About this event
We would like to welcome you to the ASSIST end of programme event, Future farming: bringing together the best of nature-based and agri-tech solutions, which will be taking place at the Rothamsted Conference Centre on 30th March 2022, subject to Covid-19 restrictions.
The ASSIST Achieving Sustainable Agriculural Systems programme is a joint initiative funded by NERC/UKRI and BBSRC and delivered by The UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology in partnership with Rothamsted Research and British Geological Survey.
This event will bring together the key outputs of the programme over the last 5 years, with a focus on the following themes:
- Understanding the crop yield gap
- Managing the impacts of farming on the environment
- Nature based solutions in arable farming systems
- Multi-functional grassland systems
- Designing future farmed landscapes
- Data and tools
If you have any questions, including COVID safety, please contact us at ASSIST@ceh.ac.uk.
Event Programme
Full Event Programme: online version, print-friendly version.
The Event Agenda ONLY: online version.
Presentations
To view the recordings, please click on the Session or Talk titles. Please be aware that many of the presentations contain preliminary results that are not yet published.
Welcome and opening remarks
- Speaker: Angela Karp (Centre Director, Rothamsted Research)
SESSION 1: Improving the efficiency and resilience of food production
[Slides available 
here]
- Biophysical limitations to wheat yield – insights from a network of UK farms (Speaker: Ian Shield, Rothamsted Research)
- Soil moisture and groundwater dynamics and their impact on wheat yield (Speaker: Andy Tye, British Geological Survey)
- Mapping and modelling cropping patterns and yields across GB (Speaker: Emily Upcott, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology)
SESSION 2: Managing the impacts of farming on the environment
[Slides available here]
- Mapping and modelling pesticides and fertilisers in the environment (Speaker: Susan Jarvis, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology)
- Mitigating impacts of pesticides (Speaker: Jon Storkey on behalf of Helen Metcalfe, Rothamsted Research)
- The contribution of agriculture to nutrient pollution in rivers (Speaker: Vicky Bell, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology)
- Measuring and mitigating cropland GHG emissions (Speaker: Niall McNamara, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology)
SESSION 3: Integrating nature-based and agri-tech solutions on the ASSIST commercial farm network
[Slides available here]
- The ASSIST farm network – testing sustainable intensification within real arable systems (Speaker: Sam Cook, Rothamsted Research)
- The ASSIST farm network – can sustainable intensification support increased productivity? (Speaker: Ben Woodcock, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology)
- Managing multi-functional grassland systems (Speaker: M. Jordana Rivero, Rothamsted Research)
SESSION 4: Discussion session
SESSION 5: How has ASSIST helped me? A Farmer perspective
[Slides available here]
- What has ASSIST ever done for me? (Speaker: Julian Gold, East Hendred Estate)
SESSION 6: Designing future farmed landscapes
[Slides available here]
- Tools supporting farmer-led decision making and monitoring (Speaker: Tom August, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology)
- Tools for exploring impacts of future agricultural land use scenarios (Speaker: John Redhead, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology)
- Managing trade-offs between food production, biodiversity and the environment (Speaker: Alice Milne, Rothamsted Research)
SESSION 7: ASSIST impacts and what’s next
[Slides available here]
- ASSIST outputs and impacts (Speakers: Claire Carvell and Richard Pywell, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology)
SESSION 8: Discussion session
Closing remarks from the Centre Directors
- Speakers: Karen Hanghøj (Centre Director, British Geological Survey) and Mark Bailey (Centre Director, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology)