UK agriculture continues to face multiple uncertainties: a changing climate, volatile markets, new subsidies and policies combine to make long-term and even short-term practical planning for profitable farming more difficult. Old certainties are being undermined and finding ways to adapt is essential, even if practical, trustworthy and reliable advice is hard to find.
‘New’ ideas, many founded in traditional knowledge, include regenerative approaches based around a better understanding of soils, and developing closer relationships with customers.
Rootstock is a one day conference for farmers in the South West to discuss forward-looking, profitable, sustainable farming in tune with natural processes. The event is organised by the Devon County Agricultural Association (DCCA). Now in its third year, the event is being supported by the University of Exeter, the University of Plymouth and Rothamstead Research.
The conference will inform, explore and question current farming trends and the latest technical developments. Sessions will be based around contextualised science, with speakers being a mixture of expert scientists and practical farmers.
Speakers include
Dr Jennifer Rowntree
, Associate Professor of Ecological Genetics at the University of Plymouth and Deputy Director of the Centre of Research excellence in Intelligent and Sustainable Productive Systems (CRISPS) which aims to address the challenge of sustainably feeding a global population. For her research, Jennifer is currently working to develop integrated tools to assess soil health and determine soil biota and function in productive systems.