Jim McAdam has just returned from a 2 –week visit to the Falkland Islands and southern Chile under the auspices of  the United Kingdom Falkland Islands Trust.

While in the islands Jim gave a public lecture on the potential implications of climate change on agriculture and visited the Government Research Farm at Saladero. There he saw some shelterbelt plantations he had been instrumental in initiating almost 20 yrs ago, reseeding trials and native pasture utilisation. Local conservation organisation Falklands Conservation was keen to show Jim trials using native grasses to restore some heavily (very!) eroded areas. He also met with the Governor, The Rt Hon  Colin Roberts, Director of Education, Tom Hill , Head of the Dept of Agriculture Ian Campbell, Senior Agronomist Adam Dawes and Head of Renewable Energy Resources in FIDC, Andrew Crighton.

In Chile he and, Dr Sergio Radic  visited some plots where  Tussac Grass grass (Poa flabellata) has been used to enhance current forage quality.

The Trust’s consultant, Jim McAdam gave a remote presentation to a group of farmers in the Falklands on the potential of climate change of agriculture in the Islands, as part of Farmer’s Week 2015. Farmer’s Week is an annual gathering of stakeholders concerned with agriculture in the Falkland Islands.

At the 5th International conference on the effect of fires on soil properties (FESP5), the potential impacts of and risks associated with burning vegetation in the Falklands were highlighted. In the paper presented, Jim McAdam, Rebecca Upson and Rodney Burton reviewed the peatlands of the Falklands and presented current estimates of peat extent, type and carbon storage potential. Recent climate change predictions were aligned with an overview of the practice of burning the pastures in spring to highlight concerns of the effect of fire on biodiversity and the carbon storage potential of these shallow, extensive peatlands.