tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37449904937973936412024-03-13T07:37:22.574+00:00Landbridge BlogspotAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06611210022136289790noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3744990493797393641.post-35785525310501730692017-03-01T15:11:00.004+00:002017-03-01T15:13:49.745+00:00Should rural policy beyond Brexit look beyond farming?<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Sally Shortall is Duke of Northumberland
Professor of Rural Economy at Newcastle University.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In our latest Landbridge blog she explains
why she would welcome a more holistic approach to rural policy in a post Brexit
world.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I grew up
on a farm, in a farming family, and my brothers still farm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My own academic career has included extensive
research on farming households, and particularly women’s work on farms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know how fundamental farming is for the
countryside, for our landscapes, our food production and our rural
economy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I also know that farming is
not an industry that operates in isolation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Agriculture may be the weft of a
rural community but it is woven through with many other industries and
businesses, from the micro to the multinational level.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">As the UK
prepares to exit the European community, we have a unique opportunity to take a
completely fresh look at a wide range of issues, including how we think about
the rural economy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the past 40 years
the Common Agricultural Policy has structured all the support provided.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Policymakers have attempted to draw environmental
protection and rural development into the picture and programmes such as LEADER
can demonstrate some successes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But has
this approach really reflected the tightknit linkages between businesses in the
countryside?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many farming households
include individuals working in professions and skilled occupations outside the
industry, or who are running their own businesses from home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We know that rural residents are a
particularly entrepreneurial bunch, with more business start-ups per head of
population than in many urban areas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Household income is often coming from a range of sources within and
beyond agriculture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know from my own
research that the role of women is often a key element in this pattern. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The farm
and its associated businesses are, in their turn, linked into the local
economy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They call upon the wide range
services needed from vets, agronomists, land agents, ecologists or financial
advisers, they are buying their bread from the local bakery, they are
interacting at every level. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">So maybe
policymakers should be thinking much more about support for this system of
rural development and entrepreneurship, rather than focusing only on one part
of it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is the approach we have
taken in the Centre for Rural Economy<a href="http://www.ncl.ac.uk/media/wwwnclacuk/centreforruraleconomy/files/imported/After%20Brexit%2010%20key%20questions%20(2017).pdf" target="_blank"> “After Brexit: 10 key questions for rural policy”</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At this stage we are not trying
to tell policymakers what they need to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It feels too early for that and we do not yet have enough information.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather we want to help define the
questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We know that predominantly
rural areas in England alone contribute at least £237 billion a year directly
to the economy and the UK countryside has the potential to contribute even
more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But policy in the past, has often
failed to meet the specific needs of rural communities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have urged the government to take more
account of these when moving into a post Brexit era.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Our 10
key questions cover issues from skills needs of the rural workforce, to housing
and infrastructure and the need to ensure communities are well connected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also aim to point up the opportunities,
for example, in maintaining the supply of public and environmental goods.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">We want
to launch our paper with policymakers over the next few weeks and we would
welcome any thoughts from Landbridge members, particularly those working and
living in rural communities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What do you
think? Please get in touch at <a href="mailto:landbridge@ncl.ac.uk">landbridge</a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"><a href="mailto:landbridge@ncl.ac.uk">@ncl.ac.uk</a></a></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06611210022136289790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3744990493797393641.post-78190352233075869452016-12-07T14:38:00.001+00:002016-12-07T14:38:20.026+00:00Farming water..?
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Phil
Lyth from Yorkshire Farming and Wildlife Partnership talks about what ecosystem
services could really mean for farmers.</span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5qSQBoqW0PkCKlGCQovDRH3fkZ1B1xsIAXs1PcHIxd89r27DmKVlqMOmdLKtVu4d6YLiVHyqUZbq3mr6VbWJGNeYcfUsKZasC3Os4KPUYolAV5_pzOqH23TLcapzWEXYwg3roi6Ek0ck/s1600/leaky+dam+construction.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5qSQBoqW0PkCKlGCQovDRH3fkZ1B1xsIAXs1PcHIxd89r27DmKVlqMOmdLKtVu4d6YLiVHyqUZbq3mr6VbWJGNeYcfUsKZasC3Os4KPUYolAV5_pzOqH23TLcapzWEXYwg3roi6Ek0ck/s400/leaky+dam+construction.bmp" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></i></b></div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Someone once reminded me that farming has never been about
just producing food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, we
hear a lot about modern energy crops, but oats to feed working horses were the
energy crops of their day, and many plants and animals were and are farmed to
produce fibre.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The talk now is very much about paying farmers for
ecosystem services, but I suspect many are put off by this term.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Basically it means paying for the things
which farmers can, and sometimes already do, produce which are not crops or
animals. Examples include farming systems which store carbon and therefore help
to combat global warming; practices which help to conserve biodiversity and
maintain an attractive landscape; and activities which help to reduce flooding
by “slowing the flow” of water though the land.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The latter is particularly topical in the area where<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>Yorkshire Farming and Wildlife
Partnership is working on an Environment Agency funded project (</span><a href="http://www.farmingandwildlife.net/projects.html"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue;">www.farmingandwildlife.net/projects.html</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">) following
last Boxing Day’s floods, which had major impacts on the Aire and Calder
rivers, causing damage in towns including Hebden Bridge and Leeds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cost of dealing with this flooding
justifies the idea of paying farmers to “farm water”, as long as the benefits
of this natural flood management are, well, “watertight”. Natural flood
management interventions have, in some studies, been shown to reduce the flood
peak by 40%.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjWCizqW-EbwuVHsZlZJWZCAlrcoC2j_kFK8maWtWdeXAkcVJvEVT32hdRfFOEOqNpwf0B8AsrH-JyX4A3YCcIUbfhqQLLT2Dh9e_BY7guAz5xnKLob7XTAuwIooU8LsRKRjJTfzuUSE4/s1600/woody+debris+dam+to+slow+the+flow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjWCizqW-EbwuVHsZlZJWZCAlrcoC2j_kFK8maWtWdeXAkcVJvEVT32hdRfFOEOqNpwf0B8AsrH-JyX4A3YCcIUbfhqQLLT2Dh9e_BY7guAz5xnKLob7XTAuwIooU8LsRKRjJTfzuUSE4/s320/woody+debris+dam+to+slow+the+flow.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As a result, our work with farmers in the Upper Aire over
the past six years, which was instigated to benefit the river water quality,
has started to also encourage natural flood management interventions on
farms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These include planting woodland
to reduce runoff and increase the rate that rainwater will soak into the soil; planting
hedges (50m of hedge can for example store between 150 and 375m3 of water); creating
leaky dams in headwater streams to provide temporary storage in times of high
flow; and promoting operations such as grassland aeration, which help to reduce
runoff, as well as improving grass growth by alleviating surface compaction.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Paying farmers for natural flood management benefits will be
a key theme as the government thrashes out the future of agri-environment
schemes following Brexit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Woodland
creation incentives which target areas where NFM benefits can be achieved are
already available.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several other
significant funding opportunities are currently in the pipeline, so the message
is watch this space.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the meantime, if
you would like to know more about how you could be involved on your farm, feel
free to get in touch for a chat via the contact details below.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht4QTLj0Qab0vKVOYeHMlR_FdZSGZU_azwL2uNetuvSU-x5gp6dOrBC8HeijCu_6fJzazWPugWrD3oq2cKQMAxaHhHvUd_4vHE0gMvzZ-lDAmHp80luCqwmGDvC5eaofqJDMnrzn3h6TE/s1600/Phil+Lyth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht4QTLj0Qab0vKVOYeHMlR_FdZSGZU_azwL2uNetuvSU-x5gp6dOrBC8HeijCu_6fJzazWPugWrD3oq2cKQMAxaHhHvUd_4vHE0gMvzZ-lDAmHp80luCqwmGDvC5eaofqJDMnrzn3h6TE/s200/Phil+Lyth.jpg" width="167" /></a></div>
<div style="border-image: none; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span><a href="mailto:phil.lyth@farmingandwildlife.net"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue;">phil.lyth@farmingandwildlife.net</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
</span><a href="http://www.farmingandwildlife.net/"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue;">www.farmingandwildlife.net</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <br />
0771 3333 170.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06611210022136289790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3744990493797393641.post-50595043022642034152016-09-27T14:20:00.001+01:002016-09-27T14:21:56.961+01:00Being a good listener and speaking a common language<br />
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<span style="color: black;"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Susannah </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Bolton, </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Director
of Knowledge Exchange at the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board,
took on a rapporteur’s role at the recent Landbridge SIP workshop, which gave her
a useful insight into how sustainable intensification – or maybe these kinds of
practices under a different name - could make a real difference on the farm and
what land based professionals need in order to make this happen.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">It was a very interesting workshop
hosted by Landbridge at Nafferton Farm in Northumberland which brought together
a very wide cross-section of individuals to discuss the role that advisers can
play in integrated farm management for sustainable intensification. Not
surprisingly one of the key things that we discussed was the problem of jargon
and how the term ‘sustainable intensification’ does not help in making the
output from the work funded under the Sustainable Intensification Platform
(SIP) any more accessible. Finding a common language seems so very simple, but
failure to do this lies at the heart of much of the breakdown in knowledge
exchange between researchers and agricultural practice. Dumbing down certainly
isn’t the answer, rather we have to find a shared language that makes sense to
all parties. This involves translation, which is a skill that we should value
increasingly – good translators also have to be good listeners. One of the
really nice things about the Landbridge workshop was that there was a great
deal of listening going on.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">We heard about some great case studies
of integrated farm management based on farm platforms around the country. The
helpful feature of these examples is that they are all on farms that can be
used to demonstrate and host discussions. There is nothing quite like seeing
the work in practice and on the ground to encourage people to consider how
these techniques could be used on their farms or by their clients. A key to
getting practices taken up more widely is to understand the decisions that farmers
and their advisers need to make. We have to grasp how we can provide the
underpinning science and understanding that will inform those decisions most
effectively. It’s not about a right or wrong answer, it’s about understanding
risk and benefit in the context of farm businesses. Quite often when risks and
benefits are assessed in terms of the longer term resilience of the business,
it becomes apparent that environmental sustainability and intensification are
no longer at odds with each other and that the apparent oxymoron is in fact a
win-win. But we do need the underpinning science and the skilled translators to
frame this in the right language.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06611210022136289790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3744990493797393641.post-86927101782432293702016-08-03T12:08:00.002+01:002016-08-03T12:11:00.810+01:00Brexit and agriculture – what now?<br />
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<a href="https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/people/grant/"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue;">Wyn Grant is Professor of Politics at
the University of Warwick</span></span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">. <span style="color: black;">He
carries out research into </span><span style="color: #383838;"><span style="color: black;">comparative public policy
with particular reference to the European Union (including the Common
Agricultural Policy) and the United States.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">With the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) accounting for
around 40 per cent of the EU budget, Brexit poses special challenges for
agriculture and the food chain more generally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We tried to identify and assess some of these challenges in the </span><a href="http://yas.co.uk/uploads/files/YAS_FSN_Brexit_-_Full_Report.pdf"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue;">report
of a working party</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> I chaired for the Yorkshire Agricultural
Society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The working party is going to
