Farm Net Zero was pleased to host Dr. Lindsay Whistance from the Organic Research Centre. Lindsay specialises in animal behaviour and welfare and her talk presented results from a range of research studies on animals in agroforestry systems. This event was made possible with thanks to the National Lottery Community Fund who fund the Farm Net Zero project.
The talk was hosted by Demo Farmers, Mike and Sam Roberts, at Blable, Wadebridge. Mike and Sam spoke about the different motivations for tree planting, with Mike being interested in trees with a useful end value (having experience of growing a small fir plantation on the farm) and Sam wanting to learn more about the benefits that trees can provide to cattle daily liveweight gain in their rotational grazing system.
Firstly, Lindsay explained that good welfare is about maintaining homeostatic equilibrium – or balance, both physiological and emotional. Most of an animal’s daily behaviour is about trying to maintain that balance, and farming should aim to support this wherever possible.
Lindsay spoke about three main themes of animal behaviour and welfare in agroforestry systems. The first was temperature regulation; if animals are too hot or too cold, then they will spend energy on trying to reach a balance. Where there is access to trees, animals are able to reach that balance faster as the trees provide shade and shelter from wind and rain. This is particularly important as climate change brings greater extremes of weather.
The second theme was the feed value of browsing on trees. Leaves on a number of tree species have been analysed and found to contain high levels of micronutrients and trace elements. This can provide additional benefits to the animal’s diet.
Finally, Lindsay spoke about the calming effect trees have. There is evidence that animals in woodland have better social relationships with less fear and aggression.
Overall, if livestock are in good welfare then they are able to use energy for fulfilling their potential. This improves efficiency of livestock production, which has benefits economically and for the farm’s carbon footprint.
Key takeaways:
Most livestock species benefit from access to trees/woodland.
Incorporating trees into farming systems helps to reduce the carbon footprint.
Welcome to our August Farm Net Zero update, sharing news for our farmers, growers and the wider community this project supports.
(Image above: Attendees at the Lucerne event)
Recent news and events
FNZ session at Oxford Real Farming Conference 2024
Filming has been underway as part of preparation for the FNZ session to be at the Oxford Real Farming Conference 2024. The title of the session is ‘It takes a community to be Net Zero’ and is to be hosted by Hannah Jones from Farm Carbon Toolkit. The session will feature a 20 minute film focusing on FNZ farm communities, and speaker sessions from contributing farmers with chances for questions.
It is an exciting opportunity to showcase the fantastic work our FNZ community has been doing in moving towards net zero, and demonstrates the power of learning collaboratively to address the common goal of reducing on-farm greenhouse gas emissions, and increasing farm resilience.
Filming with Blackbark film crew underway at Martin Howlett’s Deer park farm with neighbour Bonny Lightfoot of Alren Farm.
Recent events
Lightfoot, Alren event for Stoke Climsland community – This was a great chance for non-farmers to learn about the FNZ project and what our monitor farmers are doing. It was put together and led by Tim, Bonny and Jake Lightfoot and was designed for the local community to understand the breadth of business and innovations taking place at Alren Farm. Robin Jackson (Rural Business School, Duchy College) set the scene with an accurate overview of economic and policy challenges facing farmers, including the central role agriculture has in the communities and viability of the South West. James Harbord and James Coumbe from the Westcountry Rivers Trust provided a background to the cropping on farm, and the improvements in soil health fed into the discussion providing insights into water quality and good farming practice. This event had a great atmosphere, excellent attendance and many good questions.
Some quotes from the day:
“This was such a great opportunity to get detailed info from real experts who understand the whole picture of farming and land management”
“Wonderful community event thank you so much”
“It brings home how much local residents benefit from the good farming practices – pleasant walk, shady and beautiful landscapes, good water quality and so on – all of which we get for free”
Attendees at the Alren event.
How to Grow Lucerne, Peter Cox, Mearfield – FNZ Monitor Farmer Peter Cox led an excellent talk on how he grows and manages lucerne for his dairy ration. Lucerne has the potential to provide a high-yielding, high-protein crop with fewer carbon-intensive inputs. A summary of the event is available on the FNZ Resources page here.
