Category: Farm Net Zero

Here’s an update from our Farm Net Zero project – sharing updates for our farmers and the wider community the project supports in Cornwall. This post is taken from our quarterly project newsletter. Click here if you’d like to subscribe.

Our first farmer conference

We were delighted to run the Farm Net Zero Farmer Conference on the 13th September at Blable Farm, by kind permission of demo farmers Mike and Sam Roberts. The conference presented the work of the project to date, including a look at the results from the soil sampling and carbon footprinting. We also discussed future plans for trials and research to help the project’s community of farmers reduce their carbon emissions and move towards net zero.

A detailed summary of the Conference can be found here.

Recent events

We had some fantastic events over the summer: 

In May, a Holistic Worm Management event at Matt and Pip Smith’s Monitor Farm explored the Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep (SCOPS) principles, as well as a fascinating talk on dung beetles by entomologist Sally-Ann Spence. This led to a dung beetle hunt! The UK has many dung beetle species, with 50% of them under threat of extinction. Dung beetles play a crucial role in the farm ecosystem by starting the dung decomposition process, improving soil health and reducing livestock parasite burden. Read more here. 

A summer tour at demo farm Erth Barton in June focused on adaptive multi-paddock grazing system and pasture cropping. Read more here. 

In July, a Conservation Grazing event at Trerieve Farm, one of the FNZ project monitor farms which has 70 acres of clifftop grazing, explored the significant biodiversity value of conservation, together with how the business makes use of environmental payments within Countryside Stewardship. Read more here. 

All events are written up on our website as blog posts and as downloadable PDFs available on our Project Resources page. Please keep an eye on our events page for future events. 

Demo farms update

The demo farms have been central to supporting the innovations and events of the FNZ project. Mike and Sam Roberts of Blable Farm, and Andrew Brewer of Ennis Barton have been interviewed recently by Farmers Weekly. On the ground, the trials in place include:

• Pasture cropping at Ennis Barton – the first year of trials has resulted in Tim Williams modifying the cover crop mixture suitable for wheat. A summer event in 2023 will include a tour of these trials.
• Herbal leys for dairy grazing platforms – data continues to be accrued at Ennis Barton comparing white clover and ryegrass leys with diverse swards and the effect on milk yield and quality. This is a long term trial integrating assessment of rumination, and cow activity with the Allflex collars.
• Diverse cover crop grazing mixtures at Blable Farm – the principles of deferred grazing and diverse swards have been used by Mike and Sam. Cattle growth weights, sward quality and yield will all come together to define the profitability of out-wintering Stabiliser cattle on these high biomass super diverse covers. The first assessments are planned within the month.
• Soil recovery at Erth Barton – the first complex analysis of microbial soil diversity carried out by Julian Donald at Exeter University ESI has created a baseline data set to determine how soil biological activity can be restored with diverse swards.
• Soil stabilisation after intense cropping – following a first year of cover cropping undersown with herbal leys following potatoes, Andrew Brewer has designed a range of trial mixtures to determine the best mixtures for soil health recovery. Assessments continue over the winter 2022-2023
• Soil carbon and herbal leys – all demo farms are involved in longer term assessments on the rate of soil carbon sequestration comparing permanent pastures to herbal leys. This data will take 5 years to collate in full.
• Maize establishment at Tregooden Farm – Malcolm and Catherine Barrett of Tregooden farm have hosted a number of events. They have been part of cover crop trials, but also tested a range of establishment methods for maize. Samples are in the lab, so the event is imminent!

Award winners

We’re very pleased to share that our demo farmer, Andrew Brewer from Ennis Barton, won Grassland Farmer of the Year at the British Farming Awards last week. Many congratulations to Andrew. Further details here. 

A big congratulations also to Malcolm & Catherine Barrett from Tregooden Farm, one of the FNZ monitor farms, for winning the Best Sustainable Farming Initiative at the Cornwall Farm Business Awards this year.

