Country
United Kingdom
Agricultural Area
289 ha
About ERS
- Lead: University of Leeds - UNIVLEEDS
- Contact: Judith Ford and Guy Ziv
- Production System: Indoor pigs farrow to finish. Outdoor breeding herd. Agro-forestry, crop trials. Commercial farming by tenants of wheat, barley, oil seed rape, potatoes, vining peas.
Thematic Areas Covered
Agroforestry and Relation to Landscape
Biogaz Production
Crops Management
Energy Management
Herd Management
Manure Storage and Spreading
Soil Health and Biodiversity
Description
At the University of Leeds, we carry out feed, health, and behavioural studies on pigs at the National Pig centre, on indoor and outdoor pigs and monitor GHG emissions produced from slurry in the pig houses.
We aim to reduce emissions through feed changes and improved manure management – preferable by installing an anaerobic digester. We monitor farm CO2 emissions using eddy co-variance flux towers, and gather weather data at our weather station.
Regenerative agriculture is researched in plot trials where we monitor GHG emissions with automatic flux chambers. We research nutrient recycling and soil health, particularly the impact of hedges and trees.
Characteristics
Much of our farm is currently conventionally farmed. The farm vision is to create a demonstrator farm where sustainable, climate smart farming techniques for arable farming, pigs and renewable energy can be demonstrated to farmers in real-life conditions, as well as providing resources for teaching and research.
We aim to reduce the emissions from our own farm as a part of the transition to net zero, and to continue to participate in environmental schemes. We hope to work more closely with our tenants to implement and monitor regenerative agriculture adopted at field scale.
