Germinal, a sixth-generation family business is focused on providing ground breaking farming and food solutions and developing new plants and technologies to improve the performance, efficiency and sustainability of livestock farmers. 

Germinal is spearheading research and innovation with Germinal Horizon. They have a team of scientists embedded at the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences at Aberystwyth University, Wales (IBERS), a world leader in forage and ruminant research. Through rapid innovations in plant science and this dynamic collaboration with IBERS, Germinal Horizon is leading the way in grass and legume developments. 

Germinal is driven by science and through applied research at Germinal Horizon Wiltshire, their specialist team there is implementing a programme of applied trials that test new plant innovations in UK conditions. Working directly with farmers they are investigating how best to i ncorporate these innovations into commercial farming systems, connecting laboratory to field, through education and real-world practice.

Grasslands are vital to the UK and to our industry.  They play a vital part in the rural economy and cover 75% of UK farmland.  Grassland provides the key feed in dairy and red meat production and generates 55% of the energy requirement for dairy cows, 95% for lambs and 75% for beef cattle.  The societal impacts of a failing grassland system would be severe; grassland sustains many rural communities, with 30% of all UK agricultural workers in England employed on grazing livestock farms.

In a global context, agriculture has one of the biggest negative impacts on our planet, but it is also critical for our daily survival.  Agriculture covers 40% of the planet’s surface and grasslands cover an area the size of Africa.  World population is predicted to increase to 9.5bn by 2050, requiring an increase in food production of 60% and of protein in particular, by as much as 100%.

Agri-tec has already made amazing and significant improvements.  We are more efficient now than we have ever been. Today, 10% of the world’s population will go to bed hungry, which is awful, but 30 years ago this was 20% and 60 years ago 30%.  The CO2 footprint per capita in the UK is now the lowest it has been for 150 years, and worldwide it is the lowest for 10 years.  We are making progress; we just need to do it faster and we need to communicate it better.

It is said that agriculture is responsible for most of the world’s deforestation.  But who reports that advances in agriculture since 1960 and the greater yield per hectare achieved, have prevented 1 billion ha of forestry being cut down and the land used for food production?

We need to invest in Agri-tec to lower our emissions and increase our food production.

Protein is an essential macro nutrient – for cell growth and repair.  Beef farmers, take low quality plant proteins that humans cannot digest and convert them into high-quality animal proteins that we can not only digest, but also take great enjoyment from.

Cattle are used to convert these plant proteins.  However – cattle are not very efficient convertors, there is an imbalance of energy and protein in the rumen, which means that as much as 80% of protein does not get absorbed by the animal and is excreted mainly as ammonia.  Along with Green House Gasses (GHG), the UK is tasked with reducing its ammonia emissions; by 16% from 2005 by 2030 and it has not yet made any significant progress.

A better balance of plant energy and plant protein will improve the amount of protein stock use, reducing ammonia emissions.

Aber High Sugar Grasses have greater levels of energy in the form of Water-Soluble Carbohydrate (sugar).  When grazed this is fed in synchrony with the protein in forage, increasing the energy level of the rumen and so capturing 5% more protein, reducing ammonia emissions by 20%.

As well as reducing emissions, there is a positive impact on production.  In grazing trials, with no supplementary feed, beef steers grazing AberHSG recorded daily LWG of 0.997 kilos per head, 20% higher than those grazing a recommended standard grass.  In a zero-grazing trial, Charolais cross steers recorded LWG of 1.3 kilos per head per day. 

Now in major new research Germinal is looking at how plants themselves are fed and at what plants are fed to our livestock.

Feeding Plants

Grass reacts very well to nitrogen fertiliser (N), apply N and you get significantly increased vegetative growth.  In fact, without N, it would not be possible to grow the grass needed to feed livestock. However, governments around the world have said there is an urgent need to reduce reliance on nitrogen fertiliser and are beginning to legislate to achieve that goal. 

Approximately 200kt of chemical N are applied to grasslands in England, with a carbon footprint of 700kt, the figures for the UK are roughly double that.  A solution is needed to reduce chemical N applications, one which does not impact the ability to produce food.

Legumes fix N directly from the atmosphere, with no emissions!  A grass/clover sward with 30% clover content could be fixing 100 to 150 kilos of free N ha/yr.  Clover will use about 75 kilos itself and the balance will be made available to the grass.  This is achieved by a symbiotic relationship with a soil-bacteria – (rhizobia), and plants’ roots. 

The relationship between the rhizobia and the roots can be improved, by applying more effective strains of rhizobia and by using a specialist non-N nutrition package to match nutrient inputs to soil status and crop requirement .  Under these circumstances clover would be able to fix up to 300 kilos of this clean free nitrogen per hectare each year. At this level, no additional chemical N would be required.

In addition, white clover is currently the most commonly used legume with grasses, but it will not survive extremes of drought or cold.  By crossing white clover and Caucasian clover to create DoubleRoot clover, plants that closely resemble white clover have been developed, but have two types of rooting stems, one of which is protected underground - rhizomes.  These plants better survive drought and severe cold meaning that white clover can fix its nitrogen in a wider geographical area and in a changing climate.

Plants Fed to Animals

Whilst white clover will persist in a grass sward and fix nitrogen, its protein is not absorbed well by cattle, as mentioned earlier 80% of the protein or nitrogen in a white clover/grass sward is lost as ammonia.

Red clover protein is protected by an enzyme - PPO, that when digested by cattle up to 50% more red clover protein is captured by the animal and not excreted as ammonia.  But we can’t use red clover at scale as it does not persist well under grazing practises.  

A new type of red clover is being developed, which has N fixing abilities and the stoloniferous persistent growth habit of white clover with the PPO enzyme of red clover, to protect the protein.  RedRunner fixes N in the same way as white clover, reduces ammonia emissions, improves animal yields and tolerates stock grazing.

Tannins in clover have been shown to reduce methane emissions, but white clover has relatively low levels and these are mainly found in the flowers. Lotus Corniculatus or Birdsfoot Trefoil is a native UK plant commonly found in hedgerows, and it contains high levels of tannins in its leaves; early experiments with Lotus Corniculatus have shown that when fed at 30% of the diet, a 30% reduction in methane emissions is possible.  But wild Lotus plants will not survive any cutting or grazing.  New strains are under development that will persist with grasses and still have the tannins to reduce methane emissions.

The rhizobia technology being developed to fix 300 kilos N/Ha in white clover will also be available for RedRunner and the Lotus varieties.

The cattle industry needs to uptake new technology and communicate its advantages and safety. It needs to reach out to the public as an industry, as never before have the public wanted to know more about their food… But never have they known less.

The UK is one of the best places in the world to produce meat, let’s not allow ignorance force us to export our beef production to Brazil and Argentina and so increase the overall footprint on the planet, lets celebrate what we do here in the UK.

The next 30 years are critical, not only are they the most important years we have seen to date in agriculture, but they are probably also the most important years that will ever be seen