Innovation sites

Innovation sites are farmer-led, on-farm projects that test ideas and solutions to real farming challenges. The results are used to develop practical information, including case studies for Monitor Farm events. 

Innovation sites might focus on:

• Farming practices
• Research questions
• Business management

Topics or themes may be identified by farmers, through the AHDB letterbox, or from relevant AHDB research projects.

The aim is to investigate real challenges faced by levy payers, create solutions and share practical learning with other farmers through the Farm Excellence Network.

Site location: Befordshire.

This site will compare farmyard manure and compost applied before drilling with no organic amendments. The impact on soil health will be assessed.

Site locations: Shropshire, Kent and Northumberland.

These sites will investigate whether using IPM methods, as identified in our Top 10 tips for cabbage stem beetle (CSFB) management, can reduce crop losses and improve oilseed rape establishment.

The main focus is companion cropping.

Companion crops may reduce CSFB pressures through several mechanisms, such as improving soil structure, masking the crop from CSFB, acting as as sacrificial plants, which are eaten in preference to OSR, and offering shelter for natural enemies.

Site locations: Cornwall and Somerset.

These projects will assess whether the new AHDB BYDV tool can improve the timing and accuracy of insecticide applications to help manage Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) risks.

The Cornwall site will assess winter barley. The Somerset site will assess winter wheat.

Site location: Norfolk.

Wheat dwarf virus (WDV) is spread by a relatively new leafhopper species in the UK – Psammotettix alienus.

Primary infection occurs when adults migrate into fields with newly emerging cereal plants in the autumn.

To date in the UK, the highest infection levels have been recorded in East Anglia.

There are no plant protection products authorised for the control of Psammotettix alienus, so control relies on integrated pest management (IPM).

Observations in a field in autumn 2025 showed that double-drilled areas had lower infection levels, compared to sparser crop areas and open crop areas, such as tramline and crop edges.

This may be due to leaf barriers restricting leaf hopper movements.

This winter barley trial will investigate whether increasing seed rates can help reduce overall WDV infection.

It will include assessments of cross drilling, which is where some seeds are drilled in one direction and the rest are drilled at 90 degrees.

Site locations: Huntingdonshire and Nottinghamshire.

The projects will assess:

• The value of cover crops as winter lamb fodder
• Impacts on soil structure
• Effects on soil nutrition for the following cash crop

At the site in Nottinghamshire, a single cover crop will be grown with grazed and ungrazed areas.

The Hungtingdonshire site will compare a simple two-way cover crop mix with a more complex 12-way mix.

Site location: Berkshire

The project will assess:

• Cover crop biomass and nitrogen content
• Soil mineral nitrogen levels
• The potential to reduce nitrogen from the farm’s standard rate in the following spring cash crop

Site location: Northumberland.

This project will monitor pests and diseases in field margins to assess whether they act as a source of infection and how they spread into neighbouring crops.

Site location: Northumberland.

This site will investigate whether applying rock dust can improve soil health, using visual evaluation of soil structure (VESS) assessments and our soil health scorecard.

Site location: Angus.

The EU is banning the herbicide flufenacet and the UK is likely to follow suit, in line with the Government’s sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement with the EU.

This project will examine herbicide approaches to provide a reliable strategy that is not based on flufenacet.

The treatment plan will assess:

• Untreated
• Pre-emergence herbicides only
• Post-emergence herbicides only
• Pre- and post-emergence herbicides

It will be compared with the host farm's standard practice, which is based on flufenacet and diflufenican products.

We will monitor efficacy, the crop, yield and grain quality.

The herbicides have been provided by FMC Agro Limited.

Site locations: Corwall and Somerset.

These projects are comparing on-farm technologies that help adjust nitrogen applications throughout the season.

Technologies assessed include:

• Omnia at both sites
• N-Sensor at both sites
• Messium at the Cornwall site

If you’re interested in becoming an innovation site and taking part in future on-farm trials, contact your regional knowledge exchange manager or Agronomy and Environment Manager, Bek Hirstman, at bek.hirstman@ahdb.org.uk.

Because these projects are carried out on a local scale, the data will not be used within scientific papers or thought leadership.