Soil & Water Management day

Posted 6 March 2012

Watch the video on our YouTube channel.

Farmers and industry professionals from across the country were invited to learn about the latest developments in soil and water research at an event hosted by Harper Adams University College.

The Soil and Water Management Day, sponsored by Catchment Sensitive Farming, featured a series of seminars and practical discussion sessions.

Vice Principal, Peter Mills, said: “The whole purpose of the day was to bring together farmers and the professionals who support the farming industry, to learn a little bit more about soil and water and how we manage them.

“We hosted it here because we intend to launch a soil and water management centre, which will be an industry led initiative. Today is a precursor to that.”

Topics discussed during the event included ‘nutrient management in arable cropping systems’ and ‘tillage management in extremes of moisture’.

Director of Control Traffic Farming, Tim Chamen, said: “I think this event is very important as DEFRA has recently done a study looking at soil degradation across England and Wales, showing that there are indeed serious signs of soil degradation.

“This event was one small way of addressing that and engaging with the really important people who are actually managing soils on a daily basis.”

Professor Dick Godwin, Visiting Lecturer in Agricultural Engineering, gave a seminar outlining
the tillage and traffic management project at Harper Adams, alongside lecturer, Paula Misiewicz.

Professor Godwin said: “I think Harper Adams is in a unique position. It is very agriculturally focussed, has the industry at heart, has many graduates in the farming industry, boasts good and developing facilities, and finally, has invested heavily in new members of staff.”