A demonstration of the deep roots of the lucerne plant (top: April 2023 sown plant showing nitrogen fixing nodules, bottom: 4 year old plant)
Demo and monitor farms update
It is great to be back out on farms seeing all the updates since our last visits. The wetter weather has certainly made soil sampling and hole digging a lot easier! If any of your Farm Net Zero sample fields are in cereals, please keep in touch with your FNZ contact so we can sample them after harvest and before cultivation. Our 3rd year of carbon auditing has been going well and we have now completed a good number. For those of you who have not had your farm carbon footprint done yet this year, the FNZ team will be in touch soon.
One of our brilliant monitor farms (The Real Food Garden) is hosting a harvest festival, HarFest, near Bodmin on September 9th. At this celebration of regenerative food production, you’ll enjoy a fresh organic lunch, learn some fab eco-gardening tips, there’ll be folk tunes and you’ll have the chance to learn about soil health indicators from Westcountry Rivers Trust Farm Advisor, Zoe Smith. Bring a soil sample along for assessment and get to know your soil!
Earlier this month, the FNZ project received a lot of attention at the Westcountry Rivers Trust stall at the Truro BIG Summer Market, with visitors pledging to ‘plant more bee friendly flowers’ and ‘stop using peat and fertilisers’ on their plots.
Jude Wood left with her Cornwall WI colleagues support Farm Net Zero at our Bringing Rivers to You Truro Big Summer market stall
Stall visitors making their pledges.
We’ve got some exciting dates for your diary!
After the success of the ‘No-Dig Gardening’ workshop, the Westcountry Rivers Trust will be holding another of their FNZ climate-friendly gardening workshops with the Community Roots Garden on September 21st. This session will focus on beneficial bugs; how to welcome them into your garden, what environmental benefits they can bring, and how this all helps fight the climate crisis. You’ll even go home with your own home-made bee hotel!
Head here to keep up with other future events, and if you’d like to hold one of the Westcountry River Trust’s climate-friendly gardening workshops on your land contact Zoe at [email protected].
In addition, if you’d like to support the Westcountry Rivers Trust with their incredible work, get involved in their riverside challenge throughout September. Explore the length of your favourite river by walking, cycling, swimming or paddling 24km in the 24 days running up to World Rivers Day! Find out more on their campaign page launching on September 1st.
Current farm field trials
A little insight into some of the fab field trials currently underway as part of the FNZ project:
Nitrogen use efficiency at Trenance – is urea needed alongside digestate or is digestate enough to produce high quality silage grass?
Legacy effect of clover under maize for winter barley at Tregooden
Intercropping savoy cabbage at Ennis Barton with Riviera Produce.
Other news
It was lovely to see so many familiar faces back at Groundswell Agriculture in late June, including several of the FNZ monitor farmers (and some demo farmers). The weather held out and it was great to get a sense of the FNZ community that is ever growing.
September – Livestock and trees with Lindsay Whistance at Blable Farm on 27th September
Silage making and silage quality with Dave Davies of Silage Solutions – date TBC
Getting in touch
As ever, if you have any questions or ideas that would further support the community of farmers that we are working with, please get in touch at [email protected]
All information about the project including upcoming events and resources are available on the Farm Net Zero website. If there is anything you would like to see featured please let us know.
Our very own Becky Willson features on the Cornish Mutual podcast Farming Focus.
‘Farming Focus’ – the new farming podcast for Cornish Mutual Members and the wider farming community was recently launched.
Farming Focus aims to bring its listeners the latest on what really matters to farmers. Featuring industry experts and farming professionals, it expects to kickstart conversations across the South West and give farmers the knowledge and solutions to face today’s demands in agriculture.
The first 10-episode series of the fortnightly podcast will focus on resilience with host and Cornish Farmer Peter Green chatting to guests about how South West farming businesses can be resilient for the future. They’ll explore everything from soil to rural crime, policy to future markets and farm safety to animal disease.
Becky Willson features in episode 6 – How can South West farmers reduce emissions and be more climate resilient?
Continuing their series on resilience, this episode looks at climate resilience. Becky explains why farmers are in the unique position of being able to reduce emissions while increasing carbon capture with Wadebridge farmer Mike Roberts explaining the gains he’s seeing from the changes he’s made. Mike Roberts is one of the Farm Net Zerodemo farmers, find out more here.