Innovative Farmers update

In July, 150 people celebrated the 10 year anniversary of Innovative Farmers at FNZ monitor farmers, Pip and Matt Smith of Trefranck Farm near Launceston, with a day of networking and workshops. They were joined by His Majesty The King (former Duke of Cornwall) who met inspiring farmers, researchers and advisors that have been involved in field labs over the last decade. 

We ran two workshops to hear your ideas for farmer-led trials as part of Farm Net Zero and had an interesting discussion on strip-till maize as an alternative to plough-based systems. We anticipate running trials on this in spring 2023.

Westcountry Rivers Trust Update

One of the aspects of the Farm Net Zero project is connecting farmers and communities to share their knowledge of large-scale greenhouse gas reduction techniques with small scale growers.

In September and October, allotment holders joined us to learn more about climate friendly gardening. Four workshops were delivered for attendees to discover more about soil health, no dig, biodiverse lawns, composting and green manures.

Natural Capital Advisor Zoë Smith at Westcountry Rivers Trust said: “People enjoyed sharing tips and tricks with the professional growers and each other, with everyone feeling they had learned something new. Several told us they are taking this back to their allotment sites too to spread the word about the benefits of knowing your soil and how to manage your plot to minimise environmental impacts.”

As the Office for National Statistics indicates gardens cover more than one million acres in England, they are a significant area that can contribute to carbon sequestration (storage).
More events will follow in 2023.Visit https://wrt.org.uk/project/farm-net-zero for more information.

Good cob, bad cob

We recently finished filming Malcolm for the FNZ maize event. These trials looked at the relative merits of different maize establishment methods and the inputs through the season. The trial includes cob sampling, infiltration tests and soil sampling after harvest. The film will be part of a maize evening event leading to a farmer field lab as part of Farm Net zero.

What next?

FNZ Events: Dates TBC

• Maize event – evening event with results of the Tregooden maize trial, and launch of Farmer Field lab # 2
• Hedgerow management and getting to grips with the Hedgerow carbon code
• The environment, carbon and payments

Other upcoming events:

• 21 November – FNZ project partner IfA is running an online event: Decarbonising UK Meat Production – A focus on ruminants. Click here for more information.

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: [email protected]. 

Information about this project including upcoming events and resources are available on the Farm Carbon Toolkit pages.

This project, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, is a partnership between Cornwall College, The Farm Carbon Toolkit, Duchy College’s Rural Business School, Westcountry Rivers Trust, Innovative Farmers and Innovation for Agriculture.

Kindly hosted at Mike and Sam Roberts Farm Net Zero Demonstration Farm

The first Farm Net Zero Farmer Conference was held at Blable Farm, Wadebridge by kind permission of Demo Farmers, Mike and Sam Roberts. The conference covered the Farm Net Zero (FNZ) project’s progress to date and discussed plans for the remainder of the project. Over 70 people attended the conference, with 31 individuals from 19 of the project’s Monitor Farms.

We started the conference with a farm walk led by Mike and Sam Roberts. A range of cover crop mixtures are being trialed this winter for outwintering cattle, these were established by drilling into disced hay aftermaths. The aim for these cover crops is to cheaply outwinter cattle and benefit soil health. The extreme weather conditions this summer delayed sowing, but now these crops are growing apace. Buffer feeding with hay may be necessary alongside the grazing of these crops; it will depend upon how warm the autumn is.

A rotational grazing system has been developed with the support of Precision Grazing Ltd, with herbal leys introduced for drought resilience and to improve pasture quality for the cattle’s diet. The heaviest steers have been sold to a finishing unit having received nothing but forage. The Roberts’ are aiming to grow cattle on forage alone and are looking at introducing more native genetics (Angus/Hereford/Devon) to achieve this aim.

