Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of mixing farming practices that integrate livestock and crop production to improve soil health.

Defra has made several assessments via R&D addressing the effectiveness of mixing farming practices which integrate livestock and crop production to improve soil health, focussing on comparing integrated crop and livestock systems with conventional cropping systems. Some of this ongoing research is delivered collaboratively via EU programmes, which also address circularity in mixed systems and have an emphasis on climate change mitigation and adaptation.