📣 Help Shape the Future of UKRI's Gateway to Research (GtR)

We're improving UKRI's Gateway to Research and are seeking your input! If you would be interested in being interviewed about the improvements we're making and to have your say about how we can make GtR more user-friendly, impactful, and effective for the Research and Innovation community, please email gateway@ukri.org.

BBSRC National Bioscience Research Infrastructure: North Wyke Farm Platform

Lead Research Organisation: Rothamsted Research
Department Name: UNLISTED

Abstract

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Technical Summary

The NWFP facilitates farm-scale research on productivity and ecosystem responses to diverse management practices for beef cattle and sheep production. Since establishment in 2010 research uniquely informed by the platform’s open datasets (currently 80+ million measurements) has helped identify sustainable net zero land management strategies that optimise the transfer of essential nutrients from soil to crops and livestock to food; thereby simultaneously contributing to a healthy diet and cleaner natural environment. The NWFP consists of three outdoor and one indoor farm where two of the outdoor farms periodically transition to alternative (including non-livestock) farm systems while the third acts as a long-term control. All farms are heavily monitored and provide high-value systems-scale data on soils crops livestock biodiversity water/gaseous emissions farm management and weather that can be openly accessed via our data portal that is coupled with a wealth of additional online information to facilitate use. In context of a baseline period (2010-13) where the three outdoor livestock farms (termed ‘green’ ‘red’ and ‘blue’) were all under permanent pasture the platform periodically undertakes a system change with associated hypotheses which are assessed and used to inform subsequent system changes and their duration. For the first system-change period (2013-19) ‘red’ and ‘blue’ pastures were re-seeded while for the second system-change period (2019 to 2024) ‘red’ transitioned to arable and in doing so created a fourth indoor system for cattle (‘brown’). Given increasing climatic variability a critical challenge concerns approaches to reliably detect impacts of the different farm systems per se – meaning the platform’s full potential will only be realised in the long-term. The NWFP also acts as an open physical facility. Experiments can inform on the over-arching 4-farm-scale experiment or provide a self-contained study. For the platform to service its long-term objectives some constraints on experimentation are inherent that limit research scope. This is nonetheless an essential facet in realising its primary research and data delivery aims.

Planned Impact

unavailable
 
Description Evidence Week in Parliament - Intelligent Farming
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
 
Description A national UK programme in AI and digital twins to address the biodiversity and climate crisis (Chris Baker)
Amount £5,000,000 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/Y028880/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2023 
End 03/2024
 
Description Innovation Accelerator Award - Post Graduate Data Smash (Phil Le Grice)
Amount £20,000 (GBP)
Organisation Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 05/2024 
End 05/2025
 
Description International Support Fund (Capacity Building) - APSIM model with Remote Sensing (Gonzalo Irisarri)
Amount £10,000 (GBP)
Organisation Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2023 
End 04/2023
 
Description International Support Fund (Capacity Building) - How is Corporate Leadership of Environmental, Social and Governance impacting on the research requirements of Agri-Food Business (Phil Le Grice)
Amount £20,000 (GBP)
Organisation Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 05/2024 
End 05/2025
 
Description Lead Organisation: Waste & Resources Action Programme Opportunity Name: VFU041 - Long term improvement in environmental data for food (Phil Le Grice)
Amount £30,000 (GBP)
Organisation Department For Environment, Food And Rural Affairs (DEFRA) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 05/2024 
End 05/2025
 
Title Improved collections and sensing for biodiversity 
Description Collections include: citizen science app., bio-acoustic recorders 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact None as yet 
 
Title Improved collections and sensing for water chemistry 
Description Capability enhanced for TP, TN and TC 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2023 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact None as yet 
 
Title implementation of N2O measurements on EC tower 
Description purchased and installed new GC system to measure N2O 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact this is part of a new Denitrification Incubation System (DENIS) to incorporate plants and measure GHG emissions from a soil-plant system 
 
Title A 4-year comparison of pasture mixtures, including those with deep-rooting Festulolium, on herbage and soil and root properties in 50 cm cores, plus associated botanical species surveys. 
Description This dataset was collected between 2014 and 2018 to investigate how different grass and clover varieties affect soil and herbage properties at a field scale. In particular, to determine whether Festulolium with a deep root architecture could increase carbon storage in grassland subsoils. Fields sown with Festulolium (cv. Prior, and later cv. BX511), perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne cv. Abermagic), both either alone or sown with white clover (Trifolium repens cv. Aberherald), or permanent pasture were studied. Data were collected on 6 occasions: in Sept 2014, May and Sept 2015, May 2016, Oct 2017 and Sept 2018. On the first four sample dates, the same 7 fields were sampled, and 5 replicate samples were taken from each. On the last two sample dates, only 3 of the fields were sampled, again with 5 replicate samples taken. Data includes: Soil, root and herbage carbon and nitrogen contents (percentage and stable isotope); herbage yield; botanical survey of species present and percentage cover; root mass; soil bulk density; count of macroinvertebrates present; clay depth. The experiment took place on the North Wyke Farm Platform (NWFP), a UK National Capability in SW England. The NWFP is split into a number of self-contained farms ('farmlets') that are managed according to different operation philosophies or practices. At the time of the experiment, there were three farmlets on the NWFP with different pasture management strategies. Permanent pasture (PP), a perennial ryegrass monoculture (HS) which was sown with a high sugar Lolium perenne cv. AberMagic, and a white clover/perennial ryegrass mix (WC) with the same ryegrass variety as the HS pasture. The exception were the fields known as Longlands North (WC farmlet) and Longlands East (HS farmlet), where the perennial ryegrass was replaced with Festulolium. The PP and HS pastures received N fertilizer at a standard rate, but the WC pastures did not due to the inclusion of a legume. Fields within a farmlet are cut for silage and grazed by cattle and sheep, with livestock grazing or consuming silage only from one farmlet. The Longlands North, Longlands East and Longlands South (PP farmlet) are treated as a 'trio', that typically undergo very similar timings in agricultural management, such as grazing by the same species at the same time, as far as is feasible. The NWFP is highly instrumented and monitored, and core NWFP datasets are open and include in-situ water flow and chemistry taken at 15-minute intervals; 15-minute Met measurements; 15-minute soil moisture measurements; 30-minute GHG emissions; soils, crop and botanical field survey data; livestock and crop performance data; and farm operational activities, and contextual information is also available. See https://nwfp.rothamsted.ac.uk/. There are guides to the NWFP, including maps and establishment information, available at http://resources.rothamsted.ac.uk/farm-platform-national-capability/data-portal-guides-and-information. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2023 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Unknown at present 
URL https://repository.rothamsted.ac.uk/item/98y26/a-4-year-comparison-of-pasture-mixtures-including-tho...
 