Finally, the walk finished in the cattle sheds to discuss the compost bedding. Compost from the Green Waste Company is used in place of straw to reduce costs, the resulting dirty compost bedding has been analysed for nutrient content and far exceeds that of farmyard manure. Blable has recently been soil mapped by FNZ Monitor Farmers Anthony Ellis and Tom Tolputt of South West Farm Consultants. The detailed soil scan and sample has revealed areas of high and low organic matter and nutrients. The maps will be used to target applications of manure to get the most benefit from it and will help to reduce the need for artificial fertiliser.

The remainder of the conference involved presentations and discussions on project progress. After an introduction to Farm Net Zero by Dr Steve Roderick, Alex Bebbington from the Rural Business School ran through the fifteen events the FNZ project has delivered so far, on a range of topics from nitrogen fertiliser use to dung beetles.

Dr Hannah Jones from Farm Carbon Toolkit then gave a presentation on the results from the first set of carbon footprints. These form the baseline from which the project aims to reduce emissions and improve sequestration and there is a possibility to create benchmarking groups within the project to help farmers learn from one another. Hannah’s presentation also covered some of the FNZ trials, with input from the Demo and Monitor Farmers who are involved in the trials. Demo Farmer Andrew Brewer spoke about the herbal ley for dairy cattle trial. Andrew’s grazing platform consists of ryegrass/clover leys and herbal leys, Allflex collars on the cows measure activity and rumination. This work is in progress and evaluation of the economic viability of dairies needs to take a systems approach incorporating livestock health, milk quality and yield, and the resilience of the grazing platform to variation in weather. Next, Monitor Farmer Malcolm Barrett talked through the overwinter cover crop trial he is involved in. This was to test the diversity of cover crop mixes, with initial results suggesting that more diversity improved soil stability and increased worm numbers. Finally, Monitor Farmer Amelia Lake spoke about her involvement in the first of the FNZ Field Labs on compost production for market gardens. Amelia’s use of compost on her no-dig market garden has helped to increase soil carbon sequestration, but questions remain on the best source material and methods of production.

Jerry Alford from Innovative Farmers provided more detail on the Field Lab element of Farm Net Zero. These field labs are led by questions from farmers and are run on farms to be representative of commercial conditions. The first FNZ Field Lab is on compost for market gardens, the second will be on innovations in maize establishment and the third is yet to be decided.

Zoë Smith from Westcountry Rivers Trust spoke about the citizen science work that the Rivers Trust are responsible for. This involves members of the public working to improve the soil health and climate resilience of their gardens/allotments.

The final presentation by Becky Willson of Farm Carbon Toolkit looked at some of the techniques farmers from other Farm Carbon Toolkit projects are working on to reduce their carbon footprints. These include reducing purchased feed requirements, improving grazing management and reducing fertiliser use. There was also a conversation on the various Carbon Codes (Hedgerow, Woodland and Soil) and how they can benefit farmers, the consensus being that there are still details to iron out before it can be seen as a reliable investment.

This event was made possible with thanks to the National Lottery Community Fund who fund the Farm Net Zero project. We would also like to thank the Demo and Monitor Farmers who have hosted events, the expert speakers who have presented at them and everyone who has attended a Farm Net Zero event.

A Farm Net Zero event held at Matt and Pip Smiths Monitor Farm

Climate change is not just about greenhouse gases, it also includes the loss of biodiversity. Agriculture plays a key role in creating healthy ecosystems that support biodiversity and food production. Insect life is one of the main food sources in any ecosystem. Anthelmintics (wormers) used to treat gastrointestinal parasites are excreted in livestock dung and so can kill insects, particularly dung beetles, targeting the use of wormers reduces the risk of killing insects and helps to maintain a healthy ecosystem.

