Speeches

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer on 2016-06-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many soil research projects have been completed for which it has provided funding, and how the findings were translated into practical measures that could be applied at farm level, in each year since 1997.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Since 1997, Defra and its predecessors have funded 445 soil research projects, the findings of which are translated into practical measures that can be applied at farm level in a number of ways, including testing of measures as part of the research, reviews of the evidence base feeding into the development of farmer guidance or direct knowledge transfer as part of the research project.

The table below denotes the number of completed soil research projects funded by Defra and its predecessors in each year since 1997:

1997

40

1998

44

1999

26

2000

28

2001

34

2002

22

2003

26

2004

21

2005

18

2006

29

2007

15

2008

23

2009

24

2010

29

2011

17

2012

18

2013

12

2014

10

2015

9

In addition since 2005-6, the first year for which data is available, Research Councils have funded 614 soil research projects.

The table below denotes the number of soil research projects funded by the Research Councils that have completed, by financial year, going back to 2005-06. Data for before that year is not available as the information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

2005-6

59

2006-7

62

2007-8

92

2008-9

57

2009-10

68

2010-11

82

2011-12

70

2012-13

26

2013-14

45

2014-15

29

2015-16

24