Title Derived daily timeseries of weather, soil moisture and temperature, flow and nitrogen species (nitrate and nitrite, ammonium) concentrations data for the North Wyke Farm Platform National Biosciences Research Infrastructure, England 
Description For a selection of catchments from the North Wyke Farm Platform in southwest England, where land use conversions have been introduced, daily time series data covering weather conditions (minimum temperature, maximum temperature, total rainfall, wind speed and solar radiation), near-surface soil status (moisture content and temperature), flow and concentrations of key nitrogen species (nitrate and nitrite, ammonium) have been filtered based on attached data quality tags . The datasets run between 2013 and March 2024. For the main climate variables, data gaps were infilled with preceding- and following-on daily data, observations from a nearby weather station or existing national datasets to generate a continuous data series for modelling. For the other data series, annual and seasonal summary statistics on data coverage are provided. Information on significant field events, such as ploughing, drilling and harvest, fertiliser applications and manure spreading were also tabulated. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2024 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.14006971
 
Title Derived daily timeseries of weather, soil moisture and temperature, flow and nitrogen species (nitrate and nitrite, ammonium) concentrations data for the North Wyke Farm Platform National Biosciences Research Infrastructure, England 
Description For a selection of catchments from the North Wyke Farm Platform in southwest England, where land use conversions have been introduced, daily time series data covering weather conditions (minimum temperature, maximum temperature, total rainfall, wind speed and solar radiation), near-surface soil status (moisture content and temperature), flow and concentrations of key nitrogen species (nitrate and nitrite, ammonium) have been filtered based on attached data quality tags . The datasets run between 2013 and March 2024. For the main climate variables, data gaps were infilled with preceding- and following-on daily data, observations from a nearby weather station or existing national datasets to generate a continuous data series for modelling. For the other data series, annual and seasonal summary statistics on data coverage are provided. Information on significant field events, such as ploughing, drilling and harvest, fertiliser applications and manure spreading were also tabulated. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2024 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.14006972
 
Title Derived daily timeseries of weather, soil moisture and temperature, flow and nitrogen species (nitrate and nitrite, ammonium) concentrations data for the North Wyke Farm Platform National Biosciences Research Infrastructure, England 
Description For a selection of catchments from the North Wyke Farm Platform in southwest England, where land use conversions have been introduced, daily time series data covering weather conditions (minimum temperature, maximum temperature, total rainfall, wind speed and solar radiation), near-surface soil status (moisture content and temperature), flow and concentrations of key nitrogen species (nitrate and nitrite, ammonium) have been filtered based on attached data quality tags . The datasets run between 2013 and March 2024. For the main climate variables, data gaps were infilled with preceding- and following-on daily data, observations from a nearby weather station or existing national datasets to generate a continuous data series for modelling. For the other data series, annual and seasonal summary statistics on data coverage are provided. Information on significant field events, such as ploughing, drilling and harvest, fertiliser applications and manure spreading were also tabulated. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2024 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.14533996
 
Title Effect of pasture composition in cattle grazed systems on soil properties and nutrient cycling: impact on herbage, soil and cattle excreta 
Description Full experimental details can be found in McAuliffe et al. (2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2020.106978, and Segura et al. (2023), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.117096. The experiment took place on the North Wyke Farm Platform (NWFP), a UK National Capability in SW England. The NWFP is split into a number of self-contained farms ('farmlets') that are managed according to different operation philosophies or practices. The NWFP is highly instrumented and monitored, and core NWFP datasets are open and include in-situ water flow and chemistry taken at 15-minute intervals; 15-minute Met measurements; 15-minute soil moisture measurements; 30-minute GHG emissions; soils, crop and botanical field survey data; livestock and crop performance data; and farm operational activities, and contextual information is also available. See https://nwfp.rothamsted.ac.uk/. At the time of the experiment, there were three farmlets on the NWFP with different pasture management strategies. Permanent pasture (PP), a perennial ryegrass monoculture (HS) which was sown with a high sugar Lolium perenne cv. AberMagic, and a white clover/perennial ryegrass mix (WC) with the same ryegrass variety as the HS pasture. The PP and HS pastures received N fertilizer at a standard rate, but the WC pastures did not due to the inclusion of a legume. Fields within a farmlet are cut for silage and grazed by cattle and sheep, with livestock grazing or consuming silage only from one farmlet. This experiment used a single field from each farmlet, chosen as they represent a trio of fields that typically undergo very similar timings in agricultural management, such as grazing by the same species at the same time, as far as is feasible. Within each field there were three experimental blocks each containing six plots (2.5 x 1.5 m). Each of the six plots within a block were randomised to controls or treatments. Treatments were dung, cattle urine, or synthetic urine. The dung was collected from fields within a farmlet, homogenised using a concrete mixer, and refrigerated in sealed barrels until application on the plots. Cattle urine was collected from cattle within a farmlet over the period of a couple of days, bulked, and frozen until application on the plots. Synthetic urine was included as a treatment to investigate the effect of pasture composition on N2O emissions to be tested without the confounding effects of different urine compositions. Three plots within each block were controls. One control plot in each block received no N fertilizer, while the other two plots in the PP and HS blocks were controls plus N fertilizer to replicate the rest of the field; the WC blocks had three controls with no N fertilizer as this farmlet does not receive N fertilizer. In some cases, only one of the two plus N fertilizer controls were analysed for some of the measurements. This dataset contains data on herbage yield; soil moisture; soil physical properties (bulk density, mean weight density, soil loss through 50 µm sieve); soil chemistry (various measures of carbon and nitrogen content, pH and ergosterol); herbage and manure total carbon and nitrogen; micro- and macronutrient concentrations of herbage, soil, urine and manure; and earthworm counts. Urine and manure are characterised before being applied as treatments, while soil and forage samples were taken at various time points from shortly before the application of treatments through to several months later. In the case of the micro- and macronutrient content of soil as assessed by ICP, baseline samples - taken prior to the implementation of the farmlet treatments - are also included. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2023 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact None so far 
URL https://repository.rothamsted.ac.uk/item/98x4z/effect-of-pasture-composition-in-cattle-grazed-system...
 
