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On April 14th, 1935, the largest dust storm in American history occurred. A black cloud carrying 300,000 tons of topsoil from the Great Plains deposited dust as far away as New York. This day was the culmination of a perfect storm of events, ravaging millions of hectares of farmland. After the Civil War, a series of land acts incentivised pioneers to move west and take up farming. These acts generated a massive influx of new farmers to the Great Plains grasslands. Rising wheat prices encouraged farmers to plough up millions of acres of grasslands to capitalise on surging prices for wheat and
Genetic biodiversity is the fuel that drives crop improvement. However, in major cereal crops, while the traditional method of crop improvement has brought significant yield improvements over time, it has also resulted in a drastic loss of crop genetic biodiversity. As a result, many of our crops have lost resilience, becoming potentially vulnerable to a range of stresses, from environmental factors to disease. Continued loss of genetic diversity could severely affect crop yields and threaten the sustainability of economically and socially important end uses. So what’s the answer? Strategies
SEFARI Gateway is delighted to provide support for a Fellowship with Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS). We are seeking an individual researcher or small team of researchers to develop an approach that will allow ESS to undertake an assessment of alignment between Scotland’s and the EU or other international environmental standards and make recommendations on the consequences of regulatory alignment or its divergence. Background Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS) is a non-ministerial office, established in 2021 to monitor public authorities’ compliance with, and the effectiveness of
SEFARI Gateway is delighted to offer a Fellowship in collaboration with Highland and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and Orkney Islands Council (OIC) to investigate business models for Controlled Environmental Agriculture (CEA) in rural and island communities (in the Highlands and Islands). Background CEA is an umbrella term which encompasses a range of technologies and growing environments. This includes protected growing under structures such as polytunnels and glasshouses, and often includes smart technologies for monitoring and remote management of glasshouses right through to vertical farm
SEFARI Gateway is delighted to provide support for a new Fellowship in collaboration with the Community Landownership Academic Network (CLAN). We are seeking an individual researcher or small team of researchers to help inform the development of practical guidance which can be used by researchers (and those who supervise them), community organisations and other stakeholders to promote and encourage improved robust research practice in this area. Background Modern community landownership has only emerged over the past thirty years in Scotland, with its ‘mainstreaming’ only taking place
Methane is the prominent GHG from agriculture, accounting for 59% of agricultural emissions. Enteric methane, produced by ruminants as they digest feed, is the major source of these emissions. There are several options to reduce enteric methane emissions, some of which could deliver reductions in the short to medium term (e.g. dietary), and some of which are considered longer-term strategies (e.g., breeding). This report identifies the options for reducing methane emissions from beef, sheep, and dairy livestock sectors and provides clarity on current readiness levels and the potential of each
Digging into the Problem: AMR in Agricultural Ecosystems The use of antimicrobials in livestock farming has proven essential for maintaining animal health, but are known to contain resistant bacteria due to the use of antimicrobials in livestock. As bacteria become resistant to these treatments, they can spread resistance genes into the wider environment when animal manure or slurry is used as fertiliser. Antimicrobial resistance may persist in the soil for long period of time, increasing the risk of transferring these genes to soil microbiota as well as to animal and human pathogenic bacteria