continue its activities, focusing on the Brexit negotiations and what a
domestic agricultural policy should contain.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There has been much speculation about how farmers voted
in the referendum and a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Farmers Weekly </i>poll
that showed 70 per cent of farmers favouring Brexit has become established in
the public mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, it should be
noted that this was based on self-selected respondents, rather than a
representative sample.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Our own equally unscientific straw polls taken at the end
of a series of well-attended talks on the referendum I gave throughout the
North of England showed a majority in favour of ‘Remain’ at every venue,
although quite a few were undecided.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Talking to members of the farming community at the Great Yorkshire Show,
there was a view that arable farmers had tended to vote ‘Remain’ and livestock
farmers had tended to vote ‘Leave’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Brexit presents an opportunity as well as a threat, a
chance to create a domestic agricultural policy that is more attuned to British
challenges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, it should be noted
that this will not be a UK policy for the most part, although there are
exceptions such as the reduced tax levied on ‘red’ diesel used by farmers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Up to now, however, the devolved administrations have
been constrained in their policy initiatives by the presence of the CAP
framework.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last CAP reform did,
however, give more opportunities to regional governments to develop their own
initiatives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In particular, while CAP
support is now generally ‘decoupled’ from production, they are permitted to
introduce ‘coupled’ initiatives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For
example, Scotland has recently introduced a support scheme for sheep on rough
grazing which pays €78 per ewe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On a
recent visit to the Orkney Islands, I was interested to note an increase in
sheep numbers relative to traditional beef cattle.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<a href="http://www.nfuonline.com/news/farming-and-the-eu/eu-referendum-rh-panel/nfu-launches-biggest-farming-conversation-for-a-ge/"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue;">The
National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has launched a major consultation</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">
with its members about the future direction of agricultural policy in
England.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is also working closely with
the farming organisations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As far as possible
it is seeking to build a coalition with other representative organisations such
as the Country Landowners and Businesses Association (CLA) and the Tenant
Farmers’ Association (TFA).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><a href="http://commonagpolicy.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/tfa-produce-plan-for-post-brexit-farm.html"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue;">The
TFA was the first out of the blocks with its own set of proposals</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">
which necessarily reflected the particular concerns of its members.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What is clear is that the so-called Pillar 1 or Basic
Payment subsidies are unlikely to continue in their present form.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For many farming businesses these payments
make the difference between running at a profit and at a loss.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For that reason, they are unlikely to be
withdrawn overnight, as the result would be the collapse of some farm businesses
and a further reduction in the UK’s ability to supply its temperate foodstuff
requirements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This has been falling
for some time and does represent a food security issue.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">However, the Treasury has long held to the view that the
current subsidies are market distorting and represent an undue burden on public
expenditure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If one wanted an
imaginative way of phasing out the subsidies, one could resort to an idea
advanced some years ago by the agricultural economist Alan Swinbank among
others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He suggested that farmers could
be issued with a bond that would have a status equivalent to gilt edged
stock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Farmers would then receive an
income from this bond for, say, ten years which would amount to a proportion of
the subsidies they had hitherto received.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Alternatively, they could sell the bond on the market and use the
capital released to invest in the farm business.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Other ideas have been floated by Defra such as some form
of crop insurance or helping farmers to use the future markets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These ideas merit further investigation, but
are not without their challenges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, the Pillar 2 or agri-environmental payments are likely to be
continued in some form or even be enhanced.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They address a sustainability agenda and have a coalition of support
that extends beyond farming.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There are some very complex issues that arise in terms of
agricultural trade, both in terms of relations with the EU and with other parts
of the world which have had trade agreements with the EU which will lapse in
relation to the UK after Brexit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Fortunately, we have two trade lawyers on our working party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another major issue is the future of the
plant protection regime, as is migrant labour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We shall plenty of work to test us.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06611210022136289790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3744990493797393641.post-21674489437973218132016-05-04T09:11:00.000+01:002016-05-04T09:11:23.173+01:00Practice v perspectives: a vet’s view of the health of the UK livestock sector
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Following a workshop on animal health funded
by the Wellcome Trust and supported by Kings College London and Landbridge
earlier in the year, vet Jonathan Statham has been pondering the multiple challenges
facing UK livestock farming and also coming up with some potential solutions.</span></span></i><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">At the
present time, farm animal health in the UK faces a number of particular
challenges that seem constantly to impede any improvement. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, why do we continue to resist
collaborative working in the livestock industry?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of our competitors internationally,
including parts of the rest of Europe, Oceania and Canada have managed to achieve
this but here in the UK a cultural shift in attitudes is required if farmers
are to work together. The devolved administrations have achieved a degree of
success but England in particular has largely lacked a collaborative
approach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">But to
initiate any change of direction of this kind we need long term strategic
leadership and any consideration of the present situation immediately reveals
significant weaknesses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The </span><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/animal-health-and-welfare-board-for-england-ahwbe"><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Animal Health and Welfare Board for
England (AHWBE)</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> is the principal source of departmental advice to Defra ministers on all strategic health and
welfare matters relating to livestock in England. The Board’s role is to set
the strategic policy framework, using it as the basis for day-to-day advice to
ministers and day-to-day operational actions. The sector councils such as the </span><a href="http://beefandlamb.ahdb.org.uk/returns/health-and-welfare/cattle-health-and-welfare-group-chawg/"><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Cattle Health and Welfare Group</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
offer a forum for engagement with stakeholders to feed into the AHWBE. However,
with the decline in the capacity of the wider state veterinary service, the </span><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/animal-and-plant-health-agency"><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Animal and Plant Health Agency</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
which “</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;">works to safeguard animal and plant
health for the benefit of people, the environment and the economy”</span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"> cannot <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">deliver</i> strategy effectively. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How does this impinge upon governance? The
state has increasingly adopted a light touch approach to governance in the
animal health sector and continual downward pressure on budgets has eroded
state infrastructure and morale. There is now a significant risk that strategic
direction is not being clearly delivered by the state despite an ongoing
expectation and aspiration to retain policy control. The cycle of general
election and party politics has also too frequently undermined the
opportunities for delivery of a long-term strategic vision, replaced instead
with a series of short-term bids for quick wins. There is a lack of a clear
delivery model. </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The major
pressure for producers at the moment comes, of course, from the global downturn
in commodities and punishing supply-demand cycling that as undermined their
confidence to re-invest in farm infrastructure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Consumers demand cheap food as a right and this is constantly
prioritised over quality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This helps to
stifle inflation but creates a disconnect between consumer expectations and the
ability of farming systems to deliver high-welfare, environmentally-friendly
products.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Many of the
businesses upon which we depend for our food security are in crisis, but the banking
sector, alongside the Rural Payments Agency, exacerbates their problems. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Farming has been let down in comparison with
other industries; current budgetary constraints are a consequence of a banking
crisis that culminated in tax payer bail out and yet we will not invest public
funds to support UK farmers. The failure to invest £405 million of funds by UK
treasury to access £405 million of EU rural development funding is, in my view,
unacceptable. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This support could have
been accessed two years ago; it has been well-used elsewhere in the EU as a
result of more supportive government policy in other countries.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What other
lessons could we learn from producers in other parts of Europe and beyond?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We could certainly follow the example of
countries such as Denmark or, increasingly, Ireland, in implementing a more
joined up approach to data collection and application.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Better quality data would help guide decision
making, and the application of precision farming methods, which could help
boost UK animal health.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A more positive
approach to farming and animal health professions would also help to encourage
young people into the industry, which does not enjoy the aspirational status in
the UK that it does in countries such as New Zealand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our failure to retain talent in livestock
research and management risks compromising the ability of the UK to develop and
compete in a global economy for food and animal health.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And where we do achieve excellent blue sky
research how well does this translate from research institutes into the grass
roots farming industry? Failure to navigate the “valley of death” of research
into practice is a recognised priority for UK animal health.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Plenty of
problems then, but how do I think we should be addressing them at all
levels?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For starters, I would advocate
the establishment of Animal Health UK (AHUK): an organisation to deliver a
strategic vision for farm animal health in the UK is what’s required in the
context of a light touch state without resources to invest. </span><a href="http://www.animalhealthireland.ie/"><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Animal Health Ireland</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> is among a number of examples of similar
solutions elsewhere. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>AHUK would operate <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as a not for profit company, including state
and private industry, with levy bodies, farming and veterinary organisations
working with key science such as </span><a href="http://www.checs.co.uk/"><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Cattle Health Certification Standards <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(CheCS</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">) and including laboratories
and endemic health scheme providers. This organisation would retain ownership
and manage the conflicts as they emerge. However, this must be a genuine
confederation of stakeholders and not an initiative hijacked by a single lobby
group.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Strategic 5-10
year plans for farm animal health are in play for key issues such as bovine TB
(bTB) and Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) eradication, but how are they
co-ordinated and by whom are they delivered? What does the joined up strategic
vision look like when constructed? AHUK could take action to join together a
number of disparate strategies and lobby for supportive legislation where appropriate.
BVD eradication including biosecurity management regarding boundaries,
purchased stock and data access, offer a bridge between public good and
commercial industry priorities by offering cross benefit to the bTB eradication
cause. Farm health planning offered a unifying theme several years ago as part of
the animal health and welfare strategy. </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What about
consumer demands for information on place of origin and clear labelling?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lack of transparency in this area is
inhibiting the ability of producers to add value and use points of difference
effectively in marketing. The pig industry has recently achieved breakthroughs,
but similar clarity has not been achieved in the dairy cattle industry.