Title Field features of the North Wyke Farm Platform: weather, topography, soil, ecosystem services provision index and management 
Description This dataset comprises both original outputs generated by the authors (i.e. the Ecosystem Services Provision Index estimated from remote sensing and which can be used as a proxy for carbon inputs to the soil) and derived data obtained after processing data from different sources from 1995 to 2022. This dataset refers to yearly-estimated features for the fields included in the North Wyke Farm Platform (NWFP), a farm-scale experimental system established in southwestern England in 2010 (Orr et al., 2016). These features refer to weather conditions, topography, soil characteristics and farming management. Together with ESPI, the variables included in this dataset have been used to predict soil organic carbon at the NWFP (Segura et al., 2023). However, its use does not have to be limited to this sole objective. The Ecosystem Services Provision Index (ESPI) was estimated using remote sensing and the methods described in Segura et al. (2023) for the period 1995 to 2022. However, note that only the period from 2012 to 2021 has been used in the manuscript to coincide with data availability from the Farm Platform. To create this dataset, raw data relating to soil properties and field events from 2012 to 2021 were downloaded from the NWFP Data Portal (https://nwfp.rothamsted.ac.uk/) for data processing. From the field survey data, we downloaded relevant soil chemical properties (0-10 cm depth) - total carbon(referred to as soil organic carbon in the manuscript arising from this data), total nitrogen, available phosphorus (as Olsen phosphorus), available potassium, and pH. For a given variable, measurements were averaged to provide a single value per field, per year. Note that due to some adjustments made to homogenise field names over time, there may be a mismatch for some fields between the Data Portal and this dataset. Field event records, relating to daily farm management activities, were also obtained from the NWFP data portal. In this dataset, these farm field events records were interpreted to construct the variables related to the main farming management practices by year and by field. The data from the NWFP data portal are free to access after registration on the portal. North Wyke Farm Platform and Data Portal user guides are available for more detailed information about soil measurements and field events. In particular, the Design, Establishment and Development of the NWFP (https://doi.org/10.23637/rothamsted.98y1x), the user guide for field survey data https://doi.org/10.23637/rothamsted.98y51), the User Guide to Field Events (https://doi.org/10.23637/rothamsted.98y4z) and the User Guide to Livestock data (https://doi.org/10.23637/rothamsted.98y50). The soil units (which show the predominant soil series in a location, according to the British soil classification) were extracted from the report Soils of North Wyke [Harrod and Hogan, 2008]. Meteorological data (monthly mean temperature and monthly precipitation) were provided by a weather station owned and operated by the UK Meteorological Office at North Wyke. Field terrain attributes (aspect and slope) were determined using Google Earth Engine according to the methods described in Segura et al. (2023), or by using the information provided in https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2005RG000183 and https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/USGS_SRTMGL1_003. A full set of variables included in this dataset can be consulted in Columns_units_and_descriptors.csv, which also includes a description of each data column and the units of measurement. The text file main_analyses_figures_code.txt can be used along with the data file to reproduce the main results in Segura et al. (2023). Additional information The North Wyke Farm Platform is a UK National Capability supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBS/E/C/000J0100). We acknowledge the interests of the Ecological Continuity Trust (ECT), whose national network of LTEs includes the experiment on which this research was conducted. Meteorological data adapted from Crown copyright data supplied by the Met Office. During the embargo period, please contact carmen.segura-quirante@rothamsted.ac.uk if you wish to access the data. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2023 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Unknown at present 
URL https://repository.rothamsted.ac.uk/item/98y60/field-features-of-the-north-wyke-farm-platform-weathe...
 
Title High resolution flow datasets for surface runoff, surface lateral runoff and drainage pathways from 1 ha sized hydrologically isolated plots. 
Description This dataset describes hydrology and rainfall data from a site known as the Rowden Drainage Experiment, which has 14 field-scale (1 ha sized) lysimeter plots. The experimental site was established in 1982 to primarily investigate the effects of land drainage and inorganic fertilizer input on herbage production, animal performance and nutrient losses from permanent and reseeded grassland overlaying impervious subsoils. The hydrology dataset 'RowdenHydrology.csv' comprises hydrological discharge rates (mm / min) expressed as uncertainty envelopes (min and max uncertainty) for flow via surface/subsurface lateral and field drain pathways. The data were collected at 1-minute intervals from Sept 2006 to Oct 2012. Users should be aware that this .csv file is best opened from software such as R or python due to its size. Annual rainfall data collected at 60-minute intervals by two different instruments and spanning the period Sept 2006 - Dec 2012 are also included in 'RowdenRain.csv'. Column units and descriptions are given in the metadata file, 'Column_units_and_descriptors.csv'. 'Fig1.jpg' is a map showing the site layout of the Rowden Drainage Experiment, and 'Fig2.jpg' is an illustration of the collection pathways on the undrained and drained plots. In addition, graphs (.png files) of the mean of the uncertainty envelope values for each plot are included as a visual guide to the data and help illustrate where there are missing data. In these, red lines indicate areas of missing data. For drained plots, the top line represents quality of the surface lateral runoff data, and the bottom line the quality of the drainage data. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2023 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Data used for hydrological modelling of flood events 
URL https://repository.rothamsted.ac.uk/item/98y67/high-resolution-flow-datasets-for-surface-runoff-surf...
 
Title Long-term monitoring of pasture dry matter production across fields with different pasture types, as assessed by rising plate meter 
Description This dataset contains estimates of pasture biomass as assessed by a Rising Plate Meter. The data originate from fields on the North Wyke Farm Platform, a national capability in South West England. These fields contained either permanent pasture, a Lolium perenne and Trifolium repens pasture, or a L. perenne only pasture, and all were used as part of a beef and sheep livestock system. Data were collected over 6 years, from April 2018 to March 2024, with either fortnightly (in the summer) or monthly (in the winter) measurements. Multiple measurements were taken per field and per sampling occasion, with the assessor walking in a 'W' shaped path across the field. The dataset contains both the individual data points (with latitude and longitude), and the summary for the field per sampling occasion. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2024 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://repository.rothamsted.ac.uk/item/99077/long-term-monitoring-of-pasture-dry-matter-production...
 
Title Spatial Variation in the Integrated Assessment of Pasture Dynamics and Soil Health on the North Wyke Farm Platform 
Description This dataset contains measurements made in fields on the North Wyke Farm Platform, a national capability in South West England. These fields contained either permanent pasture or a Lolium perenne and Trifolium repens pasture, and were used as part of a beef and sheep livestock system. 10 locations were chosen in each field, 5 within 50 m of the field boundary and 5 closer to the middle of the field, and the latitude and longitude of each point is provided. At each location a range of measurements were made, including: percentage cover of plants and bare ground; leaf dry matter content; specific leaf area; pasture dry matter by rising plate meter; soil bulk density; soil organic matter; soil structure; earthworm counts and weights for different functional groups; and soil penetrometer readings. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2024 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://data.rothamsted.ac.uk/dataset/spatial-variation-in-the-integrated-assessment-of-pasture-dyna...
 
