The chance of successfully growing winter wheat on fields once used to raise livestock could be as little as 28% in future

 Society is increasingly being pressured into shifting towards a more plant-based diet. Many  campaigners are claiming that land currently dedicated to grazing could produce much more food if it were instead dedicated to crops. Farms producing grass and other crops to feed sheep and cattle are not as efficient as growing crops and directly feeding the population. But a new study by Rothamsted Research, also involving Scotland's Rural University College, one of the UK's agriculturally-focused higher education institutions has challenged this assumption, and highlighted that some soil types and climates will not easily accommodate conventional arable farming. The Rothamsted-led study focused on the southwest of England, and concluded that the chance of successfully growing winter wheat on fields once used to raise livestock could be as little as 28% in future, as increased rainfall will make field access for machinery impossible. Farms in other parts of the country especially Scotland the conversion rate could be especially low. The study also looked at the implications for soil carbon storage and greenhouse gas emissions if grassland cut three times a year to provide silage, was converted to winter wheat – and found that, whilst the average greenhouse gas emissions from soil growing ryegrass were higher than from the same land converted to wheat, this was compensated for by the greater amounts of carbon stored within the ryegrass.



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