Askahm Bryan College

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Other Research

The Unit is currently co-operating in a number of major research projects including:

Catchment Hydrology, Resources, Economics and Management (ChREAM); Integrated Modelling of WFD Impacts upon Rural Land Use & Farm Incomes.

This project is being led by Professor Bateman and his team at the University of East Anglia who is working in conjunction with GIS and natural scientists at CEH, Wallingford, the University of Aberystwyth and UEA as well as other economists at University of Manchester and IVM Amsterdam.  The research project is looking at the impact of the Water Framework Directive on farming, specifically within the Humber Catchment study area.  This area covers a fifth of the area of England from the Midlands to North Yorkshire and across to the east coast.  The costs to farmers and the benefits to recreationalists and other water users will be key aspects of the research.

http://www.uea.ac.uk/env/cserge/research/relu/index

Investigation into long term effects of river flooding on levels of organic environmental contaminants in food from livestock reared on flood-prone pastures

This project is funded by the Food Standards Agency and is a joint project with the Central Science Laboratory and UEA Norwich.  It started in the summer of 2007 and it is planned to be completed by March 2011.

 The project is primarily concerned with looking at milk, beef, and lamb.  The recruitment of suitable farms started in February 2008 with collection of samples commencing in the summer of 2008.  These samples will comprise milk, soil, grass, and feed as well as market ready steers and lambs.

 This research builds on previous work undertaken in the 1990s looking at the levels of contaminants in food products.  Specifically the project is looking at PCDD/Fs (commonly called 'dioxins') and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and whether there is a higher level of these contaminants in milk on cows grazing pastures by rivers that are prone to flooding.

Various aspects of the work are phased over the period of two years with milk data collection starting in the summer of 2008 and beef and Lamb starting in 2009.  The primary role of RBRU is to recruit potential farms to assist with the survey and to collect samples of milk, grass, feed, soil etc.  At a later stage the intention is to purchase steers and lambs from co-operating farms and send then to a local abattoir.  The carcasses will then be brought to the facilities in the CoVE processing unit at AskhamBryanCollege for storage.

The majority of the farms being studied are located on the River Trent including farms in the counties of Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.  The study area also covers the Doe Lea, Rother and Don River systems in Yorkshire.

For more information contact Oliver White who is the Research Officer dedicated to this project (omw@askham-bryan.ac.uk)

Limestone Project

This research project is being undertaken in conjunction with English Nature, Yorkshire Dales National Park and Countryside and Community Research Unit at University of Gloucester. It is one of a suite of projects under the Yorkshire Dales Limestone Country project financed by the EU LIFE five year programme.  The aim of this research is to analyse the impact of the Limestone Country project on the economic output of participating farms.  A report is due to be published in May 2007.

http://www.limestone-country.org.uk/

North York Moors Hill Sheep Economic Study

A postal survey undertaken in February 2006 confirms that there is a widespread concern that farmers see little future for moorland flocks.  The economics of these moorland flocks have been documented in a series of reports published by the Unit.  The latest report was published in May 2006 reporting on the 2005 lamb crop.  The report also sets out the very high costs associated with re-establishing a ‘hefted’ flock on the moor.  This work is done in conjunction with the North York Moors National Park and Natural England.

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