Consumer choice cannot operate effectively without this; let’s legislate for
clear labelling.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As far as
data collection is concerned, multiple initiatives are now constructing a
variety of significant data platforms for the UK livestock industry. Joining
these together could offer a key step in delivering aspirations for improvement
- as long as we have a clear ownership structure and conflict management plan,
such as offered by AHUK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The emergence
of sensing technologies at increasingly affordable prices is offering real
potential for “Big Data” to feed back from commercial farms, not only to inform
research priorities, but also to support the replacement for what was a state-owned
disease surveillance network. </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">And what
can we do to stop the drain of talent from the UK? Veterinary surgeons in practice,
farmers in the industry and biological scientists all too often seek their
fortune abroad. Retention of talent in the farm animal health sector may be
more of an issue than attracting initial entrance. Effective knowledge exchange
requires effective lifelong learning structures and career pathways for all
these components of the vital people resource of our sector. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have to be able to offer people a
satisfying career that will keep them engaged over their whole working life.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Finally,
what about the gulf between research and practice?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There do seem to be some bright spots on that
horizon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The recent initiation of the family
of Agri-Tech research centres of excellence offers a long awaited opportunity
to deliver transformational research into the UK livestock centre. The </span><a href="http://www.cielivestock.co.uk/"><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock (CIEL</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">) has a
key role in connecting blue sky research with commercial livestock production
and exporting expertise abroad. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Thus, it’s
not all doom and gloom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But more joined-up
leadership and more creative thinking are needed to ensure the future of our
livestock industry and, indeed, the food security of the UK.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06611210022136289790noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3744990493797393641.post-31831305276599572562016-03-24T10:07:00.000+00:002016-03-24T10:07:30.705+00:00In or out? It all depends…
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">As
arguments about whether Britain would be better off in our out of the EU multiply, it all
depends say Dr Carmen
Hubbard and Professor David Harvey from Newcastle University's Centre for Rural Economy in our latest Landbridge blog.</span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">So much debate, so many arguments and it’s only March.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will anything be clearer by the time the
referendum on UK membership of the EU actually takes place in June?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will the British people have a clear idea of
what they want to achieve by means of their vote?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or will they be responding to a “gut
feeling”?</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">As academics we try always to consider the evidence, but
the problem with Brexit is that so much evidence is either missing or speculative
at best.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Answers to whether the UK would
be better off outside the European community are invariably “it depends” or that
“gut feeling”.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Looking first at trade and the rural economy, our main areas
of concern, we immediately become conscious of the unknowns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Leaving the EU means leaving the Common
Agricultural Policy (CAP), but without knowing what financial support (if any)
would replace it, this is bound to make farmers and agri-companies nervous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s certainly possible that the Treasury
would seize the opportunity to reduce agricultural subsidies or even abandon
them altogether (particularly the direct payments).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That may be the most extreme potential
outcome, but it would certainly have consequences for most of the UK’s farmers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shifting these responsibilities to the
devolved governments of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland might be
a more likely scenario but there has been no obvious discussion about this.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Literature from both the “in” and “out” campaigns features
possible effects on food prices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Unpicking these is complicated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Much of the food we eat in Britain is imported and consumers expect all
year round access to a wide range of fresh produce.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether they would end up paying less or more
for these after Brexit would depend largely on new trade agreements, and on the
strength or weakness of sterling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
could be a nudge towards greater self-sufficiency, although British farms might
also suffer from restrictions on free movement of seasonal labour from EU
member states.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And on the issue of the
wider economy it is striking that, even with so many unknowns, a poll of the
FT’s leading thinkers found almost three-quarters did not think that Brexit
would enhance UK growth in 2016.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Beyond agriculture and the rural economy, there is a much
bigger picture that must be considered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Regulation is often cited as an expense that the EU imposes upon member
states.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Employee protection, the Working
Time Directive, the renewable energy strategy, regulation of the banking
industry, are all among the most costly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Whether a post Brexit UK Government would lightly abandon them is, of
course, another question.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other
elephant that seems to be dominating the room is immigration and the refugee
crisis, although any closer examination of the issue makes it clear that this
has no real bearing on the “in or out” question.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our global responsibilities to people fleeing
war, civil instability, persecution, or indeed poverty, remain the same.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">In the long run, most economic analysis would indicate that
the UK will survive and even thrive, whether inside or outside Europe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But how quickly and to what degree this
situation might prevail after Brexit would depend on negotiating new trade
agreements, implementing new regulations and absorbing the costs of
transition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the meantime the costs of
uncertainty are impossible to calculate, the refugee crisis will continue to
challenge us and there might even be a threat of disintegration within the UK
and a residue of ill feeling between us and our European neighbours.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Read <a href="http://www.ncl.ac.uk/cre/publish/discussionpapers/pdfs/DP35hubbard.pdf"><span style="color: #0563c1;">the
full discussion paper by Professor David Harvey and Dr Carmen Hubbard</span></a> on
the Centre for Rural Economy website.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06611210022136289790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3744990493797393641.post-62328307865440989522016-03-07T15:33:00.001+00:002016-03-07T15:34:48.828+00:00Whose welfare? Pig farmer Kate Morgan reflects on the industry<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Pig
farmer Kate Morgan recently attended a workshop organised on “Developing and
integrated approach to health, welfare and productivity” funded by the Wellcome
Trust and shared some thoughts about the practicalities of livestock production
with fellow land-based professionals and academics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the Landbridge blog she explains what life
is like for a hands-on pig farmer who wants to set high welfare standards for
her stock.</span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS-AuNg2yh9j7cemjsTFRg76Y-31mX2gllMLTlHt6iUQ3Hh3t9xIBpwAtwzq-brEDE72u7J_LCslTVLEw5a0BqTk4Ss13PnubnrIKNd8r_yOfkYJJnjybAORtIwju8lybBMO0ViSioU_Q/s1600/Kate+Morgan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS-AuNg2yh9j7cemjsTFRg76Y-31mX2gllMLTlHt6iUQ3Hh3t9xIBpwAtwzq-brEDE72u7J_LCslTVLEw5a0BqTk4Ss13PnubnrIKNd8r_yOfkYJJnjybAORtIwju8lybBMO0ViSioU_Q/s400/Kate+Morgan.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Welfare is a funny business when it comes to farming.
Having travelled to many countries looking at welfare in the pig industry it’s
fair to say that “welfare” depends on your perception and no two people see
things in the same light. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am, however,
very passionate about the way I see welfare and that’s the only way I want to
farm our pigs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this is where the
problem starts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Raising a pig on straw
does not carry a premium, yet it costs us more to produce and, in my opinion,
it’s a better life for the pig. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I should perhaps say we have 1700 breeding sows indoors all
based on straw.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For one week out of the
five they spend in farrowing accommodation they are in freedom pens. We also
have an outdoor unit with 1200 sows. On both units we take all the progeny
through to slaughter in large straw yards. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I don’t like to be all doom and gloom but currently the pig
industry is in a bit of a crisis. There is just too much pork available for the
demand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All the product from Europe
which used to go to Russia is now flooding into the UK and with the strength of
the pound retailers can’t help themselves but opt to buy cheaper meat. My
problem with this is that farms in Europe don’t meet our standards. As a
business we are in a really tough situation where we want to produce pigs to
the high welfare standards that we believe in, but our efforts go unnoticed and
we aren’t being paid for them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Retailers
used to want a nice story about how we raise the pigs but things have
changed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now they are telling us to
produce a pig as cheaply as we possibly can, and that means having slats, not
straw. As our farm stands today we cannot compete against Europe because we
just can’t produce a pig as cheaply, so what do we do? Are we fools to even
think that people will pay a premium for an animal that’s had a better life? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People demand cheap food, legislation is not enforced
and, more importantly, what consumers say they want and what they do are two
very different things. Do we get rid of all our nice straw yards and put fully
controlled, insulated slatted buildings up and pack the pigs through? Whatever
we do now we will have to carry on doing for the next 20 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A 2000 place finisher building on slats will
cost us over half a million pounds so it’s not an easy decision either way.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The work that the Wellcome Trust is carrying out could be a
really positive move forward for livestock farmers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, like with all research the hard part
is not always the collecting the data but actually spreading the word.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After attending the meeting with the Trust I
came away thinking we were not stupid believing so passionately about the
welfare of our animals and that other people also feel the same way however
it’s all about perception and how you prove that one animal is happier than the
other is a massive task in itself! </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Antibiotic usage is only going to become under more and
more pressure and rightly so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Numerous
time I’ve heard people say livestock are performing well so they must be healthy
and happy. I don’t buy this. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We operate
our outdoor progeny on an antibiotic-free system and so long as we operate an
all-in-all-out system, with strict bio security, our pigs go through well, but they
will never be the fasting growing animals. Antibiotics can be used as growth
promotors and using them as a preventative is not the correct method, but
farmers doing this will have quicker growing pigs than mine. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I love farming and to be honest I don’t know what I’d do if
I wasn’t farming but I do feel we are up against it most of the time. We are
all tarred with the same brush but are all sorts of farmers any time, because I
have nothing to hide.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But something
needs to change because we are producing a product from a live animal that must
be looked after and paid for fairly. So, to open another can of worms let’s
leave the EU and support our country because I’m sure the EU need us more than
we need them. </span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06611210022136289790noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3744990493797393641.post-22272430826008210002016-02-10T16:15:00.000+00:002016-02-10T16:15:12.909+00:00Rural areas can help to drive the economic recovery - if government will give them a chance
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><em>RICS Policy Manager Tamara Hooper urges decision makers at every level to recognise the potential of our rural areas to boost economic recovery in this latest Landbridge blog.</em></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">The potential
of Rural England, economically and environmentally, is a long rumbling debate.
In August 2015 the current government released a plan for rural productivity,
having earlier announced DEFRA would develop two 25 year strategies on food and
farming and on biodiversity, whilst the Conservative manifesto promised a
renewal of the Natural Capital Committee in the Cabinet Office. Discussion
however is not leading to action.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">RICS recognised
the pressure that land is under from competing use priorities, environmental
pressures and a lack of appropriate evaluation of its full potential, releasing
a rural policy paper at the beginning of 2016, containing 37 recommendations
across a broad range of themes and priorities. These included soil management,
flooding, productivity, property in the rural economy, the land based
industries, energy production and use – and finally the emergence of natural
capital markets. The flooding across Northern Britain in late 2015, highlighted
the need to recognise the potential multi-functionality of our land. Proper
planning, precision farming and land capability assessments can help increase
the productivity of land within the UK and appease the competing narratives in
land use and farming.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">The UK’s land
is finite but the demands on it are increasing. The existing land
classification system is outdated and not reflective of land's true potential,
beyond agriculture. </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A new Agricultural Land
Classification is required; retaining the well understood basis of the ALC, but
adapt it to a more European style index system, that recognises the new breadth
of land use rather than purely its productive ability. There is a need to know
not just what land can produce but what it is capable of. Typical uplands
grazing land is not high quality agricultural land but in addition to grazing
could be additionally capable of carbon storage, wind energy or improvements in
biodiversity amongst other uses, which land classification doesn’t capture. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Water retention
in the uplands is another good example. Often during times of flooding farm
land is not seen with the same priority as the built environment despite
flooding being one of the greatest factors affecting soil quality and retention,
potentially disturbing food security through the loss of the land. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">There is also a
growing need to recognise land's potential in flood defence, which can lessen
the damage done to towns as well as protect and enhance good agricultural land.
Integrated Catchment Management (ICM) as an approach to flood management
through the entire catchment can help to mitigate flooding and allow land to
recover from flooding more quickly. ICM cannot prevent all flooding or avert
the damage done such as that done in December’s floods but it is more cost
effective than building re-enforcements and walls, and should be used as part
of a greater flood defence strategy that recognises the importance of
protecting agricultural land and the place ICM plays in this. ICM should be
incentivised by agri-environment schemes and taxation, practical work in the
uplands can complement sustainable hill farming such as tree planting and
measures to slow water has been shown to be successful in the prevention of
flooding downstream.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">With devolution
of powers, the onus of funding and revenue raising is increasingly being
imposed on local authorities. Rural authorities are smaller and their
opportunities to increase growth limited, looking at land differently through
its capability will help drive growth, however; 22% of the English population
live in small and market towns. RICS urges government to extend the current
devolution agenda to market towns, as well as Local Enterprise Partnerships
thinking creatively about how market towns – and not just cities – can be
enabled through funding, powers and mechanisms</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Before its
closure the Commission for Rural England reported that Rural England had the
economic potential of the eight core cities minus London, and that its
businesses had survived the recession better than urban based businesses. To
continue the thriving nature of rural towns and boost new business start-ups,
the Government must deliver on its broadband commitment, whether through
established rollout methods or less conventional but cost effective methods.
