Coming Soon

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71,828
2024-08-01 to 2025-10-31
Collaborative R&D
"Cool Farm Manure" brings together RAFT Solutions, Keele University and Cool Farm, in the creation of a new manure management tool for the cattle industry in the Cool Farm Platform (CFP). The UK 25-year Environment Plan and Net Zero strategy underlies the need for agriculture to deliver greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions reductions while supporting biodiversity, soil quality, water and maintaining food security. Agriculture accounts 69% of total nitrous oxide emissions in the UK. The most common storage facilities for solid manure are temporary heaps in fields and tanks for slurry (16% farms). Poor slurry storage impacts water courses, methane and nitrogen based emissions. Cool Farm Manure targets nitrogen-based emissions, integrating farm data for improved productivity and resilience. It promises to arm farmers with the latest scientific findings, enabling personalised decision-making. The CFP will offer quantifiable, credible metrics for sustainability communication, benefits of regenerative practices, and reporting against reduction targets. This initiative responds to demands from Cool Farm members, reflecting the agricultural industry's prioritisation of enhanced manure management. Our goal is to offer a balanced approach to GHG mitigation on farms by integrating nitrogen compounds management into the UK-based CFP. This module will enable the modelling of ammonia trade-offs in manure management across feed, housing, storage, and application processes to reduce emissions without increasing ammonia levels, initially targeting cattle but adaptable for other livestock. User-centric design principles underpinning the project inform the design and implementation of nitrogen reduction interventions, developing a deep understanding of the challenges, barriers and opportunities of the project's interventions from diverse farming perspectives. Expected outputs include a comprehensive report, a new software product, and enhanced service offerings, all geared towards enabling evidence-based decision-making around manure management and contributing to the UK's net zero goals.