Mike went from using over three artic loads of fertiliser a year to none in his pursuit of climate resilience. Hear how he’s done it in Episode 6 where he discusses the practical ways farmers can ‘stack up the gains’ to achieve resilience and balance.
With rising feed costs and extended periods of dry weather, many farmers are looking for a high feed value, drought-resistant crop. Lucerne is one option grown successfully by Farm Net Zero Monitor Farmer, Peter Cox who hosted this meeting to share his extensive knowledge of managing lucerne. This event was made possible with thanks to the National Lottery Community Fund who fund the Farm Net Zero project.
4th generation dairy farmer, Peter Cox, milks 150 Holsteins averaging 11,000 litres using robots. He started growing lucerne after visiting Australia and New Zealand in 2010 where it is a very popular forage crop (often known as alfalfa). Originally, lucerne was grown as a replacement for straw in the milking cows’ ration, providing useful rumen scratch. Now, Peter grows 10-15 acres a year for its high protein feed value, achieving 20-24% protein and a yield of 18 tonnes/acre across four cuts.
Establishment and Management
Lucerne is sensitive to pH, requiring a pH of at least 6, and the seed requires inoculating with rhizobia bacteria for nitrogen fixation to occur. The seed should be drilled into a shallow seed bed at a rate of 20-25kg/hectare. In it’s first year, the crop can be cut once then left to establish. In subsequent years, four cuts can be taken between May and August, no cuts should be taken after August because lucerne needs to build its root reserves before it goes into winter dormancy.
Peter mows the crop with a mower-conditioner on its highest setting first thing in the morning when there is still a dew to reduce the risk of leaf shatter. The lucerne is then left to wilt and is baled with an additive to increase the sugar content and ensure fermentation doesn’t stall. Bales are wrapped with six layers away from the field because the lucerne stubble can puncture the wrap.
Lucerne at Mearfield is a four-year crop, becoming stalky and thin by year four with increasing weed ingress. There are few herbicide options approved for lucerne, however the winter dormancy period can provide a chance to spray out weeds with glyphosate. Building on his success with lucerne, Peter is trialling a mix of 70% lucerne and 30% red clover to see if the clover can suppress weeds during the lucerne’s dormant period. There is also the potential for this lucerne/red clover mix to qualify for GS4 payments.
Resilience
Lucerne is very deep-rooting and as a result is extremely tolerant of drought. Peter commented that during dry periods, the lucerne remains green and returning consistent yields when grass starts to burn up. The deep roots also help to improve soil structure by breaking up any compaction. There is the potential for the deep roots to increase carbon deep in the soil profile, this year’s Farm Net Zero sampling will investigate that.
As a legume, lucerne improves soil nitrogen for itself and for following crops. At Mearfield, only 2000 gallons/acre of slurry is applied to the lucerne in spring with no other fertiliser required. Peter also finds the soil quality is improved after lucerne, with following maize crops benefitting substantially from the nitrogen fixation. This has clear benefits to the farm’s carbon footprint, by reducing both the amount of artificial fertiliser used and the amount of imported feed.
Key takeaways:
pH is key for growing lucerne – aim for 6 as a minimum
Don’t mow lower than 10cm, and allow a period of rest before winter dormancy
Lucerne can provide a large amount of high-protein feed with few artificial inputs
Photo demonstrates the deep roots of the lucerne plant. On the left: April 2023 sown plant, with nitrogen-fixing nodules visible.
Did you catch Farm Net Zero on BBC Spotlight on the 8th June? Monitor farmers, Anthony Ellis and Will and Kate Martin, spoke about their involvement in the project including the steps they are taking to reduce their carbon footprint. Will and Kate Martin of Treway Farm, were filmed discussing the changes they have made from feeding their cattle concentrate to feeding them 100% grass and home-grown silage and the impact that is having on soil health and their overall carbon balance.
Anthony Ellis of Pensipple Farm was also filmed talking about how tweaks across the whole farm have helped to reduce the carbon footprint. This includes the integration of sheep back into the arable rotation and grazing under solar panels.
“For me the carbon footprint thing is kind of a secondary story really, there’s a much bigger story here around sustainability and regeneration of the landscape… “
Will and Kate Martin of Treway farm were featured on the BBC South West Spotlight lunch news on 8th June.
