Wild flowers

A new Field Lab from Innovative Farmers investigating how farmers can better harness the power of flowers to fight pests.

Website
https://www.innovativefarmers.org/field-lab/?id=ff1dd8f4-f92f-ec11-8198-005056a…

Six farmers across the east of England have been investigating how farmers can better harness the power of flowers to fight pests, by attracting predatory insects; and attracting them where they are most needed. Participating in an Innovative Farmers field lab, these farmers -who operate both conventional and organic systems- hope to unlock more knowledge about how to attract and support the right insect populations by looking at the impact of flower establishment techniques, flower species mixes, and distribution of flowering features on farm.

 

 

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Innovative Farmers

Innovative Farmers was established in 2012 by the Soil Association with the aim of bringing scientific rigour to on-farm trials co-designed by farmers and researchers. With a focus on sustainability and resilience, groups come together on discrete topics and on-farm trials addressing the topics that matter to them.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

Integrated Pest Management highlights the growth of a healthy crop with the least possible disruption to agro-ecosystems and encourages natural pest control mechanisms. IPM is one of the tools for low-pesticide-input pest management, and IPM must now be implemented by all professional agchem users.

AHDB

We deliver transformational projects to drive productivity and boost farming and supply chain businesses. We want the industry to thrive in a rapidly changing world and continue to produce high quality food, maintain our beautiful landscape and leave a legacy for generations to come. 

Farm centric research

Farm-centric research generally involves On-Farm Experimentation and may be better described as 'Farm Action Research', i.e. research conducted at least in part by and for beneficiaries who also farm. 

From Theory To Field: Innovation from the field

Innovative Farmers has now been running for a decade, facilitating farmer-led research to some of

Natural Enemies

This section is focused on the predators and parasitoids of key crop pests.

Biodiversity

Biodiversity encompasses all the variety of life on Earth from genes to species, populations, communities and ecosystems. In ecological and environmental sectors, we mostly refer to the biodiversity of plant and animal communities within particular habitats.

Nature

As custodians of the landscape all farmers have responsibility to the wildlife and nature on their farms.  There are many networks, organisations, advisors and initiatives seeking to help farmers enhance wildlife and biodiversity. Increasingly this is being supported by Defra through ELMS and Local Nature Recovery schemes