Forage for CH4nge webinar - An exciting new industry project
Date: 3rd April 2025
Time: 10am - 11am
Location: Online
Join NSA and industry partners to learn more about Forage for CH4nge - An exciting new industry project.
A new study investigating methane emissions and the environmental impact of UK upland sheep living off a natural forage diet is being carried out in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
The Forage for CH4nge project – funded by Innovate UK – is led by Yorkshire farmer Adrian Thornton-Berry in collaboration with the National Sheep Association (NSA), Agri-Tech centre, the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, the Scottish Rural College and the Yorkshire Agricultural Society.
It will explore how the amount of methane produced by native Swaledale sheep differs to that of half-bred sheep when both breeds graze on the upland landscape forage.
The aim of the project is to support upland farmers and help to improve productivity and financial resilience. By utilising breeds that are efficient in the local landscape, and exploiting the most appropriate grazing resources, there is opportunity to reduce input costs and increase profitability, providing potential to access premium meat markets.
The study is one of the recent projects, which have secured funding from the Department for Environmental Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and UKRI as part of the Research Starter Programme.
Nicola Noble, NSA Project Manager comments: “We are all aware of the challenges we face to achieve net zero targets set by the Government. Projects like this help us to understand emissions from different sheep breeds but also help emphasise the need to stop assessing farm business on a single metric. Grazing sheep in the hills and uplands not only produce nutritious food and a sustainable fibre, but deliver wider benefits socially, economically and environmentally that need to be recognised by consumers and policymakers.”