Local plans must also incorporate growth opportunities, including prioritising
town centre rejuvenation and creating landscape or catchment scale zones with
the right incentives to benefit land based industries in their enterprise
zones. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">The UK rural economy already contributes some
£211bn, equivalent to 19% of GVA. It can do far more to bolster our economic
recovery and help the rebalancing of growth across the regions. This requires a
joined up approach, not just in Whitehall, but also at LEP level – and perhaps
most importantly – at landscape scale too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>To continue and increase this productivity, and ensure sustainability of
rural industries, the UK must start looking at rural in terms of what it is
actually capable of not just what it can produce.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;">
<span style="font-family: "HelveticaNeueLT-Light",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: HelveticaNeueLT-Light;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">If you would
like a copy of RICS rural policy please visit: </span><a href="http://www.rics.org/uk/about-rics/who-and-what/influencing-policy/policy-positions/policy-paper--rural/"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.rics.org/uk/about-rics/who-and-what/influencing-policy/policy-positions/policy-paper--rural/</span></span></a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06611210022136289790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3744990493797393641.post-77163680902065642672015-10-15T16:12:00.000+01:002015-10-15T16:12:56.539+01:00Funding and research help for your farmer groups
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Tom
MacMillan, Innovation Director at the Soil Association, writes about a new
Innovative Farmers support network</span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As an advisor, some of the best advice you can give
farmers is passed on from their peers. Often it’s been learned the hard way –
from trying and trying to fix a problem until they’ve hit on an answer that
works. But farmers also experiment, trialling, monitoring and analysing. And
when they do – whether by design or default – their vets, agronomists or other
advisors are frequently involved in discussing what they do, pointing out relevant
research and making sense of the result.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">That’s the backdrop to Innovative Farmers (<a href="http://www.innovativefarmers.org/"><span style="color: blue;">www.innovativefarmers.org</span></a>), a new
support network that we launched this week. It provides research support and
funding to farmer groups on their own terms. It recognises that farmers
innovate and helps them do it even better.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Through Innovative Farmers we’re providing farmer groups
with:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">-</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Help
with trial design and analysis from some of the best research teams in the country
– Rothamsted, IBERS and Bristol are among the research partners.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">-</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Dedicated
funding, with plan to give out more than £800,000 in farmer-friendly R&D
grants by 2020.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">-</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A
web portal where you can track progress and see what others doing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">-</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As
importantly as anything, a chance to team up with likeminded farmers to tackle
the big challenges facing their business, and together shape the future of the
industry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It builds on three years of practical ‘field labs’ that
we’ve run through the Duchy Future Farming Programme. More than 750 farmers got
involved in investigating 35 topics. Now we’re opening that up to more farmers
and creating a network that can stand on its own feet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Each group of farmers in the network has a co-ordinator.
They’re the gateway to the rest of the network – they unlock that funding and
support for their group, and share the group’s learning through the web portal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Nearly all the co-ordinators who have so far been on our
induction day have been advisors – whether vets, agronomists, or specialists in
countryside stewardship and rural development. Most see it as a new benefit for
their clients and the community who rely on them – a set of resources that
won’t suit everyone they work with, but would really benefit and appeal to
some. It is also a way to attract new contacts, as we’re investing in promoting
the network and bringing new people to existing groups.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We offer co-ordinators £500 per group per year to help
offset the added expense of running a group of Innovative Farmers. We don’t pay
for their time – this generally needs to fit with the day job – but nor do
co-ordinators pay a membership fee. We are also able to help apply for extra
funds to the new European Innovation Partnership, which may be able to help and
shares much the same ethos.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If you work with a group of farmers and think some of
them might like to join Innovative Farmers, please get in touch. Phone 0117 987
4572 or send an email to <a href="mailto:info@innovativefarmers.org"><span style="color: blue;">info@innovativefarmers.org</span></a>.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Innovative
Farmers is part of the Duchy Future Farming Programme, funded by the Prince of
Wales’s Charitable Foundation. The network is backed by a team from LEAF
(Linking Environment and Farming), Innovation for Agriculture, the Organic
Research Centre and the Soil Association, and supported by Waitrose.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06611210022136289790noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3744990493797393641.post-17090243642089547742015-09-01T10:25:00.000+01:002015-09-01T10:25:30.693+01:00Building cross-professional networks
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Nuffield scholar Finola
McCoy writes in praise of networks and the role of the honest broker.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">There
is an Irish saying ‘Ní neart go cur le chéile’, which translates as ‘There is
no strength without unity’, and it comes to mind when I think about the service
provision sector in Irish agriculture. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Farmers
will engage with many varied service providers as part of the management of
their business - vets, farm advisers, bank managers, engineers, nutritionists
etc. In turn, these agricultural service providers rarely engage with, or even
know each other. Yet, we are all working towards a common goal - to provide a
good service to farmers to enable them to run an efficient business. While
Ireland has retained a strong, largely publicly funded research and advisory
service i.e. Teagasc, this too can present a challenge. When one organisation
dominates the research and extension space, this can create a perception that
the ‘peripheral’ extension services e.g. vets, private consultants etc. are
less important or influential, placing little value on the knowledge resource
within and creating a divide between the 'central' and 'peripheral' organisations. In
the 300s B.C. Aristotle said ‘The whole is greater than the sum of its parts’.
What if we were to apply this to the agricultural service provision sector? If
it worked as a whole could it be more effective than the sum of its parts? What
are the barriers to building this whole? What is needed to initiate and sustain
it? These are some of the questions that I have ruminated upon, and with the
opportunity of a Nuffield scholarship, have been able to explore in more
detail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The
initial title of my study was ‘Building Strong Professional Teams’, with a
focus on looking at how on-farm professional teams can work. However, I soon
realised that while these on-farm teams might be very effective, to some degree
they may also be idealistic. They can be very formal and structured, and not
always practical; one size doesn’t necessarily fit all. However, one of the
building blocks to creating teams is an existing network between people.
Without networks people don’t get an opportunity to get to know and trust each,
and understand what skills and strengths they can bring to the party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over time and in the right circumstances,
service provider networks could grow into on-farm multidisciplinary teams.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
started by looking at and learning from agricultural organisations and projects,
including Landbridge UK, that have either used a multi-disciplinary approach to
achieve their end goal, or where the end goal itself has been to develop networks
between service providers. It became apparent to me that service provider
networks can offer many benefits. As well as providing clients i.e. farmers,
with more holistic, comprehensive services and a broader cohesive knowledge
base, the network members benefit from knowledge exchange and upskilling,
business referrals and social interaction with other professionals. Industry
benefits from an improved feedback loop to research and development. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">However,
it would be idealistic not to recognise that there are also barriers to
building networks, and working as a team. Finding time to participate in a
network, as well as support from the service provider’s parent
organisation/company can be an obstacle. Competition between professionals can
also be a challenge, particularly when initiating networks. Many professionals
have a ‘healthy’ suspicion of other professionals working in the same region,
and may worry about losing clients or business. However, the reality is that
this suspicion is often born out of ignorance of and isolation from other
professionals and in general, the positive outcomes from networking outweigh
the real challenges and the perceived threats.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It
appears that one of the most effective solutions to many of these barriers is
the identification or establishment of ‘an honest broker’. This broker could be
a person, or a body e.g. Landbridge UK, and is a relatively impartial
third-party, bringing people together mainly for the greater good, and without
a vested interest. Brokers can build trust between the various people, and by
objectively analysing the needs of the various parties within the network can
identify their requirements and stay relevant. Brokers need funding however,
and this can be a constant challenge, as their behind-the scenes role conceals
their impact and may limit support.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">For
Ireland, I believe the most important step now is to promote the benefits of
creating cross-professional networks, identify an honest broker and start
nurturing those cross-professional networks through multi-disciplinary
activities. Without unity, the fragmentation continues, and the opportunity to
maximise our potential remains untapped. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The final Nuffield
report on “Building Strong Professional Networks” will be available in winter
2015 on </span></i><span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://www.nuffield.ie/"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: blue;">www.nuffield.ie</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IE"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06611210022136289790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3744990493797393641.post-62344392484405225542015-07-06T15:59:00.002+01:002015-07-06T15:59:36.476+01:00Ecosystem Services: Taking the Next Step
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Matt Lobley from the Centre for Rural Policy
Research at the University of Exeter, reflects on their recent symposium on the
future direction for ecosystem services.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(Click on the links to see slides from the presentations.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What’s the
current evidence on ecosystem services and where do we go from here?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><a href="http://www.ecologicalland.coop/centre-rural-policy-research-crpr"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">The Centre for Rural Policy Research</span></span></a><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">’s symposium
held in June was designed to explore innovation around ecosystem services and
the ecosystems approach. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With around 50
academics and practitioners and a range of engaging speakers the discussion
was lively. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<a href="http://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/research/microsites/centreforruralpolicyresearch/pdfs/MW_Symposium_June2015.pdf"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="color: blue;">Professor
Michael Winter</span></span></a><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> </span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">started the
day off by questioning whether an Ecosystem Services approach necessarily
implies sustainability. He did this by reviewing work on the Defra-funded
Sustainable Intensification Research platform before going on to explore the
relationship between sustainable intensification and ecosystem services. This
was followed by </span></span><a href="http://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/research/microsites/centreforruralpolicyresearch/pdfs/Duncan_CRPR_presentation.pdf"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="color: blue;">Professor
Duncan Russel</span></span></a><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;">’s </span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">presentation
on the factors that facilitate and hamper the implementation of ecosystems services.
The problem, it seems, is that whilst decision makers sometimes reach the
rational high ground, much decision making actually occurs in the “swampy low
ground”. In other words, the world of policy making and implementation is
complex and often involves muddling through. Duncan’s research has revealed a
range of societal, institutional and individual enablers and barriers and shows
that possessing “more knowledge” or championing a new idea does not necessarily
mean that it will be embedded into policy making and help implementation. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Next up was
</span></span><a href="http://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/research/microsites/centreforruralpolicyresearch/pdfs/Brazier_CRPR_final.pdf"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="color: blue;">Professor
Richard Brazier</span></span></a><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> who described his
work with Charles Cowap on understanding the value of the internationally
important habitats, </span></span><a href="http://www.devonwildlifetrust.org/habitats/Culm+grassland/"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">Culm grasslands</span></span></a><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, for ecosystem
services. Once more widespread, like many habitats the area of Culm has been
significantly eroded and fragmented and Devon is home of over 80% of the
remaining Culm in England. Compared to intensively managed grassland Culm soils
are characterised by higher soil moisture, organic matter and carbon content.
