Land-based academics Dr Dave George and Professor Jonathan Leake have been appointed as the new Chair and Vice Chair of the Farmer Scientist Network, a group supported by farming charity the Yorkshire Agricultural Society.
The Network works with the Yorkshire Agricultural Society to advise policymakers in the UK and beyond on issues such as farming practices, food security, sustainable productivity and the ways in which new science and technology can solve problems and underpin innovation in agriculture.
Jonathan Leake is the New Farmer Scientist Network Vice Chair. He’s Professor of Plant-Soil Interactions at the University of Sheffield’s School of Biosciences, whose areas of interest include soil health, regenerative agriculture, the use of leys in arable rotations to regenerate beneficial soil organisms, carbon sequestration, soil structure, and the use of minimal tillage.
He said: “We are at a very exciting place in farming and science where there is a lot of unrealised potential to link them together.
“Scientists need to be better informed about farming’s challenges and farmers need a better understanding of the ways in which science can help to make their farms more sustainable, environmentally and economically.”
The Farmer Scientist Network, guided by its new leadership team, will now work with the Yorkshire Agricultural Society to effect positive innovation in the industry by working with the crop and livestock sectors. Through a series of events, farmers are being offered opportunities to learn about regenerative techniques that are being adopted to drive farming profitability and productively in harmony with the environment.
