Latest news with #VeronicaWhite
BBC News
04-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Farming Today 04/07/25 Capital grants and sustainable farming incentive, carbon credits, farm research on cycle tour
The sustainable farming incentive or SFI will re-open in the New Year, it pays English farmers for things like planting hedges or wildflowers. It was suddenly closed to new applications earlier this year after it ran out of money. Speaking at the regenerative farming festival Groundswell, the Defra secretary Steve Reed said he wants the SFI to support a transition to regenerative farming. Details will be announced later this summer with applications opening next year though Mr Reed says it will still have a limited budget. He also announced the reintroduction of capital grants for English farmers which were unexpectedly closed last year. These grants are for projects such as cutting water pollution or prevent flooding and now educational visits. All this week we've been looking at regenerative agriculture, where farmers reduce or stop ploughing, grow cover crops and keep livestock - all with the aim of improving soil and storing carbon. We speak to Becky Wilson from the Farm Carbon Toolkit about how farmers can make money from improving the biodiversity on their land and storing more carbon. A PhD student from the University of Exeter is interviewing female farmers as she cycles thousands of miles across England. We speak to Veronica White at the end of her research tour in Cumbria. Presenter = Charlotte Smith Producer = Rebecca Rooney
BBC News
12-04-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Researcher cycling across England to get views of female farmers
A researcher is cycling from Land's End in Cornwall to the Scottish border on her bike in a bid to interview female of Exeter PhD student Veronica White is aiming to cycle more than 1,200 miles (1,931km/h) by said she wanted ascertain what women living or working on England's farms view the future of agriculture to be. Ms White said: "Women in the UK cycle a lot less than men, and farming is male-dominated – so I aim to highlight the role of women in both these areas." 'Hardest thing I've done' Ms White is calling the journey "PhD by bike" and plans to stop at various points along the way to talk to people in farming communities. She said cycling was "a low-carbon, sustainable way to travel, which is important to me"."It will, most likely, be the hardest thing I've ever done," she said."But isn't that what they say about doing a PhD, too?"Nobody starts a PhD thinking it's going to be easy – so why not throw a 1,200-mile cycle ride into the mix?"
