Tag: Events

FCT Annual Field Day 2023 plan and speaker bios announced

Posted on August 31, 2023 by - News

We are excited to announce our plans for this year’s Farm Carbon Toolkit Annual Field Day, this year to be held at the Hendred Estate, Wantage, on the 21st September.

This event is a day for farmers, sharing their experiences for improving performance and resilience in a challenging environment. During the day we will showcase all the ways in which farmers are already changing farming practice to respond to the need to reduce emissions and build on farm carbon within their businesses. We will share our insights from supporting farmers to reduce GHG emissions and remove carbon into soils and biomass, involving key elements of the transition to a nature friendly decarbonisation of agriculture. 

FCT Annual Field Day 2023 schedule now available

You can now find the plan for the day here!

Here you’ll get an idea of the shape of the day and the major topics and themes to be covered. It’s set to be a useful day, with lots of take home ideas, and space for discussions and questions.

Our fantastic selection of speakers will share key insights into areas where emission reductions can be made and farm resilience built. 

During the day we will have the following sessions:

  • Grazing clinic
  • Crop cultivation and diversity
  • Feed: Self-sufficiency
  • Benefiting from private markets for carbon and biodiversity
  • Fuel and energy

The day will also include a breakout ‘calculator clinic’, the Carbon Farmer of the Year awards (a new competition which we launched this year), and an opportunity to see the Six Inches of Soil trailer.

Speaker bios

Grazing clinic

Andrew Rees

Andrew Rees owns and operates a grass based spring calving dairy farm with his family in Pembrokeshire. In recent years he has taken a more soil centric approach to running the farm with the introduction of more diversity into grazing leys, significantly reducing chemical fertiliser inputs and changing grazing practices. 

Soil Farmer of the year runner-up in 2022, Andrew is aiming to produce nutrient dense food regeneratively within the capabilities of the farm ecosystem. Andrew aims to reduce the farm’s risk to matters outside of its control such as escalating input costs and extreme weather events. He’s not not afraid to try new things, examples this year include rearing replacement heifers on nurse cows, bokashi composting and 18 species grazing cover crop mixes. 

@AndrewMoorfarm

James Daniel

James has experience across a wide range of soil types, enterprises and business structures bringing a thorough understanding of pasture-based livestock systems to all work from business planning to regenerative farming system design. 

Founding Precision Grazing in 2016 he works across the UK helping farmers to implement and manage effective livestock grazing systems leading to a reduction in costs, lower carbon footprint, improved productivity and profit. 

@precisiongraze & @grazingjames. Facebook: Precision Grazing

Tim Williams

Tim Williams farms 400 acres over three properties, the central operation being a contract farming operation on Erth Barton farm (part of the Antony Estate in SE Cornwall), where over the last three years he has transitioned 300 acres of ex-conventional arable into a no-input, regenerative, livestock based system, running a 65 cow suckler herd supplemented with bought in stores. 

The zero-input system relies on complex herbal leys, rotational grazing and biological inputs such as compost teas and extracts. His time between farm management, advisory work and educational workshops. Tim and his wife have recently set up ‘Mamm’, a field to table cafe on Crocadon Farm and he also grows heritage grains marketed directly as flour to local bakeries. 

www.timwilliams.farm, www.instagram.com/erth_farmer

Crop cultivation & diversity

David Miller

David grew up in Essex and left school in 1975 at the age of 16. He worked on the same farm with his father and completed a City and Guilds day release course at Writtle College. David then moved up to a foreman’s job on a neighbouring farm., and in 1998 he moved to Hampshire to take a Manager’s post which then evolved into the joint venture of Wheatsheaf Farming in 2002. In 2004 David was awarded a Nuffield Farming Scholarship and travelled to Australia, New Zealand, Sweden and Hungary studying labour recruitment, training and retention.

In 2010, after 35 years of chemical dominated crop production, soil and biology has become the centre of his attention with solutions being sought from places other than just bags and cans.

