Public Funding for Plant Bioscience Limited

The UK Processors and Growers Research Organisation will lead this ambitious national research programme with 200 UK farms and 18 partners to design an environmentally transformative, economically sustainable arable rotation system to optimise crop rotations for climate benefit. UK farming accounts for 10% of the UK's total GHG emissions p/a (46.3 MT), 68% of total UK nitrous oxide emissions, 47% of total methane emissions and 1.7% of total CO2\. Arable cropping significantly contributes to these figures, utilising 596,496T of Nitrogen fertiliser p/a. Existing emission estimates are for individual crops, and the impact of these in successive rotational cropping remains unquantified. This project will investigate three opportunity gaps: (i) replacement of 20% of national grain crops with pulses and legumes rotations to establish a net zero farming pathway, (ii) the nutritional and financial feasibility of replacing feed grains (currently representing 70% of the UK grain market) with legumes in 30% national livestock feed and (iii) create a market for this additional yield. The proposed system outputs would contribute to UK Net Zero goals with a total potential reduction of 1.5MT CO2e p/a of the maximum potential 2.8MT for UK agriculture (Defra Agri Climate Report, 2021) in the following ways. * Removal of 233,000T of nitrogen fertiliser and 0.55MT (CO2e) - a 1.2% national reduction - by increasing pulse and legume cropping areas to the rotational optimum of 20% (1M Ha) across UK farms. * Use of subsequent produce in animal feed substitution (replacing 50% of imported soya meal) delivering a further 0.7MT CO2e reduction. * Delivery of a residual N benefit to following crops, leading to an additional 0.25MT CO2e (0.5%). * Delivering a national cost saving to farming of £1032M p/a, by removing 20% of N fertiliser across UK growers and 1.8MT soya imports respectively from the UK farming supply chain. * A policy tool that leads to the adoption of more measures and cost-effective solutions for reducing agricultural GHGs that fit with the farm business' (source: Defra Agri-Climate Report, October 2021). * A set of farmer and grower case studies that can be used to educate and inform the national farming community of the environmental and financial benefits of the research solution. We propose a technologically and financially accessible system for farmers/growers to achieve 100% uptake of a nationally resilient and sustainable food system. Secondary benefits will be the reduction of carbon footprint associated with the domestic replacement of 1.8MT of soya imports p/a.

"Agriculture depends on soil nutrients (primarily nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium) to optimise plant development and ultimately yield. Soils contain such nutrients naturally, but growing and harvesting crops results in nutrients becoming depleted, leading to plants suffering from nutrient deficiency and decreasing yields. It is therefore crucial for food security and efficient crop production to replace the natural supply of nutrients in the soil to enable the continuous cultivation of crops. These nutrients can be added from a variety of sources - organic matter, chemical fertilisers, and certain plants (as traditionally done by crop rotation) - ensuring maintenance of soil health and fertility, enabling continuous growth of nutritious and healthy crops at high yields. Chemical fertilisers are the most efficient way to supply nutrients to the soil and have the highest cost benefit. Our entire agricultural system depends on the application of fertiliser in one form or another; it would not be possible to maintain the world's population at its current level without it. Especially nitrogen is of prime importance for farmers and food production, as the most important nutrient limiting crop development and yield, and also contributing the largest cost to crop production. However, this nitrogen is rarely efficiently managed; 110 million tons of nitrogen is applied onto fields every year, but only about a quarter of this makes it into plants, partly due to the poor nitrogen use efficiency of crops. Over application of fertiliser results in leaching of this excess into watercourses, and approximately 80 million tons of nitrogen is estimated to flow into the world's waterways every year. General overuse of nitrogen fertiliser and to some lesser extent other nutrients such as phosphate and potassium, causes eutrophication and toxic algal blooms in water systems, leading to death of aquatic organisms from oxygen depletion in the water by the algae. It also promotes denitrification by microorganisms, leading to the release of nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. Production of inorganic fertilisers also requires a large input of energy which further contributes to greenhouse gas emission as well as fossil fuel depletion. This project aims to develop a decision tool that will enable farmers to better optimise the quantity of fertiliser applied to crops, lowering use and increasing the percentage of nutrients taken up by plants and therefore resulting in less nitrogen (and phosphate and potassium) being released into the environment."

Awaiting Public Summary