The IfA soil team will be attending the South Soils in Practice Event on the 14th November at Russel Smith Farms, Duxford, England. We’ll be holding soil science demonstrations and technical talks on soil health regeneration, as well as discussing methods of integrating livestock back into arable farms.

The agenda for the event is as follows:

 

08.15
Breakfast & networking
08.45
Introduction from Farmers Weekly
09.00
Introduction from Russell Smith Farms
Robert Smith, Russell Smith Farms
09.25
The Great Debate: The Agricultural Bill & soil policy – Impact for UK farmers
Compere: Professor Chris Collins, NERC Soil Secruity Programme co-ordinator
Guy Smith, Vice President, NFU & Essex Arable Farmer
Stephen Briggs, Farm Manager, Whitehall Farms; Soil & Water Manager, Innovation for Agriculture
The detail on how delivering environmental and public goods such as soil health improvement will be incentivised is still up for debate. Will farmers be dangled a carrot or threatened with a stick? We hear the arguements for and against each and audience gets the final say. 
10.45
Controlled Traffic Farming
Steve Laroque, President, Beyond Agronomy
11.30
Practical applications of the Soil Biology & Soil Health Partnership
Dr Felicity Crotty, Royal Agricultural University
12.15
Lunch & networking
13.30
Practical sessions
  • Physical and chemical soil components: nutrition, companion, organic matter & composts •
    John Williams, ADAS
  • Controlled traffic farming for the UK •
    Steve Laroque, Beyond Agronomy
    Tim Chamen, CTF Europe Ltd.
  • Bugs & beneficials as indicators of soil health •
    Dr Felicity Crotty, Royal Agricultural University
14.30
How a state-of-the-art UK soil facility is informing farming practice
15.15
Closing remarks

 

For more information and to buy tickets search:

https://www.fwi.co.uk/ms/events/soils-in-focus/south-conference/