In 2021 Wheatsheaf Farming became the Strategic Farm South for the AHDB with the objective of looking at practices and principles to continue the journey into regenerative agriculture beyond cover crops and no till.

@fowell103 

Feed- Self-sufficiency

Michael Carpenter 

Originally from Somerset, where he worked in dairy and beef farming, Michael went on to study agriculture at Harper Adams before embarking on a career across a broad base of the livestock industry, beginning with Genus Breeding, and later switching to the feed industry and National Beef Association. Throughout, hes increasingly questioned whether the feed industry was working in the farmer’s best interests, paving the way for him to join Kelvin Cave Ltd, 18 years ago. Today, he is technical director for this feed and forage preservation company, which is a driving force behind the innovative preservation of home-grown feeds.

Against the might of the feed industry, he has helped encourage farmers to ditch bought-in compounds whenever possible and maximise the nutrient value of what they grow on farm, cutting costs of production and promoting farm-to-farm trading of home-preserved feeds. With a particular interest in UK-grown proteins, he is taking the lead role for Kelvin Cave Ltd in the NCS project (Nitrogen Efficient Plants for Climate Smart Arable Cropping Systems).    

Tim Parton

Tim Parton is a Farm Manager in South Staffordshire in the UK farming 300 ha. Tim farms in a biological way maximizing the value of nutrition to get the best out of the crops. He does not use insecticides, seed treatments, growth regulators or fungicides, as when the plant is balanced the need for synthetic inputs drops away. Tim has won many awards including Soil Farmer of the Year 2017, Arable Innovator of the Year 2019, Sustainable Farmer of the Year 2019 and Innovation Farmer of the Year 2020.

Benefiting from private markets for carbon and biodiversity

Nick Down

Nick Down is the Farms Manager for Yattendon Estates & Head of Sustainability for Velcourt Ltd. After graduating from the University of Plymouth and following a year working overseas, Nick has been managing farms in the North Wessex Downs for the last sixteen years, having grown up on a dairy farm in Mid Devon.  Currently managing the farming business of the Yattendon Estate, Nick is overseeing the transition to a more sustainable farming system, incorporating more space for nature and enhancing carbon sequestration under an ambitious environmental delivery program. The farm business now forms part of the LEAF demonstration farm network, one of 42 farms across the UK showcasing best practice through an integrated farm management approach.

Nick is a member of the Upper Pang Farmer Cluster working collaboratively with 8 local farmers and land owners, aiming to bring environmental delivery at a landscape scale, and is also a member of the Berkshire Local Nature Partnership. Nick also acts as the Head of Environmental Sustainability for Velcourt who manage 57,000 hectares of farmland, for 120 clients across the UK. This role is encompassing the areas of  environmental land management and countryside stewardship, net zero strategy, natural capital and ecosystem service markets.

Home – Velcourt

Fuel & Energy

Andy Bradford

The Bradford family have been farming a Duchy of Cornwall estate since 1969. Their prime activity is beef farming with a South Devon suckler herd and emphasis on managing the wildlife rich landscape as they aim to diversify into sustainable tourism in an ethical and environmentally conscious fashion. They have an open access policy, welcoming visitors to enjoy the rich biodiversity around the farm.

Diversification began in 1975 with a Farmhouse Tearooms, and further diversification in the 1980’s which included conversion of traditional farm buildings into accommodation and conference facilities.

In 2005 during a study trip to Switzerland Andy realised the potential of biomass as a source of renewable energy and on this trip thoughts turned to how well this model would suit the Dartmoor region. Dartmoor Wood-Fuel Co-operative was established in 2009 by a group of like-minded Dartmoor residents. Initially they supplied six boilers from a variety of businesses including a hotel, a tourist attraction and local farms. Now co-operative membership has grown to over 45 sites around the region, processing over 4000 tons of biomass annually.  

www.brimptsfarm.co.uk, www.dartmoorwoodfuel.co.uk 

Anthony Ellis

Anthony is a farmer and independent agronomist from Cornwall. He farms with his father and runs a mixed sheep and arable system on 200 acres, where they seek to integrate the sheep and arable enterprises as much as possible with cover crops, herbal leys and cereal grazing, in order to minimise inputs and improve soil health as much a s possible.