Title Spatial and bulked soil and herbage selenium concentrations in different pasture types in SW England 
Description The data included in this dataset are selenium (Se) concentrations of soil and herbage from a number of pasture fields, with additional soil, herbage and farm management data either available as part of this data package or in linked sources. For 20 fields, bulked soil samples and bulked herbage samples (not from the same locations) were taken to be representative of the fields. For three of these fields, additional sampling at point locations was undertaken, with both soil and herbage being taken from the same places. For herbage and soil, total Se was measured. In addition, soil Se bioavailability was assessed through sequential fractionation. Fractions F0 and F1 (see below for methods) are assumed to be soluble Se; fraction F2 is exchangeable Se; fraction F3 is associated with Fe, Al and Mn oxides, carbonates and hydrolysable organic matter, and is assumed to be not readily available to plants; fraction F4 is the residual fraction that is elemental, insoluble and unavailable. The experiment took place on the North Wyke Farm Platform (NWFP), a UK National Capability in SW England. The NWFP is split into a number of self-contained farms ('farmlets') that are managed according to different operation philosophies or practices. At the time of the experiment, there were three farmlets on the NWFP with different pasture management strategies. Permanent pasture (PP), a perennial ryegrass monoculture (HS) which was sown with a high sugar Lolium perenne cv. AberMagic, and a white clover/perennial ryegrass mix (WC) with the same ryegrass variety as the HS pasture. The PP and HS pastures received N fertilizer at a standard rate, but the WC pastures did not due to the inclusion of a legume. Fields within a farmlet are cut for silage and grazed by cattle and sheep. The NWFP is highly instrumented and monitored, and core NWFP datasets are open and include in-situ water flow and chemistry taken at 15-minute intervals; 15-minute Met measurements; 15-minute soil moisture measurements; 30-minute GHG emissions; soils, crop and botanical field survey data; livestock and crop performance data; and farm operational activities, and contextual information is also available. See https://nwfp.rothamsted.ac.uk/. Registration is required, but all data is freely available for download. Further information about the NWFP, including Guides and Information about the data collected, are available at http://resources.rothamsted.ac.uk/farmplatform. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2023 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Unknown at present 
URL https://repository.rothamsted.ac.uk/item/98xxx/spatial-and-bulked-soil-and-herbage-selenium-concentr...
 
Title Visits of housed cattle to GreenFeed units (2016-2023) 
Description This dataset comprises data on visits to a GreenFeed unit by housed beef cattle, including dates and times, animal identification and visit number. The GreenFeed system (C-lock Inc., Rapid City, SD, USA) is designed to measure greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide and methane) emissions by animals visiting the unit. To encourage the visit, the GreenFeed dispenses pelleted feed to a visiting animal. The animal is identified by their radio frequency identification ear tag, and this is related back to their UK Offical Tag number. Greenhouse gas emissions from the cattle can be found elsewhere (http://resources.rothamsted.ac.uk/farmplatform) but where there are multiple visits by an animal on the same day, the emissions are averaged. This dataset does not contain any greenhouse gas emissions, but does present the date and time of each visit to the GreenFeed system. It is anticipated that this data could be used to study cattle behaviour and hierarchies. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2024 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://repository.rothamsted.ac.uk/item/98zz6/visits-of-housed-cattle-to-greenfeed-units-2016-2023
 
Title Water chemistry of combined surface and subsurface runoff from the North Wyke Farm Platform, with hydrologically isolated catchments sown with different pasture types. 
Description This dataset comprises a number of measurements of water chemistry and water quality taken from the North Wyke Farm Platform (NWFP, Devon, UK) between October 2012 and April 2018. The dataset is an amalgamation of data from a number of experimental campaigns, where water samples from the combined surface and subsurface runoff from hydrologically isolated fields under different pasture types were collected and analysed in the laboratory for water quality measurements. These measurements include dissolved total organic carbon and non-purgeable organic carbon; ammonium, total nitrogen and total oxidisable nitrogen; total and reactive phosphorus; and suspended sediment. Note that this is not a continuous dataset and that not all studies measured the same parameters. Information on sample numbers, dates and laboratory water quality measurements made are given in Summary_of_available_data.csv. The NWFP measures water quality parameters in-situ at water flumes for each of its 15 catchments, in addition to water discharge rate. Environmental measurements such as precipitation and soil moisture at each catchment's centre are also measured. In-situ flume measurements have been taken at 15-minute intervals continuously since 2012 and are openly available via the NWFP data portal. Such in-situ (proxy) measurements deemed to be most complementary to the laboratory measurements are also provided in the amalgamated dataset, at the 15-minute interval closest to the physical collection of the water for laboratory analysis. Further data and background information are available online, see the related outputs for more information. It is anticipated that this dataset may be used to compare in-situ proxies with laboratory measurements (for example, turbidity and suspended sediment) or for the comparison of in-situ and laboratory measurements of the same analyte. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2023 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact None so far 
URL https://repository.rothamsted.ac.uk/item/98v27/water-chemistry-of-combined-surface-and-subsurface-ru...
 
Description Agritech partnership 
Organisation Agri-tech
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Host site
Collaborator Contribution Capital funds (when CIEL)
Impact Collaboration is multi-disciplinary
Start Year 2023
 
Description Alan Turing Institute 
Organisation Alan Turing Institute
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Work on farm-scale digital twins
Collaborator Contribution Work on farm-scale digital twins
Impact None as yet
Start Year 2022
 
Description BSc projects in Statistical Science 
Organisation University of Florida
Country United States 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Data and the Science
Collaborator Contribution Statistical expertise
Impact Student training
Start Year 2024
 
Description CIEL 
Organisation Aberystwyth University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution CIEL is one of the four UK AgriTech centres with total investment totalling over £80M (Innovate UK) across 12 sites from 2015-2020. The focus of CIEL is to develop industry-led, commercially sustainable innovative research and development capabilities that generate wealth and business competitiveness through increased profitability of the livestock sector and industries that feed into this sector. CIEL provides a focused gateway to a core of 12 world-class research institutes to develop new industry-needed solutions as well as commercial trial farms for real world results with specific areas relating to livestock species (cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry), genetics, nutrition, health and welfare and product quality. Rothamsted Research at its North Wyke site will represent the grazing research centre of excellence in ruminants utilising the facilities of the North Wyke Farm Platform.
Collaborator Contribution CIEL is a membership organisation, bringing together leading UK based academic institutions and industry partners who provide strategic direction, projects for development and commercialisation of the research we carry out. It provides a direct link between science and practice to enable broader, faster and deeper innovation uptake in the livestock sectors.
Impact Agri-Tech Innovation Showcase Event, 8 December 2016, Rothamsted Research North Wyke
Start Year 2017
 
Description CIEL 
Organisation Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution CIEL is one of the four UK AgriTech centres with total investment totalling over £80M (Innovate UK) across 12 sites from 2015-2020. The focus of CIEL is to develop industry-led, commercially sustainable innovative research and development capabilities that generate wealth and business competitiveness through increased profitability of the livestock sector and industries that feed into this sector. CIEL provides a focused gateway to a core of 12 world-class research institutes to develop new industry-needed solutions as well as commercial trial farms for real world results with specific areas relating to livestock species (cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry), genetics, nutrition, health and welfare and product quality. Rothamsted Research at its North Wyke site will represent the grazing research centre of excellence in ruminants utilising the facilities of the North Wyke Farm Platform.
Collaborator Contribution CIEL is a membership organisation, bringing together leading UK based academic institutions and industry partners who provide strategic direction, projects for development and commercialisation of the research we carry out. It provides a direct link between science and practice to enable broader, faster and deeper innovation uptake in the livestock sectors.
Impact Agri-Tech Innovation Showcase Event, 8 December 2016, Rothamsted Research North Wyke
Start Year 2017
 
Description CIEL 
Organisation Duchy College
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution CIEL is one of the four UK AgriTech centres with total investment totalling over £80M (Innovate UK) across 12 sites from 2015-2020. The focus of CIEL is to develop industry-led, commercially sustainable innovative research and development capabilities that generate wealth and business competitiveness through increased profitability of the livestock sector and industries that feed into this sector. CIEL provides a focused gateway to a core of 12 world-class research institutes to develop new industry-needed solutions as well as commercial trial farms for real world results with specific areas relating to livestock species (cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry), genetics, nutrition, health and welfare and product quality. Rothamsted Research at its North Wyke site will represent the grazing research centre of excellence in ruminants utilising the facilities of the North Wyke Farm Platform.
Collaborator Contribution CIEL is a membership organisation, bringing together leading UK based academic institutions and industry partners who provide strategic direction, projects for development and commercialisation of the research we carry out. It provides a direct link between science and practice to enable broader, faster and deeper innovation uptake in the livestock sectors.
Impact Agri-Tech Innovation Showcase Event, 8 December 2016, Rothamsted Research North Wyke
Start Year 2017
 
Description CIEL 
Organisation Harper Adams University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution CIEL is one of the four UK AgriTech centres with total investment totalling over £80M (Innovate UK) across 12 sites from 2015-2020. The focus of CIEL is to develop industry-led, commercially sustainable innovative research and development capabilities that generate wealth and business competitiveness through increased profitability of the livestock sector and industries that feed into this sector. CIEL provides a focused gateway to a core of 12 world-class research institutes to develop new industry-needed solutions as well as commercial trial farms for real world results with specific areas relating to livestock species (cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry), genetics, nutrition, health and welfare and product quality. Rothamsted Research at its North Wyke site will represent the grazing research centre of excellence in ruminants utilising the facilities of the North Wyke Farm Platform.
Collaborator Contribution CIEL is a membership organisation, bringing together leading UK based academic institutions and industry partners who provide strategic direction, projects for development and commercialisation of the research we carry out. It provides a direct link between science and practice to enable broader, faster and deeper innovation uptake in the livestock sectors.
Impact Agri-Tech Innovation Showcase Event, 8 December 2016, Rothamsted Research North Wyke
Start Year 2017
 
Description CIEL 
Organisation Queen's University Belfast
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution CIEL is one of the four UK AgriTech centres with total investment totalling over £80M (Innovate UK) across 12 sites from 2015-2020. The focus of CIEL is to develop industry-led, commercially sustainable innovative research and development capabilities that generate wealth and business competitiveness through increased profitability of the livestock sector and industries that feed into this sector. CIEL provides a focused gateway to a core of 12 world-class research institutes to develop new industry-needed solutions as well as commercial trial farms for real world results with specific areas relating to livestock species (cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry), genetics, nutrition, health and welfare and product quality. Rothamsted Research at its North Wyke site will represent the grazing research centre of excellence in ruminants utilising the facilities of the North Wyke Farm Platform.
Collaborator Contribution CIEL is a membership organisation, bringing together leading UK based academic institutions and industry partners who provide strategic direction, projects for development and commercialisation of the research we carry out. It provides a direct link between science and practice to enable broader, faster and deeper innovation uptake in the livestock sectors.
Impact Agri-Tech Innovation Showcase Event, 8 December 2016, Rothamsted Research North Wyke
Start Year 2017
 
Description CIEL 
Organisation Scotland's Rural College
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution CIEL is one of the four UK AgriTech centres with total investment totalling over £80M (Innovate UK) across 12 sites from 2015-2020. The focus of CIEL is to develop industry-led, commercially sustainable innovative research and development capabilities that generate wealth and business competitiveness through increased profitability of the livestock sector and industries that feed into this sector. CIEL provides a focused gateway to a core of 12 world-class research institutes to develop new industry-needed solutions as well as commercial trial farms for real world results with specific areas relating to livestock species (cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry), genetics, nutrition, health and welfare and product quality. Rothamsted Research at its North Wyke site will represent the grazing research centre of excellence in ruminants utilising the facilities of the North Wyke Farm Platform.
Collaborator Contribution CIEL is a membership organisation, bringing together leading UK based academic institutions and industry partners who provide strategic direction, projects for development and commercialisation of the research we carry out. It provides a direct link between science and practice to enable broader, faster and deeper innovation uptake in the livestock sectors.
Impact Agri-Tech Innovation Showcase Event, 8 December 2016, Rothamsted Research North Wyke
Start Year 2017
 
Description CIEL 
Organisation University of Bristol
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution CIEL is one of the four UK AgriTech centres with total investment totalling over £80M (Innovate UK) across 12 sites from 2015-2020. The focus of CIEL is to develop industry-led, commercially sustainable innovative research and development capabilities that generate wealth and business competitiveness through increased profitability of the livestock sector and industries that feed into this sector. CIEL provides a focused gateway to a core of 12 world-class research institutes to develop new industry-needed solutions as well as commercial trial farms for real world results with specific areas relating to livestock species (cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry), genetics, nutrition, health and welfare and product quality. Rothamsted Research at its North Wyke site will represent the grazing research centre of excellence in ruminants utilising the facilities of the North Wyke Farm Platform.
Collaborator Contribution CIEL is a membership organisation, bringing together leading UK based academic institutions and industry partners who provide strategic direction, projects for development and commercialisation of the research we carry out. It provides a direct link between science and practice to enable broader, faster and deeper innovation uptake in the livestock sectors.
Impact Agri-Tech Innovation Showcase Event, 8 December 2016, Rothamsted Research North Wyke
Start Year 2017
 
Description CIEL 
Organisation University of Edinburgh
Department The Roslin Institute
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution CIEL is one of the four UK AgriTech centres with total investment totalling over £80M (Innovate UK) across 12 sites from 2015-2020. The focus of CIEL is to develop industry-led, commercially sustainable innovative research and development capabilities that generate wealth and business competitiveness through increased profitability of the livestock sector and industries that feed into this sector. CIEL provides a focused gateway to a core of 12 world-class research institutes to develop new industry-needed solutions as well as commercial trial farms for real world results with specific areas relating to livestock species (cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry), genetics, nutrition, health and welfare and product quality. Rothamsted Research at its North Wyke site will represent the grazing research centre of excellence in ruminants utilising the facilities of the North Wyke Farm Platform.
Collaborator Contribution CIEL is a membership organisation, bringing together leading UK based academic institutions and industry partners who provide strategic direction, projects for development and commercialisation of the research we carry out. It provides a direct link between science and practice to enable broader, faster and deeper innovation uptake in the livestock sectors.
Impact Agri-Tech Innovation Showcase Event, 8 December 2016, Rothamsted Research North Wyke
Start Year 2017
 
Description CIEL 
Organisation University of Leeds
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution CIEL is one of the four UK AgriTech centres with total investment totalling over £80M (Innovate UK) across 12 sites from 2015-2020. The focus of CIEL is to develop industry-led, commercially sustainable innovative research and development capabilities that generate wealth and business competitiveness through increased profitability of the livestock sector and industries that feed into this sector. CIEL provides a focused gateway to a core of 12 world-class research institutes to develop new industry-needed solutions as well as commercial trial farms for real world results with specific areas relating to livestock species (cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry), genetics, nutrition, health and welfare and product quality. Rothamsted Research at its North Wyke site will represent the grazing research centre of excellence in ruminants utilising the facilities of the North Wyke Farm Platform.
Collaborator Contribution CIEL is a membership organisation, bringing together leading UK based academic institutions and industry partners who provide strategic direction, projects for development and commercialisation of the research we carry out. It provides a direct link between science and practice to enable broader, faster and deeper innovation uptake in the livestock sectors.
Impact Agri-Tech Innovation Showcase Event, 8 December 2016, Rothamsted Research North Wyke
Start Year 2017
 
Description CIEL 
Organisation University of Newcastle
Country Australia 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution CIEL is one of the four UK AgriTech centres with total investment totalling over £80M (Innovate UK) across 12 sites from 2015-2020. The focus of CIEL is to develop industry-led, commercially sustainable innovative research and development capabilities that generate wealth and business competitiveness through increased profitability of the livestock sector and industries that feed into this sector. CIEL provides a focused gateway to a core of 12 world-class research institutes to develop new industry-needed solutions as well as commercial trial farms for real world results with specific areas relating to livestock species (cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry), genetics, nutrition, health and welfare and product quality. Rothamsted Research at its North Wyke site will represent the grazing research centre of excellence in ruminants utilising the facilities of the North Wyke Farm Platform.
Collaborator Contribution CIEL is a membership organisation, bringing together leading UK based academic institutions and industry partners who provide strategic direction, projects for development and commercialisation of the research we carry out. It provides a direct link between science and practice to enable broader, faster and deeper innovation uptake in the livestock sectors.
Impact Agri-Tech Innovation Showcase Event, 8 December 2016, Rothamsted Research North Wyke
Start Year 2017
 
Description CIEL 
Organisation University of Nottingham
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution CIEL is one of the four UK AgriTech centres with total investment totalling over £80M (Innovate UK) across 12 sites from 2015-2020. The focus of CIEL is to develop industry-led, commercially sustainable innovative research and development capabilities that generate wealth and business competitiveness through increased profitability of the livestock sector and industries that feed into this sector. CIEL provides a focused gateway to a core of 12 world-class research institutes to develop new industry-needed solutions as well as commercial trial farms for real world results with specific areas relating to livestock species (cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry), genetics, nutrition, health and welfare and product quality. Rothamsted Research at its North Wyke site will represent the grazing research centre of excellence in ruminants utilising the facilities of the North Wyke Farm Platform.
Collaborator Contribution CIEL is a membership organisation, bringing together leading UK based academic institutions and industry partners who provide strategic direction, projects for development and commercialisation of the research we carry out. It provides a direct link between science and practice to enable broader, faster and deeper innovation uptake in the livestock sectors.
Impact Agri-Tech Innovation Showcase Event, 8 December 2016, Rothamsted Research North Wyke
Start Year 2017
 
Description Cambridge University Sensors Group 
Organisation University of Cambridge
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Use of facility and staff. Expertise in farming processes and data.
Collaborator Contribution Sensor development MRES/PHD project using the NWFP NBRI. Livestock-based sensors for monitoring grass species via imagery and AI
Impact Student training. Follow up science projects likely with respect to sensing technologies; including that related to Digital Platform (Digital Twin) work
Start Year 2024
 
Description Climate Smart Research 
Organisation Wageningen University & Research
Country Netherlands 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution NWFP NBRI datasets
Collaborator Contribution Wageningen / Leeds led consortium for HE project
Impact None as yet
Start Year 2024
 
Description Collaboration with AFBI 
Organisation Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Workshop held for joint research interests. Work on modelling & soil carbon
Collaborator Contribution Workshop held for joint research interests. Work on modelling & soil carbon
Impact Soil Carbon work
Start Year 2022
 
Description Collaboration with Harper Adams University 
Organisation Harper Adams University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Shared digital science expertise and experiences. Student training programmes in prep.
Collaborator Contribution Shared digital science expertise and experiences. Student training programmes in prep.
Impact None as yet
Start Year 2022
 
Description Collaboration with the Bristol University dairy farm at Langford 
Organisation University of Bristol
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We discussed comparison of grass leys versus biomass cropping in intensive arable systems and eventually opted to use the Soil to nutrition modelling framework to model the technically feasible impacts of increased uptake of grass leys in intensive arable systems in the east of England. The results are to be compared versus business-as-usual.
Collaborator Contribution The Soil Association contributed to the discussion of scenarios and helped us finalise the framing of those prior to model runs.
Impact The Soil to Nutrition modelling framework has been used to model scenarios of increased uptake of leys and sheep in the intensive cereal systems of eastern England. The outputs compare business-as-usual and the new scenarios in terms of services or dis-services; emissions to water and air, farm economics, production, soil quality, biodiversity, water use.
Start Year 2018
 
Description EJP SOIL 
Organisation European Commission
Country Belgium 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution EJP SOIL is a European Joint Programme Cofund on Agricultural Soil Management contributing to key societal challenges including climate change, water and future food security. It consists of 26 partners from 24 european countries. The NWFP is part of the consortia and provides access and collaborative studies in its role as a long-term experiment and provision of laboratory facilities.
Collaborator Contribution The objectives of this collaboration are to develop knowledge, tools and an integrated research community to foster climate-smart sustainable agricultural soil management that: Allows sustainable food production Sustains soil biodiversity Sustains soil functions that preserves ecosystem services
Impact The programme is in its early days so no clear outcomes as yet.
Start Year 2020
 
Description Ecological Continuity Trust 
Organisation British Ecological Society
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The Ecological Continuity Trust (ECT) is a charity that is developing a strategic network of long-term ecological experiments (LTEs) under different habitats in order to safeguard existing high quality experiments and data, and are helping to ensure that new facilities are planned for the long-term.The NWFP has been added to the ECT register of LTEs, of which there are currently 30 active experiments at 27 sites in the United Kingdom. The NWFP is listed as one of the ECT's grassland habitat sites and is using a systems-based approach to study the complete flow of nutrients from soil to food products with a view to understanding and developing sustainable ways of managing lowland grass-based livestock production. Due to its highly instrumented set-up and high detail of data recording, it is a valuable source of knowledge on the ecosystem services provided by this type of landscape. In particular, the NWFP can make comparisons between land that is continually managed as permanent pasture compared with non-permanent pasture systems and is able to provide long-term data-sets on the effects of land management on hydrology, water quality, greenhouse gas emissions, soil quality, animal health, meat quality, and biodiversity.
Collaborator Contribution The ECT has established a network of key stakeholders that help champion the need to secure long-term experiments and the valuable science they produce so that future generations have the resources needed to manage systems in the face of environmental change. In addition, grants of up to £3000 are available (supported by the British Ecological Society) to help to fund research projects both within and between ECT registered sites, help to cover travel costs associated with communicating scientific findings and to help provide funds for essential maintenance or data curation activities.
Impact None as yet
Start Year 2019
 
Description Hestia, Oxford 
Organisation University of Oxford
Department Oxford Martin School
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Provision of NWFP datasets for Hestia open data & open model project
Collaborator Contribution Use and promotion of NWFP data via Hestia online portal for LCA
Impact None as yet
Start Year 2023
 
Description Imperial College London 
Organisation Imperial College London
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Student training using NWFP datasets
Collaborator Contribution Student training using NWFP datasets
Impact None as yet
Start Year 2022
 
Description Juelich University 
Organisation Julich Research Centre
Country Germany 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Digital Twin initiatives
Collaborator Contribution Digital Twin initiatives
Impact Digital Twin initiatives
Start Year 2024
 
Description Lancaster University / Lancaster CEH 
Organisation Lancaster University
Department Lancaster Environment Centre
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Digital twin initiatives
Collaborator Contribution Digital twin initiatives
Impact Digital twin initiatives
Start Year 2018
 
Description Leeds University - Links to the set up of an instrumented farm at the Leeds University Farm 
Organisation University of Leeds
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Helping deployment of sensors and associated data science tools
Collaborator Contribution Future collaborative grant applications are expected
Impact None as yet
Start Year 2020
 
Description MSc projects in AI 
Organisation University College London
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Data and the science
Collaborator Contribution AI expertise
Impact Student training
Start Year 2024
 
Description MSc projects in AI 
Organisation University of Exeter
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Data and the science
Collaborator Contribution AI expertise
Impact Student training
Start Year 2024
 
Description MSc projects in AI / Visualisation (giCentre) 
Organisation City, University of London
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Data and the Science
Collaborator Contribution Visualisation expertise
Impact Student training
Start Year 2024
 
Description Microsoft Cambridge Labs 
Organisation Microsoft Research
Department Microsoft Research Cambridge
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Expertise in farm-scale processes; NWFP NBRI data
Collaborator Contribution Sensor technologies; AI expertise; Cloud computing
Impact Projects in prep.
Start Year 2024
 
Description PhD Studentship - Annalisa Lanza - Agroecosystems in a Climate Crisis: Using Big Data to understand the Out of the Ordinary 
Organisation Bangor University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Lead Supervisor for PhD
Collaborator Contribution Lead Supervisor for PhD
Impact None yet - just started
Start Year 2023
 
Description PhD Studentship - Matheesha Liyana-Arachchige (Data to Decisions: Designing a digital twin for sustainable agriculture) 
Organisation Bangor University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Data and the science
Collaborator Contribution PhD awarding body
Impact PhD studentship
Start Year 2024
 
Description PhD placement (AI & Software Engineering) 
Organisation University of Bristol
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Data and the Science
Collaborator Contribution AI
Impact PhD 6-month placement
Start Year 2025
 
Description PhD placement (Visualisation) 
Organisation Bangor University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Data and the science
Collaborator Contribution Visualisation expertise
Impact Student 6-month placement
Start Year 2023
 
Description Royal Agricultural University 
Organisation Royal Agricultural University (RAU)
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Digital Twin work. Student project work using NWFP datasets.
Collaborator Contribution Digital Twin work. Student project work using NWFP datasets.
Impact None as yet
Start Year 2023
 
Description SOAP 
Organisation University of Southern Queensland
Country Australia 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Collaboration to produce digital twin with remote sensing data assimilation
Collaborator Contribution Collaboration to produce digital twin with remote sensing data assimilation
Impact Reciprocal visits and training workshops
Start Year 2024
 
Description Silvopasture knowledge exchange: UK and Colombia for soil health, livestock and biodiversity 
Organisation CGIAR
Department International Center for Tropical Agriculture
Country Colombia 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Visit to CIAT and CIPAV in Cali, experiments with soil profiles, new genomics centre, silvopastural systems on farm.
Collaborator Contribution We held discussions for potential new projects. Visited the new seed bank building where seed collections of yuca, beans and forages are kept. Forage species are screened to select those with low methane producing potential in vitro and, from these, a smaller number will be tested in vivo in the new chambers and in the field using the SF6 technique. Root growth is also being studied in small scale soil profiles. Visited experiments where pastures are being developed with traits such as decrease methane emissions. For example star grass. Visited the new chambers to measure methane from animals. Round the table discussion. Presentations from CIAT and Rothamsted.
Impact A Responsive Mode proposal will be submitted to BBSRC in April 2025 to investigate the potential role of Plantago in improving Nitrogen use Efficiency in livestock systems
Start Year 2015
 
Description Sonification work on NWFP data 
Organisation University of Portsmouth
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Data and the science
Collaborator Contribution Sonification expertise
Impact Multidisciplinary
Start Year 2024
 
Description The Donkey Sanctuary 
Organisation The Donkey Sanctuary
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Proposal development and sampling sites
Collaborator Contribution Proposal development
Impact Collaborative research
Start Year 2019
 
Description University of Southern Queensland 
Organisation University of Southern Queensland
Country Australia 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Modelling (APSIM) and remote sensing research
Collaborator Contribution Modelling (APSIM) and remote sensing research
Impact None as yet
Start Year 2023
 
Description University of Southern Queensland 
Organisation University of Southern Queensland
Country Australia 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Modelling (APSIM) and remote sensing research
Collaborator Contribution Modelling (APSIM) and remote sensing research
Impact None as yet
Start Year 2023
 
Description Visualisation of livestock movement 
Organisation University of St Andrews
Department School of Geography & Geosciences
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Farm-scale processes; NWFP NBRI data; student training
Collaborator Contribution Expertise in animal movement and visualisation
Impact On-going
Start Year 2024
 
Title GWmodel 
Description Spatial Varying Parameter Models 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2024 
Open Source License? Yes  
Impact Over 200k downloads 
URL https://cran.r-project.org/package=GWmodel
 
Title GWmodel 
Description Varying Parameter Models 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2023 
Open Source License? Yes  
Impact Over 200k downloads since release 
 
Title GWmodelS 
Description Front end for GWmodel R package 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2024 
Open Source License? Yes  
Impact Many downloads 
 
Title Space-time varying parameter models using GAMs 
Description R package 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2024 
Open Source License? Yes  
Impact Many downloads 
URL https://cran.r-project.org/package=stgam
 
Description APSIM training workshop at Rothamsted - led by Australian delegation 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Training workshop in APSIM process-based model over 2/3 days (including participants from Leeds University and ADAS)
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Ag Digital Twins - Telecommunications company (Japan) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Informal meeting
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Agricultural monitoring platforms - workshop with Hulunber Grassland Station, China 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Plans for follow up workshops and site visits
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Annual Reading University MSc student field trip 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact This is part of a field trip including a seminar for MSc students for the MSc Environmental Pollution and MSc Environmental Management at the University of Reading.
The remit is for the students to investigate soil chemical, physical and biological 'health' on the soils from the three different treatments on the North Wyke Farm Platform.
• Chemical analysis: Soil pH using portable pH probes
• Physical analysis: Visual evaluation of soil structure
• Biological analysis: Earthworm number, biomass, and species using OPAL guide.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description British Grassland Society 80th AGM 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact British Grassland Society held their 80th Annual General Meeting at North Wyke and included a tour of North Wyke experimental sites including the NWFP
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
URL https://www.britishgrassland.com/event/bgs-agm-2024/
 
