2024-715 Soil sampling & analysis for the Environmental Baselining Pilot

AHDB has a vital role to play in supporting its levy payers with evidence identifying the range of environmental public goods that farmers provide.

Net zero is a key area where farmers play an important role in capturing carbon as well as emitting greenhouse gases (GHG) as part of their food producing activities.

AHDB is undertaking environmental baselining work on a network of farms comprising approximately 170 farms across GB where it aims to establish a net carbon balance, taking account of GHG emissions and carbon sequestration (above and below ground) and capture a range of metrics of relevance to evaluating natural capital and monitoring the environmental impact of different land management approaches.

The suite of data collection being undertaken includes LIDAR scanning to estimate above ground carbon stocks and provide run-off risk maps, soil sampling to indicate soil carbon stocks and soil health, carbon footprinting to understand the GHG emissions for the farm, and work will also explore the potential for remote sensing technology to provide more frequent and lower cost carbon stock assessments.

For this tender, AHDB are seeking a partner to provide soil sampling and analysis services to inform the assessment of: a) soil carbon stocks b) soil nutrients, texture and biological indicators on approximately 170 farms across Great Britain.

The distribution of these farms is provisionally as follows England 125, Wales, 10, Scotland 35.

Soil nutrients are included, not only to inform nutrient status in terms of soil health and relate to carbon stocks but also to inform the risk of runoff when combined with the LIDAR generated run-off risk maps.