They direct market their lamb to the local community and beyond, and are involved in a project to add value to their wool by working directly with the fashion and textile industry. As an independent agronomist and consultant, Anthony works with farmers looking to adapt to more regenerative farming systems.

@anthonyellis79, Facebook: Pensipple Farm – Solar Powered Lamb

David Gardner

David Gardner is now mostly retired. He spent most of his career in farm management with the Co-operative farms.  At the end of his career he spent 6 years at the RASE where he developed the Innovation for Agriculture initiative with 15 other Agricultural Societies.

At home he has had a wind turbine and a heat pump for over ten years and has super insulated the house. He drives an electric car and is about to install solar PV on the roof, heat storage for both hot water and heating along with diverters to maximise his use of his own energy.

He has a keen interest in all aspects of sustainability and has a particular interest in analysing the big picture – ‘How are we going to run a more sustainable Society for 9 billion people within the constraints associated with our limited resources?’

Other confirmed speakers include:

To book your place:

  • Price includes hog roast lunch (contact us for any dietary requirements) and teas/coffees.

Lift sharing:

Interested in lift sharing? Head here (event location: Hendred Estate, Hill Farm, St Mary’s Road, East Hendred, OX12 8LF. W3W/roosters.bleak.earl).

This event is kindly supported by :

Yeo Valley, Velcourt, First Milk.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Outwintering on forage/cover crops

Posted on February 21, 2023 by - Farm Net Zero

A Farm Net Zero event in December 2022 at Blable Farm, Wadebridge.

Outwintering is one option for reducing costs and carbon footprint for livestock farmers, although issues can arise when outwintering unsuitable animals on unsuitable crops/soil. To address this, Farm Net Zero (FNZ) Demo Farmers, Mike and Sam Roberts, have been trialling different cover crop mixes for their weaned calves this winter. 94 weaned calves entered the cover crops in mid-November with enough crop to see them through to mid-February, In December they were on two-day moves with one hay bale for roughage. A cold day in December provided a good opportunity to see how they are getting on.

The crops were established through either direct drilling or discing/power harrow drill in late August, the drought through the summer of 2022 delayed establishment and therefore the bulk of the crop. In the spring, these fields will go into a herbal ley reseed with Mike and Sam hoping that the cover crops will have outcompeted much of the weeds, reducing herbicide use, and the cattle will have done some of the initial cultivations. In December the calves were leaving some of the stemmier material and radish bulbs, and attendees discussed the merits of either cultivating this material in to benefit the soil, leaving calves for longer to ensure they eat it (and therefore risking growth rates) or utilising suckler cows to clean up after the priority stock class of the calves. Calf growth rates were to be measured through the winter and spring, with Mike and Sam expecting to see a slow-down in growth through the winter but a faster growth rate in spring as the outwintered calves take less transitioning onto grass than housed animals.

Having a range of plant species in the mixes is done with the ambition to discover which species grow successfully and in sufficient quantity/quality to support the calves through the winter. Species presence/absence was assessed by Dr Hannah Jones from Farm Carbon Toolkit and forage samples were sent for analysis of crude protein, digestibility and other qualities with the results available in the “Grazed winter cover crops” factsheet. Mike and Sam ultimately hope for this crop to be a “standing total mixed ration (TMR)” that could be grazed through the winter without supplementary feeding of silage or hay.

Mike also took time to show the main herd cows outwintering on deferred grass. These were on two-day moves on half a hectare of grass that has been left since August, plus two hay bales which will carry them through to calving in March.

Outwintering at Blable has helped to reduce costs through reductions in time, fuel and feed use through the winter. The outwintering crops greatly reduce the amount of conserved forage fed to the cattle and tractor use is negligible compared to housing where feed is brought to the animals, muck scraped away daily and dirty bedding spread after winter. This has clear corresponding savings in carbon emissions.

