AHDB Strategic Cereal Farms aim to putting cutting-edge research and innovation into practice on commerical farms. Each farm hosts field-scale demonstrations, with experiences shared with the wider farming community. Niab has partnered with AHDB to deliver the new Strategic Cereal Farm Midlands. Will Oliver hosts Strategic Cereal Farm Midlands. The farm is keen to invetsigate how to optimise inputs, whilst maintaining yield and improving rotational management.

Niab's Farming Systems and Pathology teams have collaborated to deliver three inital workpackages:

1. Management of maize residue for establishment and disease risks of a following winter wheat crop in a direct drill system
2. Optimising organic amendments in nutrient management planning for winter wheat
3. Testing novel technologies to improve disease and nitrogen management in winter wheat (in collaboration with SporeSense, a technology company that uses AI biosensors to aid early disease detection)

Partners

Funders

Duration

2025-2031

More information on the project website

Several EU-funded projects have investigated methods of improving soil management practices and creating viable and sustainable alternatives to peat as a soilless substrate. The data and outcomes of one of these projects ‘EXCALIBUR’ will now be exploited by transforming agri-food by-products either into soil fertilising products or sustainable alternatives to peat substrates.

Within the project, Niab is working with ReCoir Ltd to recycle and repurpose spent coir for fruit and vegetable production. 

Spin-Fert website

Partners

A total of 19 other partners from EU countries will collaborate with Niab

Funding

Horizon Europe

Duration

June 2024 to November 2027

It is now generally accepted that apple replant disease (ARD) is a disease-complex primarily caused by microbial pathogens. Recent research by Niab, funded by BBSRC and the EU, has shown that disease severity is reduced where newly planted trees are planted on a rootstock genetically distinct from the previous one and the trees are in the previous grass alley. Amending soils with specific biopesticides and microbes or organic composts further reduced the problem. In this project, Niab will evaluate an integrated approach to control using all these treatments in combination. 

With fruit growers keen to maximise yield potential from every soil-grown tree or plant, it is important to employ land which is in optimum health, but it can be difficult to determine the relative health of a field soil.

In this project, Niab and Verdant Carbon Ltd seek to develop a test that will reliably assess the abundance and functionality of soil microbial communities, and relay the information to the grower in a simple-to-understand metric. The work also aims to measure the health of soil nutrient (carbon and nitrogen) cycling functions, to further support environmentally positive farming.

Funder: Innovate UK

Industry partner: Verdant Carbon Ltd

Term: August 2024 to January 2026