The impact of livestock on biodiversity
Reading Time: 3 minutes
Livestock, farming, farmers, meat – they are all often just grouped into one category and linked to negative environmental impacts. This is very unfair.
Case study: How to reduce your carbon footprint
Reading Time: 6 minutes
Agriculture is often pointed at as the source of high greenhouse gas emissions. How can dairy farmers reduce their carbon footprint?
Wasted energy
Reading Time: 2 minutes
We are borrowing non-renewable resources from past and future generations to support this one. That is the very opposite of sustainable agriculture.
Evidence of the economic advantages of working with Trace & Save
Reading Time: 7 minutes
Farmers do not gain economic advantages because they make use of the Trace & Save tools. Farmers improve because they manage their farms better – the tools help them to do this.
Case study: Growing cheaper pastures
Reading Time: 6 minutes
The take-away challenge is for farmers to assess whether their fertiliser costs are decreasing per pasture produced. Are you growing cheaper pastures?
Soil restoration principles
Reading Time: 5 minutes
The goal is to restore agricultural soils to a healthy state – every farm is different, but the principles always apply.
Case study: Improving nitrogen fertiliser efficiency
Reading Time: 8 minutes
I hope this case study encourages farmers who are in the process of adapting their management in order to achieve greater nitrogen fertiliser efficiency.
Grazing management – the importance of farm cover
Reading Time: 5 minutes
Sufficient, good quality pasture is fundamental to sustainable pasture-based dairy farming, hence the importance of optimal grazing management.
Finding the water sweet spot
Reading Time: 3 minutes
The relationship between plants and water is delicate. Too little water can lead to plant stress, resulting in wilting. Too much can lead to risk of pathogen infection and loss of nutrients supporting the plant via leaching.
Paying back the carbon debt
Reading Time: 3 minutes
Rebecca Burgess, founder of the Fibershed project says that, “our soils have a carbon debt; the atmosphere is gushing with carbon. The carbon over our heads is literally in the wrong place” and this couldn’t be truer.