Key takeaways

  • Diversity of plant species increases resilience to extreme weather, pests and disease and provides greater diversity of ration for livestock.
  • Outwintering reduces financial costs and reduces carbon emissions from fuel and feed.

This event was made possible with thanks to the National Lottery Community Fund who fund the Farm Net Zero (FNZ) project.

Farm Net Zero resources, events, newsletter

  • To find out more about other previous events, trials and resources produced from the Farm Net Zero project head here.
  • To keep an eye out for future Farm Net Zero events head to our events webpage here.
  • To keep up to date with the project subscribe to the Farm Net Zero newsletter here.

Planning for the Future with Environmental Stewardship

Posted on February 20, 2023 by - Farm Net Zero

A Farm Net Zero event held in November 2022 at Stumble Inn, Boyton, PL15 8NU.

With changes to farm subsidy payments, there is some uncertainty as to what will replace them. In November 2022 a group of farmers met at the Stumble Inn to discuss the future of environmental stewardship and the options available to them.

The talk started with an introduction by Hannah Jones of Farm Carbon Toolkit. She explained that while environmental schemes have traditionally been paid on an income foregone basis, farmers should also recognise the hidden benefits of environmental practices for their farm businesses. These can include:

  • providing pollinator habitat to benefit crops
  • providing shelter for livestock in inclement weather
  • preventing soil erosion.

Hannah also mentioned the carbon sequestration value for different stewardship options, which are included in the Farm Carbon Calculator.

Next, we heard from Tim Dart, FNZ Monitor Farmer and Head of the Farm Advisory Team at Devon Wildlife Trust. Tim suggested that with the reduction and eventual removal of the Basic Payment Scheme and the volatility in farm inputs and farmgate prices, farmers should consider joining the new Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI). This can provide a stable income for practices such as:

  • taking soil organic matter samples
  • writing a soil management plan
  • maintaining ground cover
  • growing diverse leys or cover crops

Many of which are practices that the FNZ Monitor Farms are already undertaking or are interested in.

James Ruddick from Cornwall Council then gave a talk on the new Daras website, developed by
Cornwall Council to provide a “one-stop shop” for agricultural funding opportunities and advice. By registering for free, farmers and landowners can see what funding opportunities are available to them for various activities funded by a mix of government and private finance.

Forest for Cornwall is a Cornwall Council initiative aiming to increase tree cover in Cornwall through the creation of woodland, copses, shelter belts, orchards and wood pasture. Project Officer Jenny Rogers explained the various ways that farmers can get involved through the Woodland Creation Partnership, Woodland Trust MoreWoods and MoreHedges grants and the England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO). The EWCO in particular will provide financial support of up to £8500 per ha for development costs and £300 per ha per year for maintenance costs for 10 years. Forest for Cornwall are also aiming to establish 10 fully funded agroforestry sites in Cornwall to demonstrate best practice and the diversity of options for integrating trees into farming systems. Jenny highlighted the range of benefits that trees can provide in agriculture including:

  • diversifying income
  • protecting soil from wind and rain erosion
  • providing shelter and forage for livestock.

The discussion turned to the experiences of some of the monitor farmers present at the meeting. Ben Thomas, who farms at Warleggan and manages the Belted Galloway herd on Goss Moor National Nature Reserve, spoke about the benefits he has seen of allowing cattle access to woodland on the moor. Willow was preferentially grazed over what Ben thought was “good” grass, with faecal egg counts showing a low parasite burden and good growth rates. Ben also mentioned his experience of the Farming in Protected Landscape (FiPL) grant that allowed him to invest in electric fencing to better manage grazing at the Warleggan farm. The FiPL grant is available to farmers in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and is far less prescriptive than other grants. A wide variety of activities can be funded as long as they are approved by a local board for their contribution to nature, climate and the public. Dairy farmers, John and Sue Nattle and mixed farmer, Martin Howlett have also benefited from FiPL grants through the Tamar Valley AONB for herbal leys and a wildlife pond respectively. Martin had also made use of the Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier to support school visits for children from Plymouth to learn about farming and nature. Unfortunately, as suckler beef farmer Jonathan Chapman pointed out, FiPL only applies to farms within an AONB. Jonathan’s farm directly borders an AONB and his application was refused, opening up a conversation on whether FiPL-style grants should be made more widely available to extend their benefits.

