The UK Agriculture Partnership (UKAP) launched in January 2022 and focussed on the topic of the impacts of agriculture on water quality: challenges and solutions. The event took place at the Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester.

The second event of the partnership is scheduled to take place on 23 March 2022, and will focus on various aspects of soil health in agriculture - including carbon. The event will take place in Northern Ireland at the College for Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE), Greenmount Campus.

Meanwhile, please save the date and register your attendance on the Eventbrite page. At this stage, it would be helpful if you can indicate whether you plan to attend in person (in NI) or virtually, to help gauge numbers.

As well as Minister Edwin Poots (DAERA) and Secretary of State George Eustice (Defra), we are pleased to welcome our panel speakers (full list will be confirmed shortly):

· Dr Anne Bohgal, Research Scientist, ADAS

· Dr Donnacha Doody, Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI)

· Liz Bowles, Associate Director Farming and Land Use - Soil Association

· Matthew Orman – Director, Sustainable Soils Alliance

· Professor Mark Reed, Rural Economy, Environment and Society, Scotland’s Rural College

· Patrick Casement, Chair of Farming and Food Countryside Commission, NI

· Professor Bridget  Emmett, Head of Soils and Land Use, UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology

· Dr Kenneth Loades, Research Leader – Soil and Soil Quality, James Hutton Institute

· John Meadley, Hon. President, Pasture fed Livestock Association

UKAP is a technical forum for sharing insights, best practice and evidence across the UK. Meetings are due to take place quarterly across different UK nations and each focus on a particular challenge, innovation or area of interest to the agriculture sector. The invite list is flexible and new members are very welcome - please email any questions to: uk-agriculture-partnership@defra.gov.uk