Hannah Jones being filmed.
Recent events
How to event on overseeding
in May, we held our first “How to…” event on overseeding. James Barrett of Tremadart Barton showed how a rotaseeder could be used to add diversity to an existing ley, while minimising disturbance to carbon deep in the soil profile. A video summary sharing key tips from the day is in development. Read about it here.
Demo and monitor farms update
We are back out taking soil samples now; the ground is very hard following the dry weather. However, we look forward to seeing how the soil carbon levels have changed since the first samples, and the demo farm footprints are coming along, with trials midway through. Watch this space for more information!
Farmer Field Labs update
Dairy farmers met last month at Phil Kent’s Monitor Farm to talk about the role of herbal leys in milk production. Andrew Brewer, a FNZ Demo farmer, told us of his positive experiences following two years of monitoring milk production from his herbal leys. Dr Daniel Enriquez-Hidalgo of University of Bristol Veterinary School gave a fascinating presentation on the impacts of herbal leys on dairy production, and farmers were introduced to a new Innovative Farmers and Farm Net Zero field lab/farm trials which will delve deeper into the subject.
Hannah Jones from FCT digging a hole to look at the soil at the event
Other news
A series of articles focused on some of the younger Monitor Farmers have been published in the Farmers Guardian. These cover the practices adopted on those farms, their reasons for joining Farm Net Zero and what they hope to learn from being part of the community.
Nicole and Bradley Davey of Parkhurst Farm near Launceston were featured in May. The couple joined FNZ keen to work towards environmental goals and meet like-minded people. Two of the main changes implemented at Parkhurst Farm include a move to direct drilling/overseeding and the introduction of herbal leys on the heavy clay loam.
“The cows relish the herbal leys, and the fact that they improve intakes has translated into a lift in the yield”
Bradley and Nicole Davey at their farm near Launceston, Cornwall.
Community engagement
The Westcountry Rivers Trust been busy sharing their climate-friendly farming knowledge with gardening communities across Cornwall, with workshops exploring creative ways that you can better manage your garden for the future.
They had a Ponds and Wetlands Workshop hosted by the beautiful Real Food Garden, whose productive plot provides fresh veggies to the Bodmin community. They’ve been experimenting with the effects that small ponds and wetland areas can have on their site, which made it a perfect spot for us to host the session.
As summer kicked in, we visited the scenic Loveland Community Field for the Forest Gardening and Agroforestry Workshop. This sold-out event was every bit as interesting as the last and inspired guests to create a polyculture growing system on their land.
More events will continue to follow. Visit here for more information.
If you’d like to know more about any of these topics, or even hold a climate-friendly gardening workshops on your land, contact Zoe at [email protected].
Resources
Carbon webinar – in April, Sam Smith and Becky Willson from Farm Carbon Toolkit, led a webinar on the developing Carbon Code and carbon markets. This provided a useful overview of the dos and don’ts of the carbon market. A summary is available on the website here.
As ever we are always uploading any new resources on our FNZ resources page found here.
Other news and what next?
Upcoming events – dates TBC
How to grow lucerne silage in Cornwall – a focus on on-farm feeding, saving costs and reducing your carbon footprint
A day with Riviera – sharing innovation and best practice for horticulture
Getting in touch
If you have any questions or ideas that would further support the community of farmers that we are working with, please get in touch with the project team (contact details below).
All information about the project including upcoming events and resources are available on the Farm Net Zero website. If there is anything you would like to see featured please let us know.
A common question from the Farm Net Zero monitor farms is how to increase sward diversity through overseeding. To answer this, we ran the first “How to…” event with James Barrett of Tremadart Barton, Duloe. This event was made possible with thanks to the National Lottery Community Fund who fund the Farm Net Zero project.
Tremadart Barton is a dairy farm on the Duchy of Cornwall’s Duloe Estate; previously organic for many years, it is now coming out of certification but will continue with organic principles. James Barrett is experienced in establishing and managing herbal leys and was pleased to demonstrate one method of overseeding.
A rotaseeder was hired from Roy Davey Agricultural Contractors. This is a one-pass machine including rotovating, drilling and rolling. It was used to mulch in an old, weedy ley and appeared to give good seed-to-soil contact for the new ley. Soil conditions on the day were just about dry enough, any wetter and there would be a risk of the machine gumming up.
