University buys £16m farmland for food research

A university has bought farmland worth around £16m for research into agriculture and food.

The University of Reading has purchased the 635-acre site at Tanners Farm, Farley, using money from its long-term capital investment funds.

The area includes pasture, arable land and woodland and is an addition to the farmland and facilities the university already has in Arborfield, Shinfield and Sonning.

The university's vice-chancellor said the purchase would help "secure the future of agriculture at Reading for the next century to come".

The farm has been purchased to support the university's new Agrifood Futures Strategy through which it hopes to "transform the future of food and farming".

According to the university, an updated Local Plan for Wokingham may allocate parts of Hall Farm, where it currently has farming facilities, for a new garden village.

This new farmland will therefore ensure there is ample space "to continue the university’s world-class research", it said.

Prof Robert Van de Noort, vice-chancellor, added: “The study of food and farming has been at the heart of the university’s work for more than a century.

"This new strategy will secure the future of agriculture at Reading for the next century to come.

“Our mission is to develop new methods and partnerships that will transform the way healthy, sustainable food is produced in Britain."

He continued: "It will provide our students with hands-on experience as they train to become our future food growers and the stewards of the countryside.”

The university's Agrifood Futures Strategy prioritises three research areas, focusing on transformation to a resilient and fair food system; environmentally-friendly farming systems; and developing healthy and sustainable foods.

Tanners Farm already has schemes to encourage wildlife and protect the countryside and the university said it will initially lease the land to its existing users.

Prof Simon Mortimer, head of the university's School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, said: “The university’s purchase of Tanners Farm will give us the opportunity to research and demonstrate solutions to some of the most pressing problems facing Britain and the world.

"How to keep feeding a growing population from finite resources, despite a changing climate, while reducing the impact of farming on the environment.”

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