Farm Net Zero Monitor Farmers, Matt and Pip Smith of Trefranck run 1000 NZ Romney sheep and 500 Red deer across 400 acres of mostly owned land. Matt and Pip are selecting for resilience to parasitic worms in their stud flock. By combining Faecal Egg Counts (FECs) with lamb growth rates, they can decide which sheep are struggling to cope with a worm burden and which ones are growing at an acceptable rate despite having worms. Sheep with a high FEC and good growth rate are resilient to worms and therefore require fewer treatments. This reduces anthelmintic use and creates a healthier, more efficient flock.

Matt and Pip’s vet, Tim Bebbington of Castle Veterinary Group, gave an overview of the Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep (SCOPS) principles. These focus on targeting anthelmintic use to stock who need treatment, rather than blanket dosing all of them. Wormer should be applied at the correct dose for the weight of the animal and following a FEC to determine the type of parasite. This not only saves money on worm treatments but preserves the effectiveness of anthelmintics, so they can continue to treat parasite problems as they arise. 

To tie the event together, entomologist Sally-Ann Spence of the Oxford Natural History Museum gave a fascinating talk on dung beetles and led a dung beetle hunt. The UK has many dung beetle species, with 50% of them under threat of extinction. Dung beetles play a crucial role in the farm ecosystem by starting the dung decomposition process. The rapid decomposition they trigger can remove habitat for gutworms, helping to reduce parasite burdens. Dung beetles can burrow up to a metre into the ground (where soil depth allows), aerating the soil and improving drainage. By incorporating organic matter into the soil, dung beetles can improve its fertility and trap carbon. Dung beetles will only colonise fresh dung, not farmyard manure or slurry, so it is important to have some stock out all year round if possible. 

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

A Farm Net Zero event held at Erth Barton Demonstration Farm

A large group of farmers met at Erth Barton to see the progress that Farm Net Zero Demonstration Farmer Tim Williams has made since the launch event in October 2021. The main topics of the farm walk were the adaptive multi-paddock grazing system and the pasture cropping arable. This event was made possible with thanks to the National Lottery Community Fund who fund the Farm Net Zero project.

The first stop on the tour was to see the adaptive multi-paddock grazing in action. Tim is grazing 150 dairy beef cattle, moving them three times a day in paddocks of half a hectare, these cattle are currently growing at 1-1.5kg a day from pasture alone. The pasture is a highly diverse herbal ley, allowed to grow long. The frequency of movement and paddock size are responsive to the rate of grass growth, hence the name “adaptive multi-paddock grazing”. Tim’s main aim is to rejuvenate the soil by adding organic matter from trampled plants and cattle dung.

Next, we looked at the pasture cropping trial. Pasture cropping is a system of direct drilling cereals into an existing grass or herbal ley after grazing the ley very tight to reduce competition. The aim is to minimise soil disturbance and to reduce inputs as the perennial understorey will fix nitrogen for the cereal crop. The initial trial at Erth Barton involved drilling a 20-variety population wheat into the diverse herbal ley mix. The idea here is that the variety that can make it to a point of yielding grain is the one most suited to the farm’s environment and is therefore the variety to proceed with. Tim explained that this first trial hadn’t been very successful because the herbal ley grew all through winter and is vigorously competing with the wheat. Another trial is planned where the wheat will be drilled into a mix of lower-growing clovers. 

Key takeaways:

• Pasture cropping can protect soil carbon and reduce emissions from crop inputs
• Adaptive multi-paddock grazing adds organic matter to the soil, making it more resilient

Why is this topic important for farmers? 

Tim’s system is centred around building soil health and reducing inputs. By increasing soil organic matter, carbon can be captured from the atmosphere and stored in the soil. Soils rich in organic matter are more resilient to climatic extremes and retain nutrients well, benefitting the growing crop. The direct drilling of cereal into an existing ley protects stored carbon from disturbance and the growing ley can provide nitrogen to the cereal crop. This eliminates the need for fertiliser, with a corresponding reduction in carbon emissions.

Useful resources:

Learn more about Tim Williams and Erth Barton: https://farmcarbontoolkit.org.uk/demo-farm/erth-barton/