By just cultivating the top 10-15 centimetres, overseeding can help to protect soil carbon deep in the soil profile. This provides one method of rejuvenating grass leys while minimising soil carbon losses, thereby helping to reduce the farm’s carbon footprint.
West Country Rivers Trust from the Farm Net Zero Community has been busy sharing our climate-friendly farming knowledge with gardening communities across Cornwall, with workshops exploring creative ways that you can better manage your garden for the future.
First up, they held a Ponds and Wetlands Workshop hosted by the beautiful Real Food Garden, whose productive plot provides fresh veggies to the Bodmin community. They’ve been experimenting with the effects that small ponds and wetland areas can have on their site, which made it a perfect spot for us to host our session.
Chloe, from the Real Food Garden, generously shared her tips on pond creation, while Zoe, from the Westcountry Rivers Trust, highlighted the many benefits of ponds. Did you know that ponds and wetlands:
Create habitats for freshwater species, especially toads and frogs which help eradicate pesky garden pests.
Create a place for excess water to go, reducing run-off into nearby rivers.
Create microclimates that cool the air and combat the warming effects of climate change.
Zoe even treated everyone to a downscaled demo of how to create your own rain garden, which is perfect if you don’t have much space in your backyard!
Zoe took inspiration for her rain garden model from WWT’s ‘How to build a mini drainpipe wetland’ article, learn more here .
As summer kicked in, the scenic Loveland Community Field hosted the Forest Gardening and Agroforestry Workshop. This sold-out event was every bit as interesting as the last and inspired guests to create a polyculture growing system on their land.
Agroforestry is an age-old approach that is coming back into fashion, not just for increasing the yield and variety of produce within a patch, but also for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Zoe shared her wisdom on this, whilst Finn, Chief Grower at Loveland, showed us the early stages of his forest garden project.
Find out more:
If you’d like to know more about any of these topics, or even hold one of our climate-friendly gardening workshops on your land, contact Zoe at [email protected]
A Farm Net Zero (FNZ) event held in March 2023, Trenance.
Methane emissions from livestock make up a large part of a farm’s carbon footprint, capturing and processing these emissions can help to reduce the carbon footprint. Farm Net Zero Monitor Farmers, Katie and Kevin Hoare, milk 120 cows on a 130-acre Cornwall Council holding which required investment to improve slurry storage. They have worked with Cornish company Bennamann as part of a pilot with Cornwall Council to install a covered slurry lagoon that captures and processes methane gas for use as a fuel. A group of farmers met to learn more about the system, with talks from Dr. Chris Mann, co-founder of Bennamann, and George Mills, Area Sales Manager at New Holland who supply methane-powered tractors. This event was made possible with thanks to the National Lottery Community Fund who fund the Farm Net Zero project.
Chris Mann explained how the Bennamann system works, and how it can allow slurry pits to become mini power stations. Slurry is scraped into a reception pit where it is macerated to enhance breakdown and then into a well-insulated lagoon where microbial activity produces methane and other gases, as it does in an uncovered pit. The gases are collected by the cover, processed in a shipping container-sized plant unit with the cleaned methane pumped into another reception chamber sitting above the slurry pit. This processed methane can then be bottled and used as fuel in New Holland’s methane-powered tractor, or in a Bennamann methane-powered generator to provide electricity either for on-farm use or sold to the grid.
George Mills showed the group around New Holland’s methane-powered tractor. Currently, this is able to do four hours of work on a single tank, with a range-extending fuel tank/front weight increasing this to twelve hours. Although slightly more expensive than a diesel tractor, the ability to run on home-produced gas can mean it is cheaper to run in the long-term by avoiding fluctuating fuel prices. Plus, the reduction in diesel use can have major benefits to reducing the farm’s carbon footprint.
Kevin and Katie say the covered and processed slurry is a better product to use as it is almost like digestate, allowing them to apply it with a trailing shoe between grazings and reduce the amount of artificial fertiliser they require. They are now able to meet all the grassland’s P and K needs from slurry, which has clear financial benefits and also helps their carbon footprint by reducing demand for carbon-intensive artificial fertiliser. A grass yield trial is in development to quantify the benefits of the new slurry.
