Grasslands

Temporary and permanent grasslands cover >70% of UK agricultural land and provide a vital natural asset for achieving national and international climate, nature, and biodiversity targets, and providing nutrient-dense food. Soil carbon sequestration, mainly under grassland, contributes 50% of agriculture’s total mitigation potential, while the IPCC emphasise that agricultural systems must prioritise improving grazing land and livestock management. Concurrently, the Committee on Climate Change highlights that a 4% increase in UK forestland could abate 24% of annual agricultural greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) by 2050. Therefore, optimising grassland use (e.g. precision grazing, low-carbon and methane-mitigating forages, multispecies pastures, silvopasture, agroforestry, biomass production, woodland establishment) could help the UK realise its mitigation potential whilst saving >£1.6billion/year. It is therefore urgent to reappraise land-use and policy-making solutions that promote large-scale, long-term, integrated grassland management.

The project will address the transformation of UK grasslands for net-zero whilst improving soil health, biodiversity, and the economy through five interdisciplinary work packages:

• WP1: development of participatory scenarios and policies through bottom-up stakeholder engagement
• WP2: innovative grassland management systems
• WP3: sustainability assessment of grassland solutions
• WP4: optimise tools to support decision-making and behaviour change
• WP5: enabling transformation of grassland use

Innovation assessments, co-creation of adoption pathways and policy-making solutions (via Life Cycle Assessments, Global Farm Metric, land-use scenario modelling, stakeholder engagement), will embrace both unique and common characteristics in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Developed and devolved policies will target public goods and regulatory mechanisms, protect natural and cultural heritage; and support the Net-Zero Growth Plan.