CEDAR farm recognized for environmental research innovation
14 March 2018
A farm conducting world leading dairy research has celebrated 25 years since it first opened, by being named as an innovation hub for environmental studies.
The Centre for Dairy Research (CEDAR) at the University of Reading was today (Wednesday 14 March) named as an Innovation Centre by sustainable food and farming organization LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming).
The recognition came during a day of celebrating research taking place at CEDAR, including understanding the role of feed in reducing fatty acids in dairy and experimenting with mixed herbal lays to cut methane emissions from dairy cows.
Prof Chris Reynolds, Professor of Animal and Dairy Science and Director of CEDAR said:
“CEDAR has a proud history of cutting-edge research and this exciting collaboration with LEAF will enable future research at CEDAR to achieve greater impact through joint knowledge exchange between both parties.
“Of the nine LEAF Innovation Centres that currently exist in the UK, only four are universities. So, we are delighted to be part of such an elite team that aims to provide robust scientific data on how to minimise the environmental impact of both livestock and arable farming, while maintaining high levels of quality food production that can be disseminated through LEAF to the agricultural community.”
CEDAR joins a select group of nine other Innovation Centres made up of some of the country’s most prestigious education and research organisations, set up to support the research, evidence, development and promotion of LEAF’s Integrated Farm Management (IFM) to help deliver more sustainable food and farming.
Speaking at the launch, Caroline Drummond, Chief Executive of LEAF said:
“CEDAR is a unique, state of the art scientific facility for applied and strategic large animal research. Their extensive research capability, looking at areas such as milk composition and human health, dairy cow nutrition and the environmental impacts of meat and milk production, will further strengthen LEAF’s technical outreach activities.
“Being able to access CEDAR’s ground-breaking research will support our members and the wider livestock sector to become more innovative and to take advantage of new technologies in order to turn agricultural innovations into commercial opportunities.”