The ultimate aim for Trenance is to go off-grid, with the methane capture system providing all the fuel for machinery and electricity. Katie and Kevin are keen advocates for agriculture’s role in providing climate change solutions and feel it is important for farmers to tell their story to the public to demonstrate their commitment to the environment. Using the Farm Carbon Calculator for Trenance through the Farm Net Zero project shows that the new slurry store is capturing around 600 tonnes of CO₂e from methane, putting the overall carbon footprint at 0.13 kg of CO₂e per kg Fat- and Protein-Corrected Milk (FPCM).
Key takeaways:
Methane capture from slurry reduces the farm’s carbon footprint by preventing methane entering the atmosphere
Using processed methane as fuel also reduces emissions from red diesel and electricity use
The methane capture system has financial benefits through reductions in fuel/electricity purchases, the option to sell gas and the ability to use slurry more effectively and replace bought-in fertiliser.
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.
Welcome to our April Farm Net Zero newsletter, sharing updates for our farmers, growers and the wider community this project supports.
Recent news and events
Since our previous newsletter the Farm Net Zero partners have been busy with more brilliant events
Hedges – a win-win!
Becky Willson was joined by Roger Halliday, one of the Farm Net Zero Monitor Farmers, Emma Eberhardt from Forest for Cornwall and Dr. Rob Wolton on the 16th February to discuss the benefits of hedgerows for carbon capture, livestock health and biodiversity. Read about it here and find the factsheet here.
Roger Halliday (centre) hosting the farm walk at Browda
Methane Capture from Slurry
On 22nd March, Kevin and Katie Hoare of Trenance Farm kindly hosted an insightful event all about methane capture from slurry. They discussed the layout, technology and process of methane capture using the Bennamann system, and demonstrated the latest methane tractor prototype! Read about it here. See how it affected their carbon emissions here.
Hannah Jones addressing food businesses at the Heligan food event
The event attracted a good mix of food businesses interested in local and sustainable food, and gave them the opportunity to learn about carbon footprinting of farm produce, changing farm practices to become more sustainable, and how best to integrate these opportunities in their businesses.
The event included excellent talks from three Monitor Farmers (Anthony Ellis, Amelia Lake and Will and Kate Martin), plus Oliver Lee of How Now Dairy, showing how our community of farmers are reducing their carbon footprints. We hope that the workshop demonstrated to food businesses that farmers are working on improving the environment and that they should be supported in their efforts.
Our up and coming events are listed in What Next? at the end of the newsletter. Also keep an eye out for future events on our events page here.
Demo farms update
Soil health after potatoes
Andrew Brewer at Ennis Barton trialled a range of cover crops undersown with ryegrass and white clover in one field over the winter of 2022-2023.
Cover crop trial
This was a single field trial, but early indications suggest cover crops including Westerwolds ryegrass are the best for stabilising soil after potatoes. The trial continues to determine the yield and quality of the rye grass after the covers have been grazed off.
Figure to show mean aggregate stability of 6 different cover crops undersown with ryegrass and white clover. Covers were sown in Sept 22, and soil assessments early Feb 23. Stability scores are from 6 air-dried replicates samples per plot, with 4 sub-replicates after immersion in water for two hours. Error bars indicate standard error. A higher aggregate stability score indicates poorer soil stability.Differences in soil structure
Farmer Field Labs update
Farmer-led research digging into the perks of compost
It is widely accepted that compost can help capture carbon, retain nutrients, and reduce the dependence on bought-in fertiliser by improving the soil structure and biology.
This new Innovative Farmers field lab with Farm Net Zero will explore how compost quality can be influenced by a wide range of variables during the production process. Read about it here.
Compost trial. Photo credit: Hannah Jones
A-maize-ing
Farm Net Zero Monitor Farmer Malcolm Barrett’s work reducing costs and greenhouse gas emissions from maize establishment with his sumo drill (mentioned in the previous newsletter) has sparked a new Innovative Farmers field lab on maize establishment – if you are interested in taking part please contact Hannah Jones
Other news
Carbon footprint
We have started to repeat carbon footprints of monitor and demonstration farms.We must re-sample fields within the same month as the original sample, so many fields will be sampled this autumn, but some have started now! If you want your footprint repeated more urgently for your suppliers please let us know.