New entrant dairy farmers, Bradley and Nicole Davey, then spoke about their experiences of farming within constraints set by their landlord’s stewardship agreement. GS4 herbal leys have been planted and are being successfully grazed by the Davey’s dairy herd, as well as benefiting soil health and biodiversity. Bradley encouraged others to try to find stewardship agreements that suit their farm system, a sentiment echoed by fellow dairy farmer Phil Kent, who has also found GS4 herbal leys to be of value on their own farming merits as well as stewardship payments. Arable and beef farmer Jon Perry rounded out the meeting by bringing up the important point of food production being a public good worth supporting. Jon also commended the younger farmers in the room for both their farming ambitions and commitments to environmental stewardship.

This event was made possible with thanks to the National Lottery Community Fund who fund the Farm Net Zero (FNZ) project.

Farm Net Zero resources, events, newsletter

  • To find out more about other previous events, trials and resources produced from the Farm Net Zero project head here.
  • To keep an eye out for future Farm Net Zero events head to our events webpage here.
  • To keep up to date with the project subscribe to the Farm Net Zero newsletter here.

Low Carbon Ag Show – drop-in sessions on carbon footprinting

Posted on January 18, 2023 by - News

We are looking forward to heading to the Low Carbon Agriculture Show on the 7th and 8th February 2023 at the NAEC, Stoneleigh and hope to see you there!

We shall have a stand there (stand 413) and we will be offering individual 15 minute sessions to farmers to help you to understand farm carbon footprinting. We can answer any questions you may have, and show you how to get started on your own farm carbon footprint.

When:

The times for the 15 minute consultations at the drop in ‘surgery’ are:

  • 7th February: 10am – 12pm
  • 8th February: 10am – 11am and 2.30 – 3.30pm. 

To book:

Please visit: Select a Date & Time – Calendly to book your slot.

We’ll be there all day both days, so do come and drop by at any time.

Soil Farmer of The Year 2022

Posted on December 3, 2021 by - Soil Farmer of the Year, News

The 5th of December is World Soil Day and also the launch of the 2022 Soil Farmer of The Year Competition.

Now in it’s seventh year, the Soil Farmer of The Year competition aims to find farmers and growers who are engaged with, and passionate about managing their soils in a way which supports productive agriculture, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and builds soil health, organic matter and carbon.

Previous winners of both the Arable and Livestock Soil Farmer of the Year title have demonstrated how soil health can be integrated into all aspects of a farming business, to aid economic resilience and environmental custodianship. The competition aims to promote businesses or individuals who are fantastic ambassadors for soil health and the benefit agriculture can have on the wider landscape.

If you would be interested in entering the competition please see the further details below. Equally, if you would like to nominate someone who you feel would be an excellent candidate please do not hesitate to get in touch!

FAQ:

When does the entry period close?

The closing date for the competition is the 5th of March 2022.

How do I enter?

You can enter the competition HERE

We encourage applications from all sizes and types of farm – if you are passionate about soil management we would love to hear what you are up to. Equally, if you know someone who you would like to nominate or have any further questions please get in touch and we will be happy to have a chat: emma.adams@farmcarbontoolkit.org.uk

How is the competition judged?

All entries will be anonymised and short-listed for judging by our panel including the winners of the 2021 competition. The highest placed entrants will then be contacted and farm walks with our judging panel will commence in May 2022 to decide the finalists for the 2022 competition.

When are the winners announced?

The winners will be announced at the Groundswell Regenerative Agriculture Show and Conference at the end of June 2022.