On the 8th of May 2024, Value4Farm’s partner, the University of Reading, attended the Waitrose Farming Conference which brought together farmers, industry leaders, and sustainability experts to discuss the most pressing issues facing agriculture today. Exchanges covered innovative approaches to land management that benefit both productivity and the environment. Participants examined themes such as regenerative agriculture, soil health and biodiversity.

This event was an opportunity for the University of Reading to run a stand presenting our collaborative project aimed at providing farmers with efficient and competitive solutions to decarbonise European agricultural systems. Our partners thus discussed the project with various farmers and retailers who were attending the conference.

Our partners also attended a demonstration of a New Holland biodiesel tractor and the supporting technologies developed by Bennamann, which captures methane emissions from a slurry lagoon and refines them into biomethane. This promising innovation echoes the one that Value4Farm will be demonstrating in Belgium, which involves using agriresidues as feedstock for biomethane production, which can be directly used on tractors to replace fossil fuels!

Pictures: Alice Maunchline.

To learn more about this event, discover these news articles:

• Waitrose nature-friendly farming scheme has Reading support – University of Reading
• Waitrose unveils plans to accelerate nature-friendly farming for British farmers – johnlewispartnership.media).