Published 4th Jun 2023, 11:45 BST

Dr Dave George and Professor Jonathan Leake have been appointed, respectively, as the new Chair and Vice Chair of the Farmer Scientist Network and will advise policymakers in the UK and beyond on issues such as farming practices, food security, sustainable productivity and the ways in which new science and technology can solve problems and underpin innovation in agriculture.

They say farmers and scientists have vast potential to unlock sustainability benefits for the environment and for agricultural profitability if they work ever closer together.

New Farmer Scientist Network Chair, Dr Dave George of Newcastle University’s School of Natural and Environmental Sciences has specialist knowledge in the use of biopesticides and precision agriculture technology and is passionate about driving forward future farming systems to benefit food production.

Land-based academics Professor Jonathan Leake and Dr Dave George have been appointed as the new Chair and Vice Chair of the Farmer Scientist Network, a group supported by farming charity the Yorkshire Agricultural Society.

Vice Chair, Jonathan Leake is Professor of Plant-Soil Interactions at the University of Sheffield’s School of Biosciences, whose areas of interest include soil health, regenerative agriculture, the use of leys in arable rotations to regenerate beneficial soil organisms, carbon sequestration, soil structure, and the use of minimal tillage.

Prof Leake said: “We are at a very exciting place in farming and science where there is a lot of unrealised potential to link them together.

“Scientists need to be better informed about farming’s challenges and farmers need a better understanding of the ways in which science can help to make their farms more sustainable, environmentally and economically.”

The Farmer Scientist Network, guided by its new leadership team, will now work with the Yorkshire Agricultural Society to effect positive innovation in the industry by working with the crop and livestock sectors to find new ways in which science and technology can find solutions and underpin innovation in agriculture.

Regenerative Agriculture is a key current focus of the Farmer Scientist Network and its goal is to seek sustainable productivity and encourage and support the changes that are urgently needed to bring innovation into farming.

Through a series of events, farmers are being offered opportunities to learn about regenerative techniques that are being adopted to drive farming profitability and productively in harmony with the environment.

Dr George added: “There is a realisation across the board that we cannot address the sustainability challenges we are all facing without working with the farming sector.

“One of the most interesting things is how we get the right balance to use land to produce nutritional food and to promote natural capital.

"Farmers need to be able to continue to farm, to produce food in the right way and in the right place, and so it is about exploring trade-offs in an industry where it isn’t one-size-fits-all.”

The Farmer Scientist Network will also be hosting a brand-new Innovation Zone at the 164th Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate between Tuesday July 11 and Friday July 14.

Farmers and scientists working together is key to profits in agriculture say Yorkshire academics