Monthly Digest - April 2025

Monthly Digest – April 2025

Dr Dannielle Robb

Apr, 25 2025

Reminder: The deadline for submitting revenue claims under the Countryside Stewardship Scheme & Environmental Stewardship is 11.59pm on Wednesday Thursday 15th May.

Further information can be found here for the Countryside Stewardship Scheme and here for Environmental Stewardship.

Land Use Framework

The government is consulting on their vision for land use in England and how to deliver it. This consultation will inform the development of a Land Use Framework which intends to minimise trade-offs and optimise land use. An open consultation is ongoing at the moment, where Ceres Group will be submitting a response.

The framework details the anticipated land use change by 2050 under the below categories:

Category 2: Small changes maintaining the same agricultural land use (e.g. introducing nature in margins) – 1% (50kha)

Category 3.1: Changes in agricultural land use, for both food and environmental benefits (mainly incorporating more trees alongside food production) – 4% (370kha)

Category 3.2: Changes in agricultural land use, mainly for environmental benefits with limited food production (e.g. restoration of species-rich grassland habitats) – 5% (430kha)

Category 4: Change away from agricultural land, for environmental benefits (e.g. creation of woodland) – 9% (760kha)

UK Pesticides National Action Plan 2025: working for a more sustainable future

At the end of March, Defra published their national action plan for pesticides. This is not a binding framework, rather a set of objectives intended to support farmers to voluntarily undertake activities to manage pests/pesticides more sustainably (for the benefit of the environment and human health). The objectives are:

Reduce potential harm from pesticides by 10% by 2030. This target aims to deliver quantifiable outcomes by accounting for both amount used and toxicity of a pesticide.

Encourage the uptake of Integrated Pest Management (IPM).

Strengthen compliance to ensure safety and environmental outcomes.

Currently, this document does not provide much in the way of support other than referring to ADAS’s IPM network, the recognition of the farming equipment and technology fund (which is TBC this spring) and listing the IPM approach.

Planning and Infrastructure Bill – what does it mean for farming?

The bill aims to expedite the construction of 1.5 million homes and critical infrastructure projects, stimulating economic growth. Three key provisions that may affect farming are:

Compulsory Land Acquisition: The Bill grants Natural England the authority to compulsorily acquire farmland to create nature reserves. This measure is intended to offset environmental impacts from new developments, allowing construction projects to proceed while funding conservation efforts elsewhere.

Nature Restoration Fund: Developers can contribute to a centralised Nature Restoration Fund instead of addressing environmental obligations on a case-by-case basis. This approach aims to streamline the planning process but raises concerns about the potential loss of productive agricultural land.

Changes to Compulsory Purchase Compensation: Local authorities will have increased powers to acquire land for development at reduced costs by disregarding “hope value,” which could lead to lower compensation for farmers whose land is acquired.

This bill is not yet legally binding, here you can view the stage at which it is at within the House of Commons.

A standard to support fair and transparent nature markets

The British Standards Institution (BSI), funded by Defra and the devolved administrations, recently launched a standard designed to bring greater confidence and consistency to nature markets in the UK. It is the first of its kind. The BSI Overarching Principles Standard, the first in a suite known as the Nature Investment Standards, sets out clear guidelines on transparency, measurement, governance and environmental benefits in nature markets.

AHDB find signs of of yellow rust on several winter wheat varieties classified as resistant

AHDB discusses unusual early observations of yellow rust on several winter wheat varieties (including Champion, Dawsum, Typhoon, Costello) in some Recommended Lists (RL) trials. Some varieties historically classified as susceptible at the young plant stage are currently relatively clean at the impacted trial sites. This suggests a potential pathogen population shift that may have displaced some other yellow rust strains. The new strain is working south into Yorkshire and South Lincolnshire.

Monitor crops more closely this season and do not rely solely on RL disease ratings. It might also be beneficial to apply Tebuconazole in with most varieties at Tz/T1, to knock out the infection, but as always, consult with a BASIS qualified advisor first.

