Food production in the UK could decline by up to 25% if the most ambitious climate targets are enacted, according to a report by Natural England.

The government agency has published its Agri-Environment Evidence Annual Report, providing a summary of recent projects and information around uptake in schemes, impact, delivery and land use.

It found there was a strong trade-off between food production and emissions reduction, and stated that a decline in food production would be “unavoidable” under climate change mitigation measures.

Growers and breeders are facing post-Brexit difficulty when importing or exporting oilseed rape seed, whether that’s for research or cropping purposes, the sector has warned.

New rules which came into effect during April are now causing the uncertainty and delays which oilseed rape growers and plant breeders had feared.

The latest issue to be affected are the crucial imports of oilseed rape seed for the imminent official trials of new varieties.

Crop output in England could drop by 3% in 2024 as a result of land being taken out of production by the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), a new study has found.

In a year when challenging weather conditions have seen cereal and oilseed rape acreage at their lowest level in two decades, analysis by Strutt & Parker has shone a light on the impact the SFI is also having on land use.

It estimates that, at the start of May 2024, about 206,000ha of agricultural land had been temporarily taken out of production. The consultancy’s rural research director Dr Jason Beedell said this amounted to 2% of all agricultural land in England, which could translate to a possible 3% cut in crop production.

British food security is being hit by a double whammy of climate change impacts at home and in the countries it imports products from, analysis warns.

Key crops from potatoes and onions to wheat and sugar are being hit by damaging heat, drought and floods around the world, pushing up prices and threatening food security, an assessment from think tank the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) says.

But while it “is tempting” to suggest that the UK should increase domestic production to make up for poor harvests abroad, Britain too is struggling in the face of climate impacts, the organisation said.

Independent think tank Green Alliance is urging the government to make the use of methane suppressants in dairy and beef systems a Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFI) option.

It says that the supplements are more cost effective at reducing emissions than some subsidised actions. Manufacturers have developed feed additives and boluses that inhibit or disrupt enzymes which produce methane in cattle during digestion.

Green Alliance estimates that fully subsidising the use of the one product currently authorised for use in the UK would cost £45-50 for every tonne of emissions (tCO2e) avoided. It claims this is 60 times cheaper than some SFI measures.

Preliminary data from the Breed for Ch4nge Project has revealed a 40-50% difference in methane emissions from lambs.

The three-year project, which is an industry collaboration partly funded by Defra, is aimed at breeding productive, maternal sheep that have a low carbon footprint.

The first year has seen the methane output of 3,300 Dorset, Innovis, Lleyn and Exlana lambs from 27 flocks recorded using portable chambers, geneticist Janet Roden, from lead partner Innovis, revealed to delegates at the NSA Sheep Event in Malvern.

Crop science organisation NIAB has been announced as a partner in a new $30 million (£23m) Sustainable Protein Centre established by the Bezos Earth Fund and based at Imperial College London.

The centre will be one of multiple Earth Fund Centres working together with other institutions and industry partners in a $100m (£77m) commitment to developing sustainable protein alternatives and expanding consumer choice, as part of an overall $1 billion (£0.8bn) commitment to food transformation.

The Bezos Sustainable Protein Centre will focus on three main areas of alternative protein production: cultured meat, precision fermentation and plant-based protein.

Potato supply business Albert Bartlett has formed a partnership with Fera Science in a bid to control aphid numbers and combat viral infection levels in seed potato crops across Scotland.

Forty-five growers have signed up to the Albert Bartlett-funded monitoring process for the 2024 seed potato growing season, each returning up to 10 sampling traps for analysis throughout the season. Aphid types will be identified, counted and reported weekly by Fera, along with the virus transmission risk.

Will Jackson technical manager at Albert Bartlett says: "Understanding the aphid species present is fundamental to determining the risk of virus transmission, allowing seed growers to target the use of the limited number of insecticides available."

A new report published by the National Sheep Association (NSA) has attempted to demonstrate the UK sheep sector’s positive role in sustainable agriculture.

The report, produced in association with Harper Adams University school of sustainable food and farming, also seeks to identify what more can be done to progress the sector and further improve its credentials.

The NSA said the event was the ideal opportunity to release the report and its intention to influence, both now and in the future, areas of policy support, market development and practical applications at farm level.

East Anglian agronomy outfit Vegetable Consultancy Services (VCS) has reported chemical savings of up to 96% over the 1,000ha of contracting and demo work it has completed with an Ecorobotix spot-sprayer this year.

Hidden under the hoods of the 6m-wide Ara are six cameras and processors that analyse every bit of greenery they detect, deciding in a split second whether to initiate a chemical blast from one or more of the 156 closely spaced nozzles.

These ultra-accurate applications promise to slash expenditure on plant protection and nutrition products, either by hitting only weeds with selective herbicides or crop plants with insecticides, fungicides and foliar fertilisers. As a result, the initial outlay of roughly £106,000 can be clawed back in between two and three years.