The Allerton project

February is always a busy month for speaking engagements as the workload for farmers, particularly in the arable sector, is light which means that attendance at events is always good. We ran a series of six farm walks as part of our cross compliance advice contract, at a mixed farm near Grantham, a big arable and vegetable enterprise employing 600 people near Holbeach and then a dairy and arable farm near Market Bosworth in Leicestershire.

We have also been involved in two soil management events; a half day conference at The Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, in conjunction with the Farmers Club and the Royal Agricultural Society of England, which attracted over 150 delegates, and a half day technical update for the Cotswold training group. We also began the first of what will eventually be nine Green Futures events here in the East Midlands, Louth, Spalding and Newark updating farmers on the Campaign for the Farmed Environment and cross compliance matters.

Alastair also spoke at the Knutsford branch of the British Science Association to an impressive turnout of 80 members, and to the Nottingham Farm Business Association, which on an inclement Monday evening still managed to attract 60 people, some of whom expressed interest in becoming members of the Trust. 

Chris Stoate has been giving lectures on our research work to university students, first to MSc students at Nottingham University’s agricultural campus at Sutton Bonington, and secondly in Birmingham to agri-environmental PhD students from a number of universities from across the country. He also attended a meeting of the National Ecosystems Assessment, contributing to efforts to evaluate the range of benefits of the agricultural environment to society.