New insecticide to control aphids in peas, beans and beet

Bayer’s flupyradifurone (Sivanto Prime) has been approved for use in Great Britain and Northern Ireland which is a new mode-of-action insecticide for use in sugar beet, peas and beans, claimed to “offer good control of aphids when used as part of an integrated approach”.

The Lower Thames Crossing has been approved

The Lower Thames Crossing has been approved by government, linking Tilbury, Essex and Gravesend in Kent. This will be the largest road tunnel in the UK, under a £9bn plan.

RASE London Lectures 2025

Minette Batters highlights that we need a plan for food and farming; nature should not and cannot be delivered at the expense of food production; education and advocacy are critically important; and people are the solution.

Residue N amendments enhance N recycling and support crop N needs through the growing season

Adding synthetic, manure, and crop derived residues (i.e. crop residue and green manure) as soil amendments increased mineralisation by 60%, 135%, and 214%, respectively, relative to the unamended controls, a recent scientific paper finds using meta-analysis (i.e. reviewing studies rather than direct measurement themselves).

Crop residue amendments induce higher immobilisation rates

Crop residue amendments enhance ammonium N pool size in the soil

Results suggest that crop residue N encourages tighter coupling of C and N cycles by delivering C rich substrates (i.e C:N ratio > 20:1) to soil microbes. This results in faster mineralisation-immobilisation processes and larger ammonium N pools (than manure or synthetic amendments), which encourages soil N recycling, supporting crop N needs throughout the growing season whilst minimising N losses.

Increasing grassland resilience to drought

We know that climate change is bringing more frequent and severe droughts to the UK. Strategies to increase grassland resilience to drought include:

Maintain and increase soil organic matter (increasing the capacity of the soil to hold water)

Minimise soil compaction (improving water infiltration)

Diversify plant species, including varieties with different rooting depths and drought-tolerant varieties (e.g. tall fescue and cocksfoot – but be mindful of their establishment requirements)

IAgrM share new ideas for better environmental management

IAgrM share new ideas for better environmental management, including species recording and identification, Nature Recovery Groups, refuge areas and alternative incentives.

AHDB Climate Change Adaptation report

The AHDB have recently published their Climate Change Adaptation report. The report highlights:

Climate change threatens farm assets and productivity of UK agriculture significantly

Changing weather presents some opportunities relating to: different legumes for home-grown proteins, lower winter feed and energy costs from livestock housing due to warmer winters and new potentially viable crops such as soya and sunflower.

As international food systems become more exposed to climate change, supply shocks will cause food price spikes and market volatility. (All the more reason to increase the priority of food security in the UK!).

This report links in with a scientific modelling paper, shared in February’s Digest, reporting what food might be grown in the UK in 2080 due to climate change.

Innovation & Research Caucus release report on UK Agri-tech

This report set out to map the innovation and commercialisation of infrastructure for the Agri-tech sector in the UK. Despite the UK’s leading research capabilities in Agri-tech, there are gaps in translating this research into marketable solutions that can achieve widespread commercial success and global reach. Some key take aways include:

The UK Agri-tech businesses operate across various technology areas, including the top contributors in Biotechnology (28%), Remote Sensing (19%), Management Platforms (16%) and Automation (13%).

Commercialisation challenges include; capital and funding, accessing government grants, misaligned stakeholder expectations (e.g. speed of development), perceived riskiness and low investor confidence, inadequate policy coordination.

Investment opportunities to boost UK Agri-tech commercialisation include infrastructure support, flexible funding, collaborative adoption models, and enhanced financial and engagement backing.

There is much more to this report, but it highlights the importance of knowledge exchange between science, Agri-tech and the industry which Ceres Research is well placed to contribute towards.

CLA-backed research explores lasting impact of BPR and APR changes

CLA-backed research highlights lasting impacts from the BPR and APR changes which could cost 200,000 jobs, create a £1.9bn fiscal loss, and reduce economic activity by £14.9bn, with many family businesses and farms cutting jobs and investment.

On that note, If you’re one for a podcast and still haven’t quite got your head around Inheritance Tax changes, this episode is for you.