It is estimated that the loss of water and carbon value from Culm grasslands,
which have been converted to intensively managed grasslands since 1900 is £32.3
million, and that work undertaken to date by Devon Wildlife Trust to restore Culm
grassland has a potential benefit of over £9 million. Richard concluded by
saying that such figures need to be combined with data describing agricultural
productivity in order to understand whether recreation of Culm grasslands is
viable at the landscape scale.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<a href="http://valuing-nature.net/naturally-speaking"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="color: blue;">Dr Rob Fish</span></span></a><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> </span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">presented an overview of his experiment
in public dialogue designed to understand what people make of the ecosystem
services agenda. Working with publics in Birmingham, Glasgow and Exeter, this
project drew on the work of the UK National Ecosystem Assessment to engage
people in extensive discussion about ecosystem services and the ecosystem
approach. Despite some initial scepticism the direction of dialogue was
cautiously positive and the more participants applied and learned about it, the
more positively they tended to view the framework. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<a href="http://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/research/microsites/centreforruralpolicyresearch/pdfs/Couldrick_-_1st_June_2015.pdf"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="color: blue;">Laurence
Couldrick</span></span></a><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> talked about the future of payments for
ecosystem services and the work of the Westcountry Rivers Trust, with over 2000
farmers and covering some 150,000 ha. He stressed the importance of partnership
working, monitoring outcomes and the benefits that can flow from better
information and understanding. This was followed by </span></span><a href="http://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/research/microsites/centreforruralpolicyresearch/pdfs/Nick_Kirsop-Taylor_-_CRPR_symposium_(2015)_presentation_FINAL.pdf"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="color: blue;">Nick
Kirsop Taylor</span></span></a><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;">’s </span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">assessment
of Biodiversity Offsetting. Nick argued that while rumours of the death of
biodiversity offsetting may be exaggerated it may well “disappear” as part of
the new Government’s agenda. He outlined various possible futures for
biodiversity offsetting including that of becoming a zombie policy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The autopsy may have to wait a while, but
maybe not too long…” he concluded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Finally, </span></span><a href="http://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/research/microsites/centreforruralpolicyresearch/pdfs/Lisa_Schneidau_ES_symposium_1.6.15_LS.pdf"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="color: blue;">Lisa
Schneidau</span></span></a><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> </span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> from Devon
Wildlife Trust rather bravely attempted to sum up the day and identify next
steps, identifying topics for further discussion, including the importance of
communication, and the need for an integrated approach. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06611210022136289790noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3744990493797393641.post-78690345083271357152015-06-25T14:28:00.002+01:002015-06-25T14:28:48.832+01:00An inventory of advisory services in Europe<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Katrin Prager (James
Hutton Institute, Aberdeen) reflects on the </i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">prospects for farmer support provided through advisory services and
highlights some of the findings from the EU project<b> PROAKIS</b></span><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At the end of a project I always take for granted the
knowledge I acquired. Because I have integrated all new information into my
existing knowledge I assume that everyone knows what I know at that stage. This
is probably what makes it difficult to sum up what new findings were produced. Nevertheless,
I will try to highlight what stands out for me from the PROAKIS project.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Agricultural advisory services exist in all European
countries but take different forms, ranging from public to private
organisations, often including hybrid arrangements with farmer-based and
non-governmental organisations. The eight partner organisations in the </span><a href="http://www.proakis.eu/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">PROAKIS </span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">project compiled an inventory of not
only advisory services, but the broader Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation
System (AKIS), within which they are embedded. This had not been done before. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When in the past an AKIS was about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">transferring</i> knowledge from research to advisors, who then passed
it on to farmers, they are today seen as a system where knowledge is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">exchanged</i> between different people and
organisations from the first, second and third sector (see example diagram).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM-2TTVIH-vqz_1Nr2BSxe7mB697KssUlEd9oNWeBmYEuRoZMCTRBMUGMSPedSHeiXTSOUJrcX4o5Yjhru565TU4PUmtOUyitBjSdk7DdBiZL0Zosql2DV6AbORwLt1xSGytMRu2v1buY/s1600/AKIS+diagram.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM-2TTVIH-vqz_1Nr2BSxe7mB697KssUlEd9oNWeBmYEuRoZMCTRBMUGMSPedSHeiXTSOUJrcX4o5Yjhru565TU4PUmtOUyitBjSdk7DdBiZL0Zosql2DV6AbORwLt1xSGytMRu2v1buY/s400/AKIS+diagram.jpg" width="400" /></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<div align="left">
<em>Example of AKIS diagram for Denmark</em></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">What
became obvious through compiling the inventory was the immense diversity, aptly
illustrated in the </span> <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">27 <a href="http://www.proakis.eu/inventory"><span style="color: blue;">posters </span></a>featuring an AKIS diagram - we
created one for each country that was a Member State in 2013. Forcing this
diversity into a classification is inherently difficult. Nevertheless, my
observation from looking at the map of <a href="http://www.proakis.eu/content/map-and-fact-sheets-advisory-services"><span style="color: blue;">main
advisory organisations</span></a> is that the dominant organisation in most of the
Eastern European countries is public, while farmer-based organisations play the
main role in many Scandinavian and South Western European countries. Only the
Netherlands and Estonia are dominated by private advisory services. In
countries with a federal or strong regional structure such as Germany, the UK
or Italy, a mixture of organisations is dominating the advisory scene. Overall,
there is a trend towards commercialisation and the privatisation of advice.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br />
Innovation is becoming increasingly important in the
agricultural sector. Recognising that innovation requires knowledge, we found AKIS
diagrams a <a href="http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ip/ooa/2015/00000044/00000001/art00004"><span style="color: blue;">useful
tool</span></a> (email <a href="mailto:Katrin.Prager@hutton.ac.uk"><span style="color: blue;">Katrin.Prager@hutton.ac.uk</span></a>
if you would like a copy of the article) to visualise relevant actors and
explore the knowledge flows between them. Some issues around knowledge flows
were commented on in an earlier <a href="http://landbridgeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/improving-knowledge-exchange-in-arable.html"><span style="color: blue;">blog
by Sean Ryan</span></a>. Agricultural or rural networks are one means of enhancing the
sharing and adoption of innovation. In the project, we studied four <a href="http://www.proakis.eu/casestudies"><span style="color: blue;">different networks</span></a>, some of them
initiated from the bottom-up, others top-down. We found that such networks can
support innovation, but they need to be embedded into an existing advisory
system. This emphasises that they cannot be used to counter (public)
disinvestment in advisory infrastructure.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">There
is another benefit of having a public presence in the AKIS, and in advisory
services in particular. Although the market can meet demands for agronomic, book-keeping
and ‘form-filling’ advice expressed by farmers, environmental issues and
broader rural development are unlikely to be part of this scenario, because of
their mainly collective benefits that rarely translate into private (financial)
gain. The farmer has no incentive to request and pay for public good advice,
therefore this is where publicly-funded advice has an important role to play.
In addition, without the state maintaining an overview of the advisory
landscape and monitoring what advice is provided by whom, there is no way of
knowing whether farmer needs and societal demands are being met.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">So what are the prospects for farmer support through
advisory services? The outlook is positive in those countries where the
importance of advisory services is recognised politically, with strategies and
associated schemes backed up with funding. Prospects are also good where
diverse formal and informal networks exist between advisors, farmers, researchers,
consultants, and other relevant actors. Where these components are missing, the
consequences will be felt in the future, or are already becoming apparent. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06611210022136289790noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3744990493797393641.post-18477051637064282392015-04-08T08:45:00.003+01:002015-04-08T08:45:59.850+01:00Working outside our comfort zones to deliver impact
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>Julia Cooper, Lecturer in Soil Science in the School of
Agriculture at Newcastle University explains how researchers and partners have
been collaborating in an innovative workshop on strategies to improve Nitrogen
efficiency on farms.</em><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqFcEFnkHQKJ9v-MiLXghoJZ6xCp323Wry81FkW9UFqC9UDYdVvSxxSTwQ2uJnSs5IjPLqqmbFDCEEcq2uB-FPZ3Nb8BBgfx_VkuZDmxVlXNt_3Y-uY-62ElZE-WVAq2M5_VkDtkfz5XY/s1600/Wooler.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqFcEFnkHQKJ9v-MiLXghoJZ6xCp323Wry81FkW9UFqC9UDYdVvSxxSTwQ2uJnSs5IjPLqqmbFDCEEcq2uB-FPZ3Nb8BBgfx_VkuZDmxVlXNt_3Y-uY-62ElZE-WVAq2M5_VkDtkfz5XY/s1600/Wooler.jpg" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Simon Henderson, who farms organically near Wooler, hosted
the event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is trying to minimise soil
loss on his sandy land by using a diverse range of cover crops and reduced
tillage methods.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The objectives were
two-fold: on the one hand we wanted to transfer research findings on how to
improve on-farm Nitrogen efficiency to the 15 farmers and farm advisors who took
part, but we also wanted to learn more about the best ways to transfer
knowledge to end users. Following on from a previous event in Etal, we decided
to go "powerpoint-free" and deliver all information in smaller, more
interactive groups. Five knowledge transfer stations were set up indoors and
outside, covering: precision farming (James Taylor), Nitrogen modelling tools
(Julia Cooper), cover crops (Niall Atkinson,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Agrovista), soil structure (Paul Muto and Stuart Moss, Natural England),
and first-hand experiences using cover crops (Simon Henderson). Small groups of
between two and five people circulated around the stations, pausing for 10-15
minutes at each one. This was followed by a walk around Simon's fields, with
some digging of holes and testing compaction with the penetrometer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This interactive approach was very
well-received and outcomes will be fed into a guidance note on pathways to
impact for agronomic research.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The day
also helped us to build some very good working relationships with Catchment
Sensitive Farming (Natural England) and the Environment Agency and we expect to
collaborate more closely with them in the future on knowledge transfer
activities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06611210022136289790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3744990493797393641.post-64648575213769817272015-03-25T16:28:00.001+00:002015-03-25T16:28:25.099+00:00CROPROTECT: web-based knowledge exchange for crop protection
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://croprotect.rothamsted.ac.uk/"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="color: blue;">CROPROTECT</span></span></a></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> is an
ambitious new project which plans to revolutionise knowledge exchange for crop
protection by making use of 21<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">st</span></sup> century web-based technologies
which mean that practical information about crop protection can be shared and
exchanged very easily. It is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">developing
and providing a two-way web-based free knowledge exchange resource</b> through
which farmers and agronomists can get specific information relevant to their
needs.</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";"> In this
blog <b>Toby Bruce from Rothamsted Research,</b> who is the contact for
the project, explains what it aims to achieve and how it will develop.</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9dH3U8z-TWZ2_ybJwdakCNG3sejQQSR8v-74ZKnowv8dOkUlNviqZjRpZUN_-dM4zBRl_pZ1hIW-0j8exc7cwz1oTYnffgDSlNsSzj-4JJfhn1Q0QmL4YAi-GtPNE64eBBRh1Z7ng180/s1600/crop+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9dH3U8z-TWZ2_ybJwdakCNG3sejQQSR8v-74ZKnowv8dOkUlNviqZjRpZUN_-dM4zBRl_pZ1hIW-0j8exc7cwz1oTYnffgDSlNsSzj-4JJfhn1Q0QmL4YAi-GtPNE64eBBRh1Z7ng180/s1600/crop+1.png" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Farmers
face a continuous battle against pests, weeds and diseases. To ensure efficient
production, pest management solutions are required for crop protection. These
challenges have been managed primarily with pesticides for the last few decades
but now alternative solutions need to be delivered. Crop protection is getting
more difficult, not only because pesticides are being restricted by legislation
but also because the remaining ones which are still available are less
effective as pests, weeds and diseases evolve resistance to them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Farmers
are caught in a difficult situation because of dependency on pesticide. Their
crops have been bred in a pesticide treated background and without the
pesticides crop losses to pests, weeds and diseases mean that both yield and
quality can be seriously compromised. Currently pesticides are being lost at a
much faster rate than they are being replaced with alternatives. As well as
novel control solutions, farmers need better information about what can be done.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Alternative
approaches are often more complicated relying on a combination of resistant
cultivars, biocontrol, agronomic practices and rationalised, better targeted
pesticide use. Information about integrated pest, weed and disease management
is scattered in disparate places which are hard for busy farmers to track down
for every pest, weed and disease threat they face.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The
capacity to share information via the internet is tremendous and access is
increasingly via mobile devices. These have the potential to reach a wide
audience in the farming community, to provide rapid updates and to interact
more with the users. In the internet age, availability of information is not
the main constraint, there is more of an issue of accessing relevant
information. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><a href="http://croprotect.rothamsted.ac.uk/"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="color: blue;">CROPROTECT</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> hopes to provide content which is relevant to
the users by interacting with them, asking what their priorities are and
encouraging feedback. Because electronic documents are living documents and can
be adjusted unlike printed documents, there is an opportunity to continuously
refine the information provided as the system evolves. The project is funded by
the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Innovation Club (SARIC) which is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a joint BBSRC and NERC initiative to support
innovative projects that will provide solutions to key challenges affecting the
efficiency, productivity and sustainability of the UK crop and livestock
sectors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">We are
very keen to develop </span><a href="http://croprotect.rothamsted.ac.uk/"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="color: blue;">CROPROTECT</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> in partnership with farmers and agronomists and are working with
the Association of Independent Crop Consultants (AICC), Hutchinsons, Agrii and
the NFU to ensure the system is appropriate for them. We are also very pleased
to have </span><a href="http://www.agrichatuk.org/"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="color: blue;">AgriChatUK</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">, a
leading online forum for agricultural discussions, supporting the project.