Soils and Nutrients Conference
Westcountry Rivers Trust held a well-attended Soils and Nutrients Conference at Duchy College on the 29th of March, where several soil pits were investigated discussing soil quality, health, and management. The conference allowed for plenty of informal discussion amongst the range of attendees throughout the day, with a focus on sustainable management of our soils in light of the risks of climate change.
The afternoon consisted of talks on several topics: Devon and Cornwall Soils Alliance: Achievements and the future; Phosphate trading solutions: integrated nutrient planning and credit creation; Measuring and valuing Soil Carbon; Future Farm management and monitoring the future of dairy; Cow to Catchment Monitoring: An assessment of the Luckett living laboratory; and Integrated Catchment Management: the case for breaking down silos.
Farm of the Future: Net Zero in Practice
Organised by Innovation for Agriculture, on 13th April, over 150 farmers and industry members attended this event at Harper Adams University. Leading farmers Abi Reader, Louise Manning, Helen Browning and Stephen Briggs discussed the changes they are making to reach net zero emissions. There were also technical sessions focusing on livestock, circular solutions from biowaste and autonomous vehicles.
We have submitted a session idea for the Oxford Real Farming Conference for 2024 called ‘It takes a community to reach net zero’. More to follow, we hope!
Films
Blackbark Films have been commissioned again to make some films for the project. We will be working with Bonny and Tim Lighfoot at Alren Farm, Catherine and Malcolm Barrett at Tregooden, Amelia Lake at The Real Food Garden, Claire and Andrew Brewer at Ennis Barton and Martin Howlett at Deerpark Farm. These films will highlight the contribution farmers make to communities.
Carbon Farmer of the Year
There is still time to enter the Carbon Farmer of the Year competition, see here to find out more about it, with details on how to enter. Entries close on 4th July.
Community engagement
No-Dig Gardening Workshop
Attendees at the event on 13th April
13th April was the first climate friendly gardening workshop of the year, with huge thanks to Community Roots Cornwall and the Westcountry RIvers Trust. This sold-out event focused on the increasingly popular topic of No-Dig Gardening, and discussed the benefits of green manures, wildlife strips to keep pests away from the crops, with some fascinating facts about soil, including how it stores nearly 4 times as much carbon as trees.
The group then brainstormed how they could better protect their soils, to keep this carbon locked in the ground.
Love Your Soil workshop with Loveland Community Field, Penryn
Compost Innovations workshop with Camel CSA, Wadebridge
Recent studies find that UK city gardens have lost nearly 50% of their vegetation cover in the past 20 years and propose rewards (such as reduced council tax) to gardeners who adopt more sustainable gardening techniques. All the more reason to embrace some eco-friendly practices in your garden!
Please get in touch if you have a garden in Cornwall where you would like to demonstrate an example of good practice, or if you’re simply interested in finding out more about soil health.
Resources
Check out the carbon footprint of one of our fantastically forward thinking monitor farms- The Real Food Garden. You can see how much their soil organic matter has increased here.
Improved grazing management is one of the most effective strategies livestock farmers can use to improve their operations. Read our recent factsheet on it here.
Some brilliant resources have come from the WRT workshops including:
On 27th April FCT hosts a free webinar covering a background to the carbon markets, what farmers need to consider, and the risks associated with them. To attend follow this link where you’ll need this passcode: Carbon111
How does milk yield and constituents vary with the herbal ley diet? and is this a profitable system?Join us on 11th May at Ennis Barton near St Columb for this workshop and farm walk. Hear about Andrew Brewer’s experiences with managing herbal leys, tour his paddock grazing system, and perhaps take part in or contribute to new Innovative Farmers on-farm trials. With speakers from FCT, Soil Association and University of Bristol Veterinary School. Contact [email protected] for further information and booking.
How to rejuvenate pastures – Our first ‘How to..’ event with James Barrett at Tremadart Barton who has grown herbal leys over the last 10 years, he will demonstrate how he stitches in herbal leys to existing pastures, look at seedbed prep focusing on depth and seed to seed contact, and show some rejuvenated leys. If you are interested please contact Hannah Jones directly. The date will be released last minute due to catching the soil and weather just right.
