An opportunity for agricultural, horticultural, ecological researchers

We are offering an outstanding opportunity to deliver research with real impact. Our new fund tackles priorities put forward by UK farmers and growers to improve agroecological systems. Producers have told us they want help with challenges ranging from weed control to animal welfare. We have invited proposals from established researchers. There will be a series of funding rounds over the next three years providing up to £25,000 per project.

These small grants offer an exceptional opportunity to demonstrate research impact, plus:

• Provide preliminary data for larger research proposals.
• Translate your research into on-farm practical advantage.
• Disseminate research at on-farm events.
• Help farmers understand research requirements.
• Support your own professional development by reconciling the practical requirements of a working farm with delivering robust science.

To be eligible, proposals must tackle one of over 40 challenges detailed below that farmers and growers have put to us, and be developed jointly with one or more producers - we can help put you in touch. We encourage participatory research but welcome other approaches (e.g. reviews) where they are the best way to provide the knowledge needed. Researchers must demonstrate relevant qualifications or professional experience.

Funds will be awarded in a three-step process:

• Expression of interest in tackling one or more challenges - this initial stage has now closed.
• We put you in touch with a relevant farmer or grower – usually the person who suggested it. You can work with them or with other producers to refine the research question and draft a proposal by 6 March using our four-page form.
• Your proposal is blind reviewed a panel of producers and scientists, including our Steering Group, and we let you know whether or not we will fund it.

The fund is part of the Duchy Originals Future Farming Programme. If you have a query about the fund or the programme, please contact Euan Brierley, Research Manager, on ebrierley@soilassociation.org or telephone 07813 590354.

Research topics

• Creeping thistle control   
• Treating rush incursion into ancient pasture   
• Rush management in upland pasture   
• Can biochar application control rushes?
• Couch grass suppression in fertility building phase of the organic rotation   
• Laser weeding of field crops   
• Precision farming approach to muck spreading   
• Effectiveness and safety of poultry manure application to organic grazing land   
• Biochar incorporation to soil for carbon sequestration and soil fertility   
• Comparison of peat free organic propagation media   
• Mychorrizal inoculation to overcome replant syndrome in commercial organic rose growing   
• Biochar use in organic systems   
• Nutrient inputs from rock dust with/without green waste compost   
• Climate change impacts on liver fluke and management in organic systems   
• Individual tailoring of minerals for cattle to be made available at milking   
• Targeted selected treatment for liver fluke based on liveweight gain   
• Maximising effectiveness of flytraps to control flystrike   
• The efficacy and use of propolis for mastitis treatment and its potential for use in the UK   
• Cattle breed efficiency for grass/forage conversion to milk or meat   
• Pasture cropping naked oats for poultry feed   
• Adapting mob grazing to UK conditions to maximise productivity and carbon sequestration   
• Breed suitability comparison (productivity and habitat conservation) for extensive grazing of lowland heath   
• Development of diverse leguminous swards in the uplands   
• Improving the sustainability of non-organic grassland by applying organic farming techniques   
• Zone tillage   
• Organic control and bio-fumigant control of nematodes in non-organic arable   
• Seed-saving for no-input barley agroforestry system (compared with standard organic rotation)   
• Weed suppressing species under sown with arable crops for cleaner organic harvests   
• Optimising use of green manures in protected cropping   
• Slug deterrent in salad crops and brassicas   
• Low cost/low input heating for over-wintering perennial novel crops in polytunnels   
• Nutritional input of green manures between early and late cropping species   
• Ley species interactions to maximise benefits of beneficial soil biology   
• Vegetable breeding of varieties suitable for wetter summers   
• Push-pull crop management to control flea beetle   
• Investigation of impacts of seed saving/no dig/no rotation   
• Optimising application rates of green waste compost for vegetable growing   
• Method a timing of green manure incorporation   
• Development of open source programmes for 'Raspberry pi' computer to monitor growing conditions   
• Ecological approaches to discouraging badger sett encroachment into fields   
• Management of water runoff to prevent sediment, phosphorous and pesticide runoff to watercourses