have reported they have used plant viruses to switch weed genes off, or alternatively, ramp up the production of specific proteins by weeds in the laboratory.

Wearable sensors are being developed to help monitor the health of dairy cows with the aim of identifying the disease brucellosis at an earlier stage.

The 'fitbit' product is non-invasively placed on livestock monitoring daily activities 24/7, according to developer IceRobotics, a British agri-tech company.

Advanced processing of this information will help vets to monitor any changes in behaviour which could be early indicators for illness and allow them to shortlist livestock at an early stage.

A study comparing historic and modern wheat varieties grown side by side has shown an increase in dietary fibre and other benefits to human health.

This is contrary to concerns that the push for higher yields has made today’s wheat less “healthy” than older types.

The 39 wheats varieties, spanning a period of 230 years, were grown three years running at Rothamsted Research in Hertfordshire.

Rewarding British farmers for looking after their soil should take 'centre stage' in post-Brexit agricultural policy, a Royal Society report has said.

Farmers who focus on the quality and structure of their soil could help the United Kingdom meet its climate commitments.

The society's new Soil Structure and its Benefits report brings together evidence on the functions soils can perform.

British researchers have discovered a novel chemistry to protect crops from fungal diseases that threaten global food security.

The growing threat of microbial resistance against fungicides means scientists are racing to find new developments to safeguard food production.

In a new study published in Nature Communications, University of Exeter researchers report the identification of novel mono-alkyl chain lipophilic cations (MALCs) in protecting crops against Septoria tritici blotch in wheat and rice blast disease.

A vital knowledge gap about England’s environment has been uncovered by soil campaigners. They have discovered that just 0.41% of the cash invested in environmental monitoring goes on examining the soil.

That’s despite the fact that soils round the world – including in the UK – are said to be facing a crisis. The figures are startling: £60.5m goes to monitoring water quality, £7.65m to checking on air – but just £284,000 to auditing soil. The mismatch was revealed in a Freedom of Information (FoI) request by the Sustainable Soils Alliance (SSA).