Indeed, part of the inspiration for the project is from the vibrant community
of farmers using twitter. When I wrote the proposal, I was thinking of reaching
the thousands of farmers and agronomists and other stakeholders who are active
on twitter as followers of @AgriChatUK or members of #clubhectare and who
interact this way. The levy boards HGCA and HDC (under the AHDB umbrella) are
collaborating with us in developing </span><a href="http://croprotect.rothamsted.ac.uk/"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="color: blue;">CROPROTECT</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">We
started the project in November 2014 and the second version of the website is
now live. This is starting to give information about management recommendations
for pest, weed and disease targets (the first version was for user registration
only). The targets being prioritised are as specified as being of concern by
the pioneer users of the system. Registration is free and quick but we do ask
users to specify what their main pest, weed and disease targets are so that we
can unsure the system meets their requirements. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<a href="http://croprotect.rothamsted.ac.uk/"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="color: blue;">CROPROTECT</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> accounts are free and we encourage farmers and agronomists to join
and try it out! It is designed to work on smartphone browsers and will also
open on a desktop screen. The system is evolving and it is early days in the
project so there is more to come. To make login easier users can now login via
twitter and we are planning to make the system available as a smartphone App in
the near future.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06611210022136289790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3744990493797393641.post-90334767133601302142014-11-19T10:11:00.002+00:002014-11-19T10:11:17.503+00:00The Farm Business Survey team at the Northern Farming Conference in Hexham
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>Charles Scott, Manager of the Farm
Business Survey at Newcastle University writes:</em> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Cambria;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Cambria;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.ncl.ac.uk/afrd/research/units/survey/index.htm"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: blue;">Farm
Business Survey</span></span></a></span></span><span style="font-family: Cambria;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> team attended the
5th Northern Farming Conference held at Hexham Mart on Wednesday 13th November.<br />
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A well attended conference got under way under the chairmanship of Newcastle
graduate Robert Sullivan (Partner, Strutt and Parker Farming Department) with a
strong opening speech from Allan Wilkinson; Head of Agriculture at HSBC. Allan
impressed upon the conference the increasingly volatile global marketplace that
UK producers must adapt to and warned of over reliance on a support regime
under ever increasing budgetary constraints.<br />
<br />
An inspirational delivery from Nuffield Scholar and Sussex dairy farmer Joe
Delves followed with a strong focus on attitudinal and mindset approaches to
farming.<br />
<br />
The conference welcomed the Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP, Secretary of State for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs who delivered a very upbeat and optimistic
Keynote speech that covered progress and future action on TB control and
eradication and hinted at future possibilities of policy devolvement from
Brussels. The Secretary of State welcomed forthcoming European national food
labeling - that would encourage greater consumption of domestic produce, and
announced a new Countryside Stewardship Scheme (detailed in a later session
delivered by the Regional Director of Natural England).<br />
<br />
A technical delivery from Agricultural Engineer Tim Chaman followed the break.
Tim extolled the virtues of Controlled Traffic Farming, where all vehicle
wheelings are restricted to tramlines at all times - precision guided and
working-width-compatible implements, on reducing soil compaction and
consequential beneficial impacts on yields.<br />
<br />
Local egg producer and 2013 Farmers Weekly Poultry Farmer of the Year Richard
Tulip (Lintz Hall Farm) then presented the success story of the expansion of
the family business to becoming the largest poultry farm in the North East with
all the allied marketing, sponsorship and brand building activities that must
go hand in hand with increasing farm output.<br />
<br />
Following a splendid lunch, MD of Hexham & Northern Marts Robert Addison, chair
for the afternoon sessions, introduced Rob Aubrook the North East Regional
Director for Natural England. Rob outlined the details of the new Countryside
Stewardship Scheme which will have 3 tiers, the highest of which will be
similar to the current HLS scheme but would no longer need to be underpinned by
ELS options. He recognised that in the past the relationship between farmers and
Natural England was not always perfect but this is improving by taking farmers'
opinions on board and working together to deliver the schemes' intended
outputs.<br />
<br />
Consultant and Adviser to the Agricultural Law Association Geoff Whittaker
delivered a lighthearted and myth-busting view of various aspects of EU
agricultural law, which can often, unnecessarily he says, provoke resentment
and mistrust, but which are regularly the result of language interpretations
and varying law codes across the member countries.<br />
<br />
John Henderson (Branch President CLA Yorkshire)'s impassioned speech on the
merits of Share farming followed. John could not understate the value of share
farming agreements to both; allow an easier path to new entrants with limited
access to capital, and facilitate an easier and more dignified exit for leavers
from the industry.<br />
<br />
The final delivery was from Lowther Estate Director of Farming and 2013 Farmers
Weekly Farm Manager of the Year Richard Price. Richard outlined the Estate's
farm strategy to return the farms to profitability in a sustainable and locally
responsible manner, stressing the importance of teamwork and local engagement
(with Estate tenants) in supply chains and business operations.<br />
<br />
Following questions on the afternoon sessions the conference was closed and
delegates encouraged to continue to review the day at the bar or over a
splendid array of tea and sandwiches.</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06611210022136289790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3744990493797393641.post-31641847527975041272014-10-22T09:53:00.001+01:002014-10-22T09:53:25.275+01:00Improving knowledge exchange in arable farming
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<i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sean Ryan, Defra’s lead
on the Agri-Tech Strategy reflects on a recent workshop exploring knowledge
exchange in the arable sector and how it brought new insights to his work<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What’s the
difference between knowledge transfer and knowledge exchange? Knowledge
transfer is one way – someone has a bright idea which then needs to find its
way into practice. Knowledge exchange assumes that everybody in the supply
chain – farmers, researchers, agronomists, suppliers - has valuable knowledge
and experience; the flow of knowledge is much more multi-track than the idea of
knowledge transfer would allow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
sounds much more appealing, doesn’t it, particularly in the world of
agriculture where practical expertise is so important.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">A well-run workshop
is a great way to understand the current debates and concerns in a sector and
knowledge exchange certainly comes into that category.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I was delighted, to receive an invitation
from the Agricultural Industries Confederation to a workshop in Peterborough on
knowledge exchange in arable farming on 23<sup>rd</sup> September.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I work in Defra on
the Agri-Tech Strategy (</span><a href="http://www.agritechuk.org/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">http://www.agritechuk.org/</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">)
which is about promoting technology and innovation to make farming more
productive and sustainable. The workshop brought some new perspectives about
how our work relates to other activities that are already encouraging
innovation in the sector.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We got off to a
good start by working in groups on mapping knowledge/information flows. This
provoked a lively discussion in the group I joined which had agronomists,
academics and other experts. In fact this was so absorbing that our facilitator
forgot to write anything down so we had a bit of a scramble at the end of the
session. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After some scene setting
presentations, there was further discussion about possible ways of improving knowledge
exchange, helped by an illustrious panel from Newcastle University, Innovate
UK, Rothamsted, HL Hutchinsons, Syngenta and AICC. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">One theme that came
up several times was that the link between commercial research and the farmer
worked satisfactorily because there are commercial and/or contractual <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>reasons for that to happen. However, there
were issues with public sector research. Some people thought that that the gap
between farmers and researchers had got wider in recent years. Others thought
that there were some signs of improvement. There were already positive changes
in the way that research councils and institutes were already trying to engage
with farmers. The Agri-Tech Strategy is about joining up academics and farming
businesses. Some people thought that the Centres for Agricultural Innovation that
are being set up under the Strategy should have knowledge exchange built into
how they operate. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We also talked
about involving farmers in commissioning research and the role of levy boards
both in terms of their efforts to ensure the research they support is relevant
and in involving them in prioritising research.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">For me the main
benefit of the workshop was that it helped me understand better the
contributions that different types of organisations make to knowledge exchange
and the challenges that each faces in doing so.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06611210022136289790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3744990493797393641.post-68829593292008651522014-10-07T16:08:00.000+01:002014-10-07T16:08:29.976+01:00Plugging the gaps in the knowledge exchange system
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>Dr Paul Neve, Senior Research Scientist at Rothamsted Research reflects on the growing significance of knowledge exchange in his research </em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As a researcher working in the area of herbicide resistance
and weed management, I worked for a number of years in Australia and I have collaborated
with researchers at US Land Grant Universities. When I was part of a University
research group (the Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative) in Perth,
Western Australia, knowledge exchange (extension, communication, outreach …..
call it what you will) was an integral part of the group’s work. Amongst a group
of about 12 researchers, two full-time staff members worked full time on knowledge
exchange. These important members of the team coordinated a KE strategy for the
research group, organising farmer events, press releases, research bulletins
etc. Importantly, they worked closely with researchers on a day-to-day basis,
digesting latest results and distilling these into practical management advice
for farmers. Groups of farmers and agronomists regularly visited the university
to learn about latest research and provide feedback to researchers – were we
asking the right questions? During visits to the US, it has become clear to me
that many agricultural researchers have a ‘direct line’ to farmers and
‘extension’ is a key, and clearly recognised aspect of their role as an
academic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But it has been obvious for some time that the agricultural
research community in the UK has become fragmented. Much excellent research is
conducted in universities and institutes, but lines of communication have
become a little fuzzy, often resulting in poor translation of ‘pure’ research
into applied outcomes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I was very
pleased to attend the recent Landbridge organised event ‘Building on a solid
foundation: improving knowledge exchange in arable farming’ at the Marriott
Hotel, Peterborough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is encouraging
to see that groups such as Landbridge, AHDB and AICC are addressing this
important issue and identifying ways to improve knowledge exchange in the
arable sector. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This workshop clearly
established that independent agronomists and distributors form a key link in
the chain between research, interpretation and implementation. I hope that the
workshop organisers can synthesise suggestions and ideas that delegates were
putting forward into some actions and recommendations that will help to remedy
the situation. The signs are promising. Increasingly researchers at
Universities and research institutes such as Rothamsted are being encouraged to
demonstrate the impact of their research. Fundamental knowledge published in
high impact scientific journals is important (very important!) and a clear
indication of the scientific strength of individuals, institutes and countries.
