Event Date : June 11, 2024 - June 12, 2024
Event Location : Holt farm Blagdon BS40 7SQ
Farm Carbon Toolkit’s inaugural Dung Beetle Conference kindly hosted by Yeo Valley Organics and co-sponsored by First Milk and Yeo Valley.
This practically applied gathering builds on the expertise of the Dung Ecology conferences which ran from 2009. Our Dung Beetle conference seeks to harness that body of work and apply it to stimulate action on integrating nature and farming and explore how we can enhance biodiversity to achieve regenerative farming outcomes.
Grazing ruminants are vital to our farmed environment. We need to better integrate livestock into all types of farming and ensure management interventions are well thought out, to achieve animal, soil, and end-consumer health and productivity.
We focus on the dung beetle as a centre point. These soil engineers, climate enhancers, and pathogen reducers are a keystone species and a powerful proxy for soil health and the wider vibrancy of soil life. At this conference, you will hear from regenerative farmers, soil scientists, environmental experts, agroecologists and veterinary scientists.
In the spotlight will be ‘integrated parasite management’ as a newly proven and effective approach to reducing reliance on parasiticides. This easy to adopt approach, not only helps our dung beetles, but opens the door to many multi-beneficial interventions and outcomes.
The expert speakers have been selected to enhance learning and encourage the mutual exchange of knowledge and experience.
ORC’s Lindsay Whistance will be speaking on the ‘Importance of trees to livestock welfare and well being’ in Session 3: Diversity in grazing, forages and soil on Tuesday afternoon.
For the full programme click here
For those interested in influencing policy, there will be an opportunity to be part of a consultation with the VMD, the body responsible for animal medicines in the UK.
We would expect this conference to appeal to absolutely everyone! But we recognise special interest from farmers, vets, entomologists, ecologists, advisors and those involved in veterinary medicine and relevant policy.
All are welcome, but space is limited!
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