Lucerne silage – In July Peter Cox of Mearfield Farm will be talking us through growing lucerne and ensiling lucerne. Watch this space! Lucerne has high crude protein and useful fibre with the potential to make significant financial and carbon savings.
If you have any questions or ideas that would further support the community of farmers that we are working with, please get in touch with the project team (contact details below).
All information about the project including upcoming events and resources are available on the Farm Net Zero website. As ever, if there is anything you would like to see featured please let us know.
A Farm Net Zero (FNZ) event held in February at Roger and Lavinia Halliday’s FNZ monitor farm.
Hedgerows are an important part of the UK’s agricultural landscape; they support wildlife, shelter livestock and crops and capture carbon. To learn more about hedges and their multiple benefits, a group of farmers and advisors met at Browda, Linkinhorne to hear how Roger and Lavinia Halliday manage nearly 18 kilometres of hedge on their 250-acre organic suckler beef farm. This event was made possible with thanks to the National Lottery Community Fund who fund the Farm Net Zero project.
Hedges at Browda are part of a Countryside Stewardship agreement with a BE3 “Management of Hedgerows” annual payment and are laid on a 12-20 year rotation under the BN5 hedgerow-laying capital option. This work is completed by a hedge-laying contractor, with the stewardship payment covering their costs (but not the additional cost of clearing up, done by Roger, and any fence repairs). Hedges are laid in the vernacular Cornish hedge style to create a thick, dense hedge. Any log wood cut out of the hedge is then processed by Roger for fuel for the farmhouse biomass log boiler and the remaining brash either burnt or tipped in a corner to rot down. This prompted a discussion on the opportunities to make use of the brash with suggestions including chipping it for cattle bedding or garden mulch. Dr. Rob Wolton, ecologist and chairman of the Devon Hedge Group, said that the brash creates an important habitat as it decomposes so it is useful to leave some. It is good to leave saplings to grow into hedgerow trees for wildlife and livestock shelter. There are approximately 800 of these at Browda. They need not be perfect specimens and dead trees are also valuable habitat.
Dr. Wolton also spoke about the importance of managing hedges on a rotation to create a range of habitats to boost biodiversity. Laying is the best way of achieving this, but flailing is also effective if done sensitively, allowing the hedge to grow out a little more between successive flails and avoiding flailing at the same level each year. This was an important reminder that the flail is just a tool, it can be used poorly but can also be used well. Tree shears can be used to quickly and efficiently coppice hedges and restart the management cycle, with the added advantage that trees can be lifted clear to avoid damage to fences. Likewise, hedges can be layed mechanically, saving a great deal of manual work and time.
Clockwise from top left: laid hedge and brash cut for processing, side flailed hedge, 5-year old regrowth on laid hedge.
Laying, incremental flailing and cutting on a rotation are all supported through both Countryside Stewardship and the new Sustainable Farming Incentive Hedgerow Standards, along with coppicing, filling in gaps and planting new hedgerows.
Roger and Lavinia have previously made use of grants for planting new hedges, shelterbelts and farm woodlands, aiding the grazing management and creating wildlife corridors and refuges. Emma Eberhardt from Cornwall Council’s Forest for Cornwall programme gave an overview of what they can support. Forest for Cornwall aims to increase tree cover in Cornwall and can provide advice to landowners looking to plant trees either as woodland or hedges, including fully funded planting support (free trees and guards). Emma is involved in developing a network of agroforestry demonstration sites across Cornwall to show how trees and agriculture can work together.
Becky Willson from Farm Carbon Toolkit talked about the carbon benefits of hedgerows. At Browda, hedges are capturing nearly 86 tonnes of CO₂e every year and the hedgerow trees are capturing an additional 40 tCO₂e, this is 43% of the farm’s total sequestration and offsets 24% of the farm’s emissions. Becky spoke about the new Hedgerow Carbon Code being developed as a route for private finance to pay for carbon stored in hedgerows. This is currently working on an estimate that carbon is stored in hedges for around 10 years, so could fit well with a management rotation. However, it is still in development and not expected to be launched until later this year.
Key takeaways:
Hedges lock-up carbon as they grow, bushier hedges have more carbon than small hedges.
It is important to maintain a diversity of hedge types to increase the range of available habitats.
There are several grant options for hedge planting and management that are worth investigating.
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