ARF/EA water quality meeting

The Defra Innovation Centre in Reading was the venue for a September meeting for ARF levy members and the Environment Agency (EA). The meeting focused on two key areas - Research and KT and Nitrates and Diffuse Pollution.

In the morning workshops, the 28 delegates greatly improved their understanding of activities of the
organisations, who their respective audience and stakeholders were and identified gaps in knowledge and opportunities for improved collaboration in R&D and KT.

These were summarised as:

• Breeding technologies and opportunities for environmental improvement
• Reducing nutrient losses and improving nutrient uptake
• Land use and adapting to climate change
• Soil and water infiltration technology to reduce flooding and diffuse pollution
• Decision support tools for irrigation and water use
• Improving knowledge transfer for environmental issues to the food chain

Consultations on Nitrates and Diffuse sources of Phosphorus pollution were discussed in the afternoon
session and information from the EA proved valuable in assisting the levy bodies formulate responses to Defra on behalf of their stakeholders.

The meeting was organised by ARF members - Mike Storey (BPC) and Jane James (EA). Subsequently there has been continued liaison with ARF members invited to contribute to EA Water Resources meetings and the levy body R&D and KT teams incorporating information from the workshop into their outputs.

Cricklade conference

45 Levy Board staff from across the ARF representative bodies met last October at the Cricklade Country Hotel in Gloucestershire to learn more about the ARF, its objectives and associated activities. The day, chaired by ARF chairman, Colin Harvey was a good opportunity to meet with both R&D and KT representatives from other Levy Boards.

Three key joint initiative projects were reviewed; Soils, the Rotations working group and the Forum for the Future program.

Guest speaker, Mr Tim Pratt from the Farm Energy Centre provided insights into the challenges facing the individual sectors, focusing on investing wisely if genuinely seeking energy efficiency in farming systems, giving the Levy Boards food for thought in terms of the effects of this for their sector.

As part of the day, breakout groups further explored how best the ARF could enhance its existing effectiveness.
The three key areas of debate were:

1. Effective communications between the Levy Boards
2. Making time for the ARF initiatives in our already busy programmes
3. Commissioning projects and planning effective knowledge transfer from the outset

Updates on work in progress were given including the latest on:

• Feed efficiency
• Biofuels
• Fertiliser use
• Precision farming

The day was extremely interactive and positive resulting in the following outcomes to be explored by the ARF Technical Directors and KT groups as appropriate.

1. Aim to strengthen links with other allied organisations such as Defra, Environment Agency and the NFU, where effective working relationships have been developed and are continually improving.
2. Prioritise identified areas of collaboration by focusing on fewer areas, but delivering at a higher level, ie less is more! (Currently 11 working areas).
3. Levy Boards need to be prepared to say no to certain areas of work if they are not reflected in their sector business plans. This will aid buy-in from the individuals involved.
4. The ARF website will in future host individual levy board staff areas of specialism. This will be a
   searchable facility that will identify staff by subject area e.g. Environment or livestock welfare.
5. Consultations - The ARF will only respond to consultations that have research relevance and where we feel that a genuine contribution can be made. One of the Levy Boards in each instance will take the ARF lead.
6. More time should be spent understanding each other processes in order to maximise Levy Board efficiency.
7. The opportunities and benefits of working with staff in other Levy Boards are to be better communicated within individual organisations.
8. There should be an annual conference with the emphasis on effective information sharing to enable relevant Levy Board staff to engage and discuss common issues.