Description CIEL Grasscheck members visit 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Visit by CIEL members to NWFP and Orr Small Ruminant facility, as well as discussion of Grasscheck project
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Devon County Show 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Devon Country Show attracts over 90,000 visitors over three days. We were invited to display in the Innovation tent alongside members of the Devon Agritech Alliance - highlighting GHG results from the NWFP.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Digital Twins and AI in Agriculture - Alan Turing Institute 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Digital Twins and AI in Agriculture - with a livestock focus
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Digital Twins and AI in Agriculture - UCL 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Workshop on future collaborations
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Digital Twins at Rothamsted. Agroecology Europe Forum 2023 - Converging Movements for Resilient Farming Systems, Hungary 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Harris P (2023) Digital Twins at Rothamsted. Agroecology Europe Forum 2023 - Converging Movements for Resilient Farming Systems, Hungary.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Digital Twins in Agriculture - CSIRO, Australia 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Small group meeting with CSIRO Deputy Director
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Digital Twins in Agriculture - Colorado State University visit 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Digital Twins in Agriculture - presentation to delegation
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Digital Twins in Agriculture - New Zealand Government Group 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Presentation of work at Rothamsted to delegation from New Zealand
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Digital Twins in Agriculture - Royal Agriculture University 2024 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Discussion on co-development of digital twin grants
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description Environment Agency visit 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Tour of NWFP and discussion of research activities and findings
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Evidence week - Westminster - "Intelligent Farming" 2023 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Stall & Presentations to MPs
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Farmers Weekly Farming Transition Event entitled 'Discover how working with soil nutrients and natural capital can benefit your farm business and the environment' (25/01/2024) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Event run by Farmers Weekly that includes talks by RRES staff and a tour of the NWFP facilities
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description Geospatial Digital Twins in Agriculture with Slovenia 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Links to Digital Twin with Slovenian group
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description Imperial College Post Grad students 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact 4 students are using NWFP and Data as their base for Masters Research Project. Linked to IAA Project RP10706-23
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description Joint workshop with Hestia and RRes 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Data sharing exercise. Work on shared ontologies. LCA work.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
URL https://www.hestia.earth/
 
Description Meeting at Plymouth University with Jennifer Rowntree and others in the Sustainable Food Production Research Group 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Meeting with Jennifer Rowntree and others within the Sustainable Food Production Research Group (https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/sustainable-food-production-research-group) to present the North Wyke Farm Platform data and options for its use. Plans to follow this with a more targeted workshop for those who have expressed a specific interest in particular data sets.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description Meeting with Dr Josh Hodge, Imperial College & Prof Danny Williamson, Exeter University - Dec 2023 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact To discuss student access and use of Farm Platform data as a component of teaching at graduate and post graduate level
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description NERC Environmental Modelling Community Workshop, London 2024 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Expert advice on climate modelling to NERC
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description NFU Devon County Management team 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Tour of the Farm Platform and associated facilities
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2025
 
Description Natural England SW Area team visit 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Visit by members of the SW Natural England Area team for tour of NWFP and discussion of research activities and findings
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Nemotodes for Isles of Scilly (with University of Plymouth) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Initial dialogues.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description RRES / Devon County Council - Grazing Management / Precision Grazing Event 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact NWFP tour and talk entitled 'North Wyke: An overview of the history and research' given by Jane Hawkins
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description Reading University MSc in Environmental Management - Student Field Visit 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Annual field trip including a seminar and field investigation into soil chemical, physical and biological 'health' on the soils from the three different treatments on the North Wyke Farm Platform.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description Research Insight Event 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Research Insight Event - showcasing NW research and capabilities associated to the topic of fertilisers and organic inputs, their environmental impacts and opportunities to mitigate these.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description SW Agricultural Immersion Centre Group meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Meeting of partners within the SW Agricultural Immersion centre - including a tour of the NWFP and discussion of its capabilities.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Stoke Climsland Farmer Cluster group 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Visit by Stoke Climsland Farmer Cluster group arranged by James Coumbe (West Country Rivers Trust) to show research on runoff of nutrient/sediment, flood management, beef/sheep/arable related content, explanation of the three farmlet areas at North Wyke, and look around livestock housing/handling facilities.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2025
 
Description The Dairy Science Forum 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Meeting for the Dairy Science Forum to discuss our grazing and grassland research, including outputs form the Farm Platform.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description The Maynard School - 6th form science student visit 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact Visit by 10 Sixth form science students + 2 teachers from The Maynard School, Exeter for a tour of the Farm Platform and other science projects at North Wyke
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description The Sheep Group 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Visit by the Sheep Group to the Orr Small Ruminant Facility
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description UK NABES network group 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Network led by Rothamsted on Statistical Research in Agriculture
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description UK National Engagement Event on Living Labs in the Horizon Europe Soil Mission 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Presentation given by Laura Cardenas on 'Mitigating nutrient losses in agriculture' including findings from studies on the North Wyke Farm Platform at an event held in Rothamsted Research, Harpenden.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description University of Cambridge 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Post-grad Students on University of Cambridge Sensor DTC Linking with NWFP as a Sensor Test Bed for their projects
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description University of the West of Scotland ALMADA Lab - Drones for biodiversity 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact University of the West of Scotland ALMADA Lab
Drones for biodiversity
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description Velcourt Dairy Farm 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Visit by members of the SW Velcourt Dairy team - tour of NWFP and discussion of research activities and findings
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Visit by Bradworthy YFC, Tadcaster YFC and Wetherby YFC 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Visit to North Wyke for a tour of the North Wyke Farm Platform by a local YFC group and 2 other exchange YFC groups from West Yorkshire
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Visit by Environment Agency 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Visit to North Wyke for a tour of the North Wyke Farm Platform and discussion of research activities and findings
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Visit by Exeter University as part of joint workshop on the Digital Twin. Included representation from UCL, Imperial and Nottingham Trent Universities 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Tour of North Wyke Farm Platform as part of a joint workshop on the Digital Twin developement between RRES and Exeter University
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Visit by Jonathan Holland (AFBI) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Visit to North Wyke for a tour of the North Wyke Farm Platform and discussion of research activities and findings
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Visit by Rothamsted Research Data Science Group (Harpenden based) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Tour of the North Wyke Farm Platform and discussion of research activities and data generation/management as part of a visit by Chris Baker, Richard Ostler and Ammar Siddiqui with a view to development of the Farm Platform Digital Twin
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Visit to University of Lincoln 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Innovations in AI and robotics for agriculture. Collaborations on grant proposals between RRes and UoL
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024