NSA South West Farm Walk
Date: 8th July 2014
There was a decent turnout for the NSA South West Region Farm Walk on Tuesday afternoon, which involved a trip to the North Wyke Research Farm to look at the work they are doing, particularly looking at nutrient use and run-off from grassland.
Bryan Griffiths, NSA South West Regional Chairman, says: “It’s a colossal set-up and it was a real eye-opened to see the money being spent by the Research Council to carry out the work. The main thing I took away was me was the tremendous amount of data being gathered and the benefit farmers could gain when it is disseminated in the future. It really is important that such information is made available for producers so we use it and profit from it.
"There were many, many scientific experiences going on all over the place and Dr Jennifer Dungate talked to us about a project she was working on with deep-rooted grasses to help with both drought and flood. Robert Orr also showed us one of 15 stations (pictured) where they are measuring and analysing run-off from five identical plots (all carrying livestock) that are run using different management systems. The investment in such technology really was staggering.”