However, it is clear that the job is only half-done if these scientific
breakthroughs do not result in the ‘on the ground’ impacts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Finally, by way of a shameless plug, the BBSRC-HGCA funded
black-grass resistance initiative (</span><a href="http://www.bgri.info/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">www.bgri.info</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">)
, kicked into life this year. More details can be found at the web site. As
part of this project we have established a stakeholder group, consisting of
groups such as Landbridge, the HGCA and distributors. We will also set up
farmer focus groups for two way exchange of information about herbicide
resistant black-grass. Through these channels we hope to ensure effective
knowledge exchange and a two way flow of information. We look forward to
working with Landbridge and other members of our stakeholder group in the
future and learning important lessons about effective KE along the way!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06611210022136289790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3744990493797393641.post-44508900458164770762014-10-07T16:01:00.002+01:002014-10-07T16:01:52.986+01:00Why farmers need agronomists – but which kind?
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>Agronomist and Chair of the Association of Independent Crop Consultants, Patrick Stephenson, reflects on the roles of independent and distributor agronomists in knowledge exchange</em> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Who advises farmers?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I took part in a group session tasked with
finding the current method of delivering KT to farmers and growers at the
Knowledge Transfer meeting in September. The discussion revealed a complex and
varied number of organisations/groups/individuals who delivered advice either
directly or indirectly to the farmer. The strongest delivery system highlighted
by all five groups was the agronomist. It became apparent that any future
successful system must involve this trusted on farm relationship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The delivery of KT at the farm gate, in most
cases requires the cooperation of the agronomist to ensure that uptake is good
and effective.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But are agronomists a single homogenous group? I was attending
on behalf of (AICC) the Association of Independent Crop Consultants. This body
represents individuals and groups who deliver on farm advice with no sales
related returns. The farmer buys the advice at face value usually in a payment
per hectare or per visit. This accounts for approximately 40% of the arable
area and consists of 244 advisors, a small proportion of farmers are self
advised, the remaining area is covered by a wide group of distributor
agronomists. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Distributor agronomists receive a proportion of their
individual income from the amount of product they sell. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
there is a big difference between the delivery of an independent agronomist and
a distributor agronomist. Non independent agronomists spend the majority of their
face to face farmer contact time on sales related discussion how much where and
when. The independent agronomists divide their time between a wide sweep of
agronomic issues, cultivation, rotation environmental, farm management and
planning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The major distribution companies have invested heavily in
near market research primarily geared on product efficacy and added value
sales. AICC members have invested heavily in both near market research (product
comparisons) and transitional research. The commercial KT is self funding as
new products or ideas, in theory, have an added economic value which gives the
grower an immediate return. This is not always the case for transitional
research or environmental improvements. These messages are much harder to
deliver and usual contain some negative economic effects for the grower at
least in the short term. But this advice is often the most important and
relating it to sales often dilutes or negates the overall message.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06611210022136289790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3744990493797393641.post-63517554195940844092014-09-29T11:25:00.001+01:002014-09-29T11:25:16.065+01:00Thinking afresh about impact and how it's achieved
<br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">School of
Agriculture, Food and Rural Development Director of Research Jeremy
Phillipson reflects on the constant requirement for "impact"
- both from the research funders and from that person who wants to
chat to you on the train.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">We hear
so much about “impact” from research now that it threatens to become part of
the wallpaper for academics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">But there
are occasional situations that really bring it home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>M</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">any of my colleagues will, I’m sure, have faced
that situation of sitting on a train when someone asks you what you do and you
admit you’re a scientist at a research institution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And you just know that this will lead to a
series of tricky questions, which in all probability will include a rant about
taxes paying for researchers and their value and relevance. Of course, we
respond by pointing to impacts of research, and how we aim to achieve these by
engaging with the people who can benefit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Research has to justify itself but being put on the spot can be
uncomfortable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s true that we can
tell the person on the train that things are changing. Success in getting a
research grant increasingly depends on producing a convincing Pathways to
Impact Plan, setting out how the research will engage industry, professionals,
policy makers and others, and how they will benefit. But, like anything else
that is prescribed by research funders it’s very easy to make producing those
kinds of documents an automatic part of the process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s a danger that writing the plan
becomes an end in itself, rather than a means of achieving that all important
“impact”.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">So I have
been trying to think anew about ways of achieving real impact in the past few
days, prompted by a presentation I would be giving </span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">at a
workshop in Peterborough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The event was
being organised by <span style="color: black;"><span style="color: blue;">Landbridge</span>,</span> the knowledge exchange network that
we have launched here in AFRD, and for this particular workshop we were working
in association with the Agricultural Industries Confederation, the Association
of Independent Crop Consultants and the Home Grown Cereals Authority.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Landbridge aims to bring together farm and
land advisers – including veterinarians, agronomists and crop advisers,
ecologists, land agents and many others – with researchers for mutually
beneficial knowledge exchange. This is a particularly timely endeavor as the </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Government’s
strategy for agricultural technologies and plans for new Centres for Agricultural
Innovation</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">rely heavily on translational research and require
effective mechanisms for knowledge exchange.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">But how
do we achieve fruitful relationships?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When Philip Lowe and I were directing the Rural Economy and Land Use
programme from here in Newcastle we didn’t start from the usual assumption that
the researchers would do the science then feed it to the people who needed the
results. We decided that we needed to take a step back from focusing on impact
as an end product and look more closely at the process of research.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also realised that scientists needed to
draw much more on non-academic sources of expertise. There are many experts who
are not scientists. And outside their own fields, scientists may be quite
inexpert. However, we emphasise science as a mode of thinking and we pay much
less attention to expertise: the skilful deployment of knowledge, skills,
experience and other technical capabilities. But expertise is what underpins
innovation and problem solving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Relu was
based on this philosophy of expertise exchange. A primary objective of the
Rural Economy and Land Use Programme was: “to enhance the impact of research on
rural policy and practice by involving stakeholders in all stages”.
Stakeholders were involved in the overall design and governance of the
programme, shaping its scientific direction and knowledge transfer strategy,
and also in the formulation, assessment and conduct of its individual projects.
Overall, more than 4000 stakeholders were involved across 90 projects. From
this experience we distilled the following principles of expertise exchange.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The first
principle </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">is to
engage stakeholders throughout as active partners in research, to help
establish its focus, priorities, conduct and dissemination. We found that practical
efforts of upstream engagement could lead to real benefits, in terms of the
quality, relevance and take-up of research.<span style="color: black; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The
second principle </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">is that
expertise exchange relies on an inclusive approach, whereby everyone who is
interested in a problem should be engaged in its resolution – that includes
public institutions, organised interests, industry, and others across the
public, private and third sectors.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The third
principle </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">is that
expertise exchange can occur at any time during the life of a research project,
through varied mechanisms. This can include formalised knowledge transfer based
upon intellectual property contracts, as well as soft knowledge exchange,
including informal networks, and the transfer of warm bodies between research
and practice. </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The
fourth principle </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">is that
expertise exchange must be reciprocal between researchers and stakeholders.
Both must be open to new perspectives, otherwise the relationship can become
rather one way. But critically the opening up of the research process to
stakeholders recognises the contribution of their expertise in the focusing,
conduct and application of research projects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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epitomises the learning that came out of the Relu programme.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Within research concerning land use and the
rural economy, farm and advisers are key elements in this process of knowledge
exchange.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Farmers and land managers rely
on them for their expertise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They don’t
just include agronomists but also professions such as vets, land agents,
ecologists, and many more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Events like
the one we hosted in Peterborough are the living embodiment of knowledge
exchange and the principles outlined above.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But the event was also a reminder to me that as researchers that we have
to consider afresh, with each new research application, how we can build
knowledge exchange into the process and how enriching that process can be for
the research and for achieving that elusive “impact”.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06611210022136289790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3744990493797393641.post-67167553039500788922014-05-28T12:33:00.000+01:002014-05-28T12:33:16.761+01:00Addressing the ‘knowledge gap’<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Dr Julie Ingram, Senior Research Fellow at the Countryside & Community Research Institute reflects on the landbridge workshop and her involvement in a European project which is attempting to synthesise and convert agricultural research outcomes into suitable formats for farmers, advisers and others in the supply chain. <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I attended the Landbridge workshop Taking Stock of the Links between Research and the Land Professions.at the British Academy on 1 May. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The context of the workshop was knowledge exchange between land professional and researcher. In particular it was looking at how to make communication between research and advisers more effective. One of the emerging themes at the workshop was the so-called ‘knowledge gap’ between researchers and advisers. This has been attributed to past changes in funding and policy, which were intended to make research more responsive to users’ needs, but have led to what some feel is an increasing disconnect between research and practice.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Participants at the Workshop thought that this gap is exacerbated by the large number of research providers (public and private) and their extensive research outputs which makes it difficult for advisers to find relevant information. The nature of the outputs was also considered to be problematic with scientific reports and peer reviewed publications often being too lengthy and written in complex scientific language. Commercial sensitivity, copyright issues and cost also prevented some advisers from accessing outputs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">A recently launched European funded project called VALERIE (VALorising European Research for Innovation in agriculturE and forestry) aims to address some of these issues. It is based on the rationale that many EU and nationally funded research projects in the fields of agriculture and forestry provide excellent scientific results but that outreach and translation of these results into farming and forestry practices is limited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>VALERIE over the course of the next four years<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>will:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">•<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Review and summarise knowledge - from national, international and EU research projects and studies - for innovation in agriculture and forestry<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">•<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Convert research outcomes with innovation potential into suitable formats for end-users (farmers, advisers, and enterprises in the supply chain)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">•<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Consult stakeholders in ten case studies to identify knowledge gaps, assess technical and economic viability of innovative solutions and to reveal barriers to uptake <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">•<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Develop a ‘smart’ search engine for agricultural and forestry knowledge and research outputs, for use by farmers, foresters, advisers and researchers. This ‘Communication Facility’ (“AskValerie.eu”) will not only make new knowledge accessible to the end-users, but will also enable them to share their knowledge, experience and views with peers across Europe. Continuity is ensured by embedding it in the European Innovation Partnership NF Platform<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">For more information: </span><a href="http://www.valerie.eu/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">www.valerie.eu</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06611210022136289790noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3744990493797393641.post-9047996253195751592014-05-28T12:31:00.002+01:002014-05-28T12:31:54.290+01:00(Re)Connecting science and professional practice <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sue Steer, land agent and Chair of RICS Countryside Policy Panel gives her thoughts on the recent landbridge workshop <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">My profession in general has not had strong links with the scientific research communities; apart from those surveyors employed in the old Ministry of Agriculture, who worked daily with scientists with access to an immense network of scientific knowledge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This wealth of research information was largely gathered through the Experimental Husbandry Farms, which were strategically located nationwide to serve the different systems of agriculture. This network of knowledge, built up over many decades with the corresponding<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>means of dissemination <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was swept away by the government in the interests of (short term) economy in the late 80s and 90s. There was a unanimous feeling of regret at the workshop that this system of coordinated <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>research, dissemination via the specialist land advisors to the farmers and land managers and back to the researchers (plus the opportunity to demonstrate results on the farms), had been so comprehensively dismantled. I read in Farmers Weekly this week that Defra are seeking to dramatically<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>increase the use<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of private companies to undertake research ; <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>if this is correct it is likely to be detrimental to the research which does not have a direct financial return, (but should be carried out in the public interest). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">An erudite Keynote Address by Professor Ian Crute , Chief Scientist, AHDB set the standard for the day, using examples of his own research he explained the challenges of establishing the direction of research with competing interests and tight funding. Many diverse interests can have common objectives and Ian considered that co-ordination of these common aims to help deal with the challenges and opportunities of managing land in a more sustainable way for the future was immensely important.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jeremy Phillipson followed Ian with a useful summary of the Landbridge Project and the potential for rural professionals as key intermediaries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The key is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">knowledge exchange</i> which should be a two way approach with those working in the field feeding back to the researchers as well as vice versa. The question is how can this be done in a coordinated way as well as not just driven by the requirements for economic growth but in the interests of future well-being? This should be the role of government to consult widely and set research objectives and priorities even if it needs to enter into partnerships with private interests. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Two panels one of rural practioners and the other a specially selected group of researchers involved in the rural knowledge exchange field provided the workshop with a comprehensive overview of their personal experiences and in projects which they are involved. All the presentations were valuable and demonstrated the wide range of activities being undertaken and approaches to knowledge exchange.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hesitate to single out one presentation however, in view of the focus on Scotland this year, I feel justified in mentioning Julie Fitzpatrick’s talk on the history and work of the Moredun Research Institute. It was established by a group of forward thinking farmers in 1920, to help find solutions to improve the health of livestock. Those involved with land management and farmers are still very much involved with the work and coordination with the scientists and pay an annual subscription. It struck me as an excellent model of knowledge exchange. </span></span><a href="http://www.moredun.org.uk/"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">www.moredun.org.uk</span></span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">. <o:p></o:p></span></span></u></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06611210022136289790noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3744990493797393641.post-22168715386609940772014-05-28T12:30:00.001+01:002014-05-28T12:30:47.946+01:00We must inspire and focus on skills<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Jonathan Brunyee, National Trust tenant farmer, agri-environment consultant and farm business management lecturer at the Royal Agricultural University reflects on the Landbridge workshop held on 1st May.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What an exciting and worthwhile event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But how do we turn all the activity and knowledge that gathered in the room into something meaningful for advisers and farmers on the ground? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Although I am now part of it, the world of academic research remains a dark and mysterious place. While I find it intriguing and inspiring, I also find it a somewhat daunting and competitive world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s one that I feel is sometimes too disconnected and distant from day to day land management. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Our first challenge. Somehow we must, first of all, make research (the process and outputs) more accessible and useful to those of us, maybe the less traditionally academic and more practical people like me who are actually within our universities and colleges. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We, as lecturers, must disseminate and translate, and most importantly, inspire. This is an uphill battle If we don’t feel part of the research body or see its relevance. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Traditional academic research isn’t the only area of research we discussed. I have been involved with quite a few consultancy research projects on the ground over the years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Projects that have looked at conservation grazing, biodiversity decline, rural enterprise, CAP reform etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are often short and sharp pieces of action research work, with defined outputs and recommendations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But how often do these pieces of work sit on shelves, and do not get used or shared? How often was the research a duplication of something that has been done before?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How often was the brief so poor that the client didn’t get what they needed?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">And maybe this leads me to our second key challenge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Working land professionals and clients must get better at identifying their research needs - the things that will really make a difference – the ‘so what’ question. We must recruit and manage the right research or consultancy team, and utilise and share the outcomes. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We must break down the barriers between researchers and clients. The co-creation and delivery of research can only result in better outputs and translation on the ground. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Our third challenge is probably the most important. For research to mean better practice, it must inform and lead to improved skills and training at the coal face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this depends on having training strategies, good/inspiring trainers on the ground, varied programmes (CPD, short courses, distance learning, group, one to one etc.) and a delivery budget.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Most of us learn by doing and reflecting, not by reading journals or attending lectures. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06611210022136289790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3744990493797393641.post-50447280974500123072014-05-19T10:03:00.002+01:002014-05-19T10:03:37.157+01:00Knowledge exchange: a two-way street<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">David Caffall, Chief Executive of the Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC) reflects on the role of the agri-supply industry in linking research and practice. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The recent workshop, hosted by Landbridge on 1 May, brought together key components from within the knowledge exchange pipeline, ranging from experts involved in R&D and professional’s delivering advice at the coal-face to farmers across the country. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Whilst the focus of the discussions during the day centred on the role that the land professions could play in linking the laboratory and the farm, it is important that we don’t lose sight of a vital mechanism which already exists to effectively connect researchers with farmers and vice versa. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Over the years businesses across the agri-supply industry have made significant inroads by developing collaborative relationships with Research Councils, levy bodies, leading universities, veterinary schools and Centres of Excellence. They also invest over £45 million each year in their own near-market research (including field and animal feeding trials, laboratory studies and farm pilot studies), to explore the innovative potential from research conducted in the public sector. This ensures that the latest science is readily available to their extensive army of professional advisers for translation onto farms across the UK. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Just a year ago AIC published it’s Ring of Confidence model</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/editor/static_files/blank_quirks.html#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>which demonstrates the trusted relationship that farmers have with their professional advisers such as agronomists/crop advisers, feed advisers, seed representatives and grain traders. This relationship means that advisers provide a feed-back loop back to the R&D community and shows how the channels of communication have been opened up so that knowledge exchange is very much a ‘two-way street’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Engagement with the R&D base to drive the translation of science onto farms has to be a priority as knowledge transfer is simply only one half of the story. We need to draw on the experience of existing models that best effect a knowledge exchange with feed-back loops which aren’t closed and facilitate the exchange of knowledge from researcher to farmers and farmers to researchers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/editor/static_files/blank_quirks.html#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> AIC (2013) Value of Advice Report <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06611210022136289790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3744990493797393641.post-9224593904176481122014-05-19T10:00:00.002+01:002014-05-19T10:00:53.179+01:00Closing the circle?<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Agronomist Patrick Stephenson gives his thoughts on the links between research and practice following the landbridge workshop on May 1<sup>st</sup>. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Newcastle University via the Centre for Rural Economy hosted a landbridge workshop and discussion on the link between research and implementation. I was a panel member as a practising agronomist commenting my thoughts on how research findings are delivered to the farmer and grower to improve production systems and outputs. Other speakers included veterinary, environmental consultants and farmers. From an agronomic perspective research and innovation are practiced daily by farmers and growers around the country. The use of the most recently developed pesticides; precision farming and environmental land management by farmers and growers are all the outcome of research done previously by scientists. What are the issues if this is deemed not to be successful? Agriculture has been a recession hit industry for some 20 +years this has also coincided with the Governments withdrawal of money from work deemed to be “near market”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>has meant that the downstream users of generated research have no attachment to the science . If we add to this the reverse analogy namely detachment of researchers from the end user, and the lack of opportunities for the free flow of information through the whole chain from scientist to advisor to practitioner to consumer and back, then progress will not be made. Science and research will remain trapped in a spiral of research justification and papers long lost in the archives under who cares? Can we do anything about this? In my opinion yes! The researcher has to be aware of the end user NOT the research funder but the target audience. Each project, thesis, and program should seek to have links in the relevant subjects for example:-<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Issue of compaction on re-instated soils<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This could have a soil scientist, an agricultural engineer, a utility company and an agronomist<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Natural resistance to Saddle Gall Midge<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This could have an entomologist a plant breeder, geneticist, and an affected grower.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I can feel researchers screaming at the screen reading this saying we do this already. Unfortunately, if you do then the end message is being woefully lost. Researchers must once more be in the spotlight not consigned to the backroom; to do this requires integration throughout the industry. Only then will we understand the science and research and be advocates of it. Science must be presented as accessible and important not a sound bite on the national news.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Organisations that could help facilitate this need pulling together, could landbridge be the answer? Possibly but it certainly could be a catalyst. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Was this meeting useful?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Could something be done?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Will something evolve? Who knows?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06611210022136289790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3744990493797393641.post-22841111707372050292014-05-14T12:00:00.000+01:002014-05-14T12:00:42.183+01:00Making the Link – Research and Practice<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Chloe Palmer, farm and environment adviser, reflects on the landbridge workshop ‘Taking stock of the links between research and the land professions’ and what this means out in the field <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">It has always been tough for farmers and advisers to find time in their increasingly hectic schedules to keep themselves updated on research findings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">So the event at the British Academy on 1<sup>st</sup> May organised by Newcastle University’s Landbridge Network was a welcome opportunity for me to hear and discuss how links could be improved between research and practice to make it easier for those on the front line to influence and gain access to land-based research. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQuI8JGyN9WDQMcd06d3vvvSuPkgf2olzhQDqQFfuXndAw57mWjXN93dP6YqiR-9Ra2XnhrQbPyfUNotsjxMQ0b2j1F1EmHcgTM5R8TlC_jUlFo4pRwoc4Mhkbwya5iQJt-Y4ACM1m6Ww/s1600/IMG_2730.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" closure_lm_558295="null" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQuI8JGyN9WDQMcd06d3vvvSuPkgf2olzhQDqQFfuXndAw57mWjXN93dP6YqiR-9Ra2XnhrQbPyfUNotsjxMQ0b2j1F1EmHcgTM5R8TlC_jUlFo4pRwoc4Mhkbwya5iQJt-Y4ACM1m6Ww/s1600/IMG_2730.JPG" height="240" width="320" yta="true" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Practitioner panel discussion featuring Tony Pexton (2nd left)<br />
and James Husband (1st right)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Tony Pexton OBE summed up the challenge ahead by referring to his son Will and the needs of their family farming business in East Yorkshire. He can see how climate change, rising costs and declining resource availability will mean the future farmer’s job is a difficult one. Research will always have to be one step ahead to provide the answers, but then those findings must also be made available in an easily accessible format to those who need them most.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">I was recently lucky enough to interview a family at a state of the art dairy unit in Nottinghamshire. The unit is managed by the two sons and daughter in their twenties and this team of forward thinking, highly intelligent and committed farmers are driven by the desire to continually improve the performance of their dairy herd. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Not content with relying on the extensive experience of their family and neighbours, the Bacon family work closely with their own vets and the veterinary team at the University of Nottingham. This allows them access to the latest findings to help them tackle mastitis and to improve their management of dry cows and fertility. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">They also have an excellent relationship with their dairy consultant who considers how nutrition, housing and the management of groups of cows might help to increase yield.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">James Husband, a Dairy Consultant speaking at the Landbridge event in London referred to the challenges facing dairy farmers but also recognised the role of the much belied supermarkets. Mr Husband pointed out the supermarkets are a key driver of higher standards in many aspects of dairy production and they are also promoting the flow of information between researchers and practitioners.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">This view was confirmed by the Bacons who are delighted that as a member of the Sainsbury’s Sustainable Dairy Group, they are supported by their buyer to strive for continual improvement in all aspects of cow welfare and environmental efficiency. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">The discussions at the British Academy are hopefully just the start of an exciting initiative which will see better links between universities, research establishments, advisers and their representative bodies and of course, farmers. Better communication between these groups is imperative if the industry is to continue to benefit from the best and most relevant research findings which will be so pivotal to the future of food production in the UK.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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