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Rothamsted Research North Wyke

North Wyke Farm is a 350ha grassland research centre and part of Rothamsted Farms. The Devon farm provides 120 beef suckler cows and 360 Suffolk x ewes in support of Rothamsted’s grazing systems and livestock science.

Home / Rothamsted Research North Wyke

Primary Contact: Melanie Wright (Knowledge Exchange Manager)

[email protected] | 01837 883509

The North Wyke Farm Platform is a unique national and global research facility that is linked to real-world farming and was established in 2010 as a UK national capability for collaborative research, training and knowledge exchange looking at agricultural productivity and ecosystem responses to different management practices for beef and sheep production in lowland grasslands. The platform is composed of four self-contained farms, each of which is managed under a different operational philosophy to test the impact of different pasture based livestock systems on water, soil, livestock production, biodiversity and greenhouse gas emissions.

The North Wyke Farm Platform is also part of the Global Farm Platform network which links the site with similar research facilities across the globe, allowing findings from North Wyke to be compared with different climates and farming systems internationally.

Remit:

The comparison of treatments using a farm systems approach to study the complete flow of nutrients from soil to food and identify the most sustainable means of rearing beef and sheep to inform best practice for the wider farming industry.

Activities:

Over the past two years the site has hosted a number of events including the British Grassland Association’s ‘Beneath our Feet’ workshop, the TIP Science Day, the RASE and BGS’s ‘nutrient wise’ event and the Novatis ‘animal health’ workshop.

The site has played host to visiting groups of farmers and industry partners. In addition, the Farm platform website is used to communicate key research and knowledge exchange activities and promote a dialogue with the wider farming community.

The research advisory group gives key farmers and stakeholders an opportunity to provide feedback and advice on the research being undertaken by scientists at North Wyke.

Research interests:

North Wyke conducts research into the sustainability of grassland beef and sheep production including:

  • Biogeochemistry (plant-soil-water interactions); C, N and P cycling
  • Managing livestock manures
  • Minimising GHG emissions from grassland systems
  • Animal health and wellbeing

Their holistic approach not only looks at the environmental impacts of beef and sheep production but also the economic and social factors.