The North Wyke Farm Platform: effect of temperate grassland farming systems on soil moisture contents, runoff and associated water quality dynamics

Abstract

SummaryThe North Wyke Farm Platform was established as a United Kingdom national capability for collaborative research, training and knowledge exchange in agro‐environmental sciences. Its remit is to research agricultural productivity and ecosystem responses to different management practices for beef and sheep production in lowland grasslands. A system based on permanent pasture was implemented on three 21‐ha farmlets to obtain baseline data on hydrology, nutrient cycling and productivity for 2 years. Since then two farmlets have been modified by either (i) planned reseeding with grasses that have been bred for enhanced sugar content or deep‐rooting traits or (ii) sowing grass and legume mixtures to reduce nitrogen fertilizer inputs. The quantities of nutrients that enter, cycle within and leave the farmlets were evaluated with data recorded from sensor technologies coupled with more traditional field study methods. We demonstrate the potential of the farm platform approach with a case study in which we investigate the effects of the weather, field topography and farm management activity on surface runoff and associated pollutant or nutrient loss from soil. We have the opportunity to do a full nutrient cycling analysis, taking account of nutrient transformations in soil, and flows to water and losses to air. The NWFP monitoring system is unique in both scale and scope for a managed land‐based capability that brings together several technologies that allow the effect of temperate grassland farming systems on soil moisture levels, runoff and associated water quality dynamics to be studied in detail.Highlights Can meat production systems be developed that are productive yet minimize losses to the environment?The data are from an intensively instrumented capability, which is globally unique and topical.We use sensing technologies and surveys to show the effect of pasture renewal on nutrient losses.Platforms provide evidence of the effect of meteorology, topography and farm activity on nutrient loss.

Framework for life cycle assessment of livestock production systems to account for the nutritional quality of final products

“…As demonstrated here, it is possible to utilize existing datasets (from unrelated experiments carried out under similar environments) and create "hypothetical supply chains" that are sufficiently realistic for exploratory purposes. However, as the degree of uncertainty surrounding this approach cannot be specified, ideally a better way forward to overcome this issue would be to employ a whole supply chain approach (Orr et al, 2016), whereby actual products originating from different on-farm treatments are marked and tracked along the marketing process and used for quality evaluation and consumer trials. The finding from the present study, namely that nutritional quality rather than quantity is likely to play a key role in sustainable livestock production, warrants future studies in this area.…”

Phosphorus in Agriculture: A Review of Results from 175 Years of Research at Rothamsted, UK

“…All inputs and losses are measured, including losses of P in surface and subsurface drainage. Full details of this complicated experiment are given in Orr et al (2016). Reporting some of the early findings from this experiment, Peukert et al (2014) found that in these conventional grassland systems, suspended sediment and total P concentrations in run‐off often exceeded water quality limits recommended by the European Freshwater Fisheries Directive (25 mg total P L −1 ) and the European Water Framework Directive (0.04 mg soluble reactive P L −1 ) (UK TAG, 2008).…”

Hydrological controls on DOC : nitrate resource stoichiometry in a lowland, agricultural catchment, southern UK

“…Thus changing climate, with important, potential implications for rainfall patterns and hydrochemical responses in rivers, is adding a new urgency to understanding and managing the issue of excess nitrate in our agricultural-dominated landscapes (Howarth et al, 2012). In the UK, there is concern that warmer, drier summers and wetter winters may lead to increased nitrate export from lowland catchments (Whitehead et al, 2009), one scenario being an increased accumulation of nitrate in soils by mineralization in hot, dry summers followed by flushing of nitrate from soils during autumn at the end of the drought (Whitehead et al, 2006) especially in conjunction with first-flush responses (Jiang et al, 2010;Yang et al, 2015;Orr et al, 2016). However, considerable uncertainty exists around current predictions (Heathwaite, 2010), and policymakers lack results from studies at appropriate temporal and spatial scales for confident decision making (Watts et al, 2015).…”