Regenerative Agriculture for the UK
The nation relies on rural communities to produce our food and steward the countryside for everyone’s enjoyment.
Recent years have shown the social and economic impact of an uncertain climate, development and disjointed policy. Worsening weather and volatile markets are significantly straining the UK’s food supply chain which has manifested into a cost of living crisis.
Regenerative agriculture aims to address the core of food production: the ground. Modern understanding of soil biology and mycology can enable farmers to restore fertility to depleted soils using the foundation of fungi.
Nature is the best innovator and engineer, MycoBiome seeks to enable a you to both deliver reliable and resilient yields and directly benefit your local ecosystem.
Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi are Bio - Engineers that unleashes the cycle of soil fertility. With powerful enzymes, fungi can unlock reserves of potassium and phosphorous whilst enhancing the nitrogen cycle.
Research completed by Savills compares regenerative with conventional farming systems which shows that after 6 years, a the business can achieve 5 times the return per hectare.
Savills acknowledged that there is a ‘transition gap’ which can has short term uncertainty and potential reductions in yields.
Through collaboration, MycoBiome ambitiously seeks to close the gap and achieve comparative yields within 2 years.
AMF is the piece of the puzzle that enables producers to close the transition window.
Our solution
Inoculate your soil:
Populate your soil with locally available species of fungi by introduction into your planting cycle. More diversity in soils boosts available nutrients, keeps pests in check and combats diseases.
Our services extent to identify the correct species required for your planting cycles and to produce the inoculant on your behalf. Methods of application range from the precise, to the dirty, depending on your preference.
Protect your soil:
Occasionally covering fields with cover crops and terminating as mulch helps proliferate fungal growth by protecting the ground from heat and retaining moist conditions. With soil biodiversity driven by fungal activity, cash crops can be grown with greater yields and resilience.
Help us help you in formulating the right management plan for your land.
Manage your soil:
Retain your fungal community by eliminating tillage. Ploughing shreds the delicate fungi hyphae and disrupts the regeneration process. Let the fungi do the work for you.
Minimise applications of fertilisers and fungicides to achieve regeneration. Fertilisers disrupt the symbiosis by making nutrients more available to crops and out competing your fungi. Make your micro-workers do it for you and save the effort.
FAQs
Is this not already being done?
As it stands, the main market for AMF applications in the UK is in gardening and horticulture. Although successful, current products does not translate well into arable farming. Companies in America and Europe have already begun to trial AMF applications with success but they are not equipped for the UK market. Research into AMFs applicability in agricultural settings has accelerated in recent years.
We want to see MycoBiome be the pioneers of the UK. Our values lie in food security for the UK by standing behind the Great British farmer. We consider food supply independence core to our values and wish to share our knowledge to enable others as the field evolves further.
Does it always work?
The nature of AMF means that they cannot be symbiotic with the Brassicas Family (Cabbages) or the Brassicaceae Family (Mustard/ Oilseed Rape) as examples. However, introducing AMF for these crops in other parts of the cycle still improves the soils for the next harvest.
What crops does AMF work for?
To list a few:
Cereals & Grains
Legumes
Root and Tuber Crops
Forage Crops
Legume Cover Crops
Non-Legume Cover Crops
Cereal Cover Crops
Mixed Cover Crops
If you’re unsure if AMF is right for you, get in touch with us and we can discuss what options are available to you free of charge. We will always accept a challenge!
Can it guarantee success?
Research into field applications is still emerging, with some evidence showing yields increase by 20%, but some times there are reductions too. Simply put, there is work to be done to make the benefits consistent. By going back to the first principles of ecology and biology by using native species sourced locally, we believe that this will unlock the secrets of soil fertility from the ground up.
What if it goes wrong?
We will agree to insure the crop used for all small scale field trials. Things do and will go wrong, but we want to give you confidence and breathing space to learn with and develop with us.
What about pests?
Slugs, as an example, are of particular concern especially during the cover crop termination period of the crop cycle. Management of this risk will ultimately depend on your farms capabilities. We will agree a workable solution prior to commencement so that resilience is embedded into your strategy. There are many options available to manage pest populations but this will largely depend on the soil type, composition, labour and budget constraints as well as the species of AMF used for regeneration.
How can I mitigate the effects of adverse weather conditions?
The ultimate goal is to build up rebuild the soil so that it is resilient to environmental pressure. The point of the process is to accelerate the regeneration as quickly as possible so that soils are ready for the next severe storm or drought.
What is sustainable finance?
There is a very large pool of investors and managers that are seeking put their money where their mouth is when it comes to climate action. Regenerative farming is proven to be one of the best ways to lock carbon into the ground where it cannot be removed, even if you really tried to. This puts a premium on the land value only when managed for food production. This money will be put directly into your pocket and is scalable.
How do I access sustainable finance?
We want to enable you to do what you do best: feed the nation. Our research and reporting will be complete to recognised standards which allows you to access the voluntary market for carbon credits and potentially biodiversity credits. Traceable tonnes of carbon locked away (sequestered) can be purchased by developers to offset their carbon emissions. We can offer this service to you.
Can I participate in environmental stewardship schemes and access related funding?
Absolutely! This concept is referred to as stacking through SFI and CS schemes. The carbon and biodiversity credit markets are external to these schemes and require separate reporting to benefit financially. There is no stipulation against accessing finance from the voluntary market.
Are there any other benefits?
Research has shown that the nutritional value of regeneratively farmed produce is superior to all other methods of cultivation. The AMF is adapted to be the primary interface for nutrients to help crops grow in return for sugars produced by the crop. You can avoid expensive fertiliser losses of up to 40% when applied as a solution. Not only will your produce taste better and better for you but it can be more valuable to buyers.
Restoration of fungi is what we believe kick starts the ecology of soils. With fungi comes aerobic conditions which keeps biotic stresses to crops in control. The fungi constructs a large network of hyphae strands which acts as a highway for sharing nutrients or supporting neighbouring plants. Remember that the fungi benefits from the relationship when permitted to.
We are additionally interested in the impact to flood risk and water quality. When the project can enter a catchment scale, we theorise that contamination of rivers will be greatly reduced as the soil stabilises. Comparing regenerated soils rich in organic carbon have also shown it’s ability to greatly increase moisture retention.
Find out more from our knowledge base here
