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Agronomy and Business: Virtual Conference for Arable Growers

The Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) has joined forces with the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE), and the Ulster Arable Society (UAS) to deliver a series of webinars for arable growers. They will focus on ‘understanding carbon arable rotations’ Tuesday 1 February, 8pm and ‘nitrogen and biopesticides’ on Tuesday 8 February, 8pm.

Webinar speakers:

Understanding carbon arable rotations – Tuesday 1 February, 8pm

Gary Lanigan

Gary is a principal researcher officer at Teagasc. He leads the ‘greenhouse gas research group’ at the environment, soils and land-use department. at Teagasc Johnstown Castle. His main focus is measurement and modelling of ammonia, and nitrous oxide emissions and carbon sequestration, as well as the quantification of management strategies to reduce emissions and enhance sequestration.

He is lead investigator of the Agricultural GHG Research Initiative for Ireland (AGRI-I) which involves Teagasc and the main universities on the island, and is tasked with coordinating research in this area. In particular, he has extensively studied the optimisation of land management to deliver sustainable intensification.

He is a member of the UN expert panel on the mitigation of agricultural nitrogen that advises the UN on ammonia abatement best practice, and is an advisor to the EPA’s Climate Change Research Program. He was an author on the IPCC Report on Climate, Land-Use and Food Security, is an adjunct professor at NUI Galway and a bye-Fellow at Magdelene College, Cambridge University.

Michaela Tener

Michaela Tener is a technologist working within CAFRE’s sustainable land management branch with a focus on land management, specifically carbon. Michaela has a BSc in agricultural technology and an MSc in business for agri-food and rural enterprise innovation management from QUB.

Since joining CAFRE in 2020, Michaela has been involved in the coordination and calculation of the CAFRE farm carbon footprint and identifying opportunities for carbon reduction on campus farms. She has also been involved in the set-up of carbon benchmarking program for the environmental BDGs, demonstrating the use of carbon calculators as a tool to manage carbon within a farm business. Michaela is a commended member of the Institute of Agricultural Management.

Simon Best

Simon Best runs Acton House Farm in Co. Armagh, producing cereals, oilseed rape and beans. The majority of which are sold within a five-mile radius of the farm.

Over the past 20 years, there has been a significant focus on environmental sustainability, with the farm being engaged in environmental stewardship schemes and becoming LEAF accredited. Simon is currently a participating farmer in the ARC Zero project with the aim of establishing a verifiable carbon baseline for the farm.

This year Simon was winner of the Farmers Weekly arable farmer of the year award and a speaker at the Oxford Farming Conference 2022.

Nitrogen and biopesticides – Tuesday 8 February 8pm

Pete Berry

Dr Pete Berry, head of crop physiology at ADAS, has worked there for 18 years and leads the ADAS crop physiology team. He is based at ADAS High Mowthorpe in North Yorkshire. Prior to this he worked as a post-doctoral researcher in crop science at Nottingham University. The main aim of his work is to improve performance and reduce pollution of cropping systems through an understanding of crop physiology, plant breeding and agronomy. His goal is to produce sound practical advice for the farming industry which is based on rigorous and high-quality research (he has authored 45 peer reviewed research papers).

His projects engage with a wide range of audiences including farmers, agronomists, policy makers and scientists. Important areas of his research include increasing crop yields sustainably, optimising nitrogen nutrition of crops, exploitation of precision farming technologies, lodging control and plant growth regulation, and development of reliable pest thresholds. He works on a wide range of crops including all cereals, oilseed rape and grassland in the UK and overseas (USA, Ireland, China, Mexico).

Roma Gwynn

Roma Gwynn is a biopesticide specialist working for over 35 years. Initially as a research scientist then for biocontrol companies and now an independent specialist, working internationally. She has an MSc in technology for crop protection and a PhD in biological control both from Reading University.

Roma has taken a lead role in the development and registration of many new biopesticide technologies (semio-chemical, botanical and microbial substances). Her expertise is in facilitating the process of getting biopesticide products onto the market by streamlining bio-discovery, product development, registration and marketing.

Roma has been an expert for regulation of biocontrol agents (OECD, EU, FAO/WHO). She is a board member for AHDB horticulture and International Association for the Plant Protection Sciences (IAPPS) and vice-president of International Biocontrol Manufacturers Association (IBMA). Roma is involved with farmer projects, including AHDB SCEPTRE+ and AMBER projects and the Yorkshire Agriculture Society project Crop Health North. She was editor of the BCPC ‘The Manual of Biocontrol Agents’ and supports CABI for their bioprotection portal.

Bruce Steele

Bruce Steele lives in Dromara, Co. Down with his wife Barbara-Ann. He has two sons and one grandson. He is a BASIS approved agronomist, has run his own agri- merchant business for nearly 40 years and has been involved with the farming community all his working life.

He is currently chair of the Ulster Arable Society and is the Northern Ireland representative on the Strategy Board of the Voluntary Initiative. Bruce has recently participated on the Steering Group which submitted recommendations to DAERA on the future of arable production in Northern Ireland.

Sarah Bell

Alongside working on her family mixed farm in Rutland, Sarah runs her own consultancy business S E Bell Agri Food Ltd, driving and delivering positive change in food supply chains. Sarah has worked closely with academia and business developing practical solutions incorporating data use, to demonstrate sustainable farming. Prior to consultancy Sarah worked for Openfield as head of supply chain.

To register for the event, visit the following link www.ufuni.org/events or contact UFU HQ  028 9037 0222.