Energy & Environment

Video: Farmer Michael Orchard on the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot

We asked farmers helping us co-design the Sustainable Farming Incentive to share their experience in a video diary. In this video, Michael Orchard gives us a tour of his livestock farm in the Peak District National Park. He shares the improvements he'd like to see come out of the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot.

Updated: Thu Mar 10 2022

Identifying CITES-listed sharks amidst a global pandemic

Warning: This blog contains images of sharks without fins or heads as part of a training exercise to identify species by their trunks. Some people may find this distressing. Since last we spoke It seems like a lifetime ago since ...

Updated: Thu Mar 03 2022

Future Farming Podcast: Government-funded innovation

In the seventh episode of the Future Farming podcast, Tim Mordan, Defra's Head of Farming Innovation, Productivity and Science talks to Rui Andrês, CEO of Fieldwork Robotics, about their innovative raspberry robot picker.

Updated: Mon Feb 28 2022

Get Help with Catch Recording

We are hosting a series of drop-in sessions to help fishers with under-10m vessels with their catch recording obligations. We want to support and enable a profitable, sustainable fishing industry. So improving understanding of how much and which species of ...

Updated: Fri Feb 11 2022

Watch Episode 1: Land Management Plans and the Sustainable Farming Incentive Pilot

In the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot, we provided farmers with 3 different land management plan templates. Each template was developed through tests and trials. One of the templates was developed by the North Devon Pioneer tests and trial group. In this video, find out how participants Liz and Bryan, used land management planning to prepare their farm business for the future.

Updated: Thu Feb 10 2022

A year in review - where are we on net zero?

In 2021, the Environment Agency outlined how it would reach net zero by 2030. Here, Sustainable Business Manager Simon Dawes looks back at the challenges and achievements - and anticipates what's yet to come in 2022.

Updated: Tue Feb 08 2022

WWF report on supporting farmers in green transition

Today's coverage looks at Defra's response to a new WWF report, calling on the government to deliver decarbonisation strategies to help farmers shifting towards nature-friendly approaches to tackling climate change.

Updated: Tue Feb 08 2022

Enabling nuclear regulation for a net zero future

The Environment Agency's New Reactors Assessment Team has been leading an assessment of a nuclear power station design since 2017. Here the team's manager, Alan McGoff, reflects on the five year project and looks forward to regulating the nuclear industry ...

Updated: Fri Feb 04 2022

Future Farming Podcast: Tim Parton on nitrogen-fixing bacteria and nutrient-dense food

In the sixth episode of the Future Farming Podcast, Programme Director Janet Hughes talks to Tim Parton. Tim is Farm Manager at Brewood Park Farm, Staffordshire, where he manages 300 hectares using regenerative agriculture methods. Find out how Tim moved to no-till, reduced insecticide and fungicide use and brewed his own nitrogen-fixing bacteria.

Updated: Wed Feb 02 2022

Improving Farm Productivity grants: open for applications

At the end of last year, we published a manual on the Improving Farm Productivity grant, which is part of the Farming Transformation Fund. Today we opened the window for applications. We're also hosting a webinar next week for you to find out more.

Updated: Wed Feb 02 2022

Improving Farming Productivity grant: dairy scoring update

The 2-step application process for the Improving Farm Productivity grant starts with an online eligibility checker. Unfortunately, the online checker was scoring dairy sector applications 'weak' or 'average'. It did not appear possible to score highly. This error was investigated and a glitch in the scoring was identified. It has been fixed. Those who were deterred from applying because of this are encouraged to try again. No one will be disadvantaged because of this.

Updated: Wed Feb 02 2022

Water companies required to do more to protect environment

There has been coverage in the Times, Guardian, Business Green and elsewhere about the Government's priorities set out today for the water industry, including doing more to protect the environment and reduce storm overflows. The new Strategic Policy Statement ...

Updated: Wed Feb 02 2022

Introducing the UK Agriculture Partnership

The UK's devolved administrations already work closely to ensure their policies are aligned. However, to share scientific ideas, solutions and innovations, Defra set up the UK Agriculture Partnership. It launched today and we'd like to share a little more about it in this post.

Updated: Thu Jan 27 2022