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I've just read that "FARMSCOPER is a decision support tool that can be used for assessing diffuse agricultural-pollutant loads on a farm and quantifying the impacts of farm mitigation methods on these pollutants". Has anyone tried this free ADAS tool and what is it like in practice?

Drinking water standards for all pesticides are set at 1ppm – in essence this is a surrogate for zero that dates back 20-30 years. This reflects an inherently precautionary approach to human health protection. Since then technology has moved on and we can detect pesticides at vanishingly small...

I read in BW that metaldyhyde pollution in watercourses is a growing problem for water companies, and that this comes from slug pellets used by farmers to protect oilseed rape. Since oilseed rape is a Hope Farm crop, how is this issue handled?

Having contributed when Hope Farm was set up, I've paid attention to progress over the years. I'm very pleased that Hope Farm has been profitable while supporting wildlife, (in some years it looks like it would even have been profitable without subsidies!). Given that it is so successful, are...

As with all hill farms, November is a month for preparation at Geltsdale reserve. The rams or tups as they are known here in the North Pennines have been put to the ewes and the timing now will determine the week lambing will begin in April. With luck, grass on the lower in-bye land will have begun to...

Hi all. I keep getting my regular RSPB email updates and even though I've moved back to New Zealand now I still really want to be able to sign the campaign letters online. However it seems that it's only for UK residents..Is there no option to apply international pressure to the British government...

Two years ago, with the help of Smith Gore, we undertook some economic case studies of farmers creating habitats through agri-environment schemes to demonstrate the profitability of wildlife-friendly farming. You can see these case studies here . We would like to know whether these have been useful to...