Event Category: Farm Net Zero

Getting the most from winter grazed  cover crops

This event will be based around the trial results for winter 2021-2022 from three Farm Net Zero farms.

The field walk will cover results for:

  • Forage quality
  • Forage yield
  • Soil health
  • Soil quality; and
  • A discussion on grazed winter cover crops within the rotation.

Location

The event will be hosted by Malcolm and Catherine Barrett of Tregooden Farm.
Please meet in the farm yard PL30 3PS (What3words: modifies.tapers.zebra).
The post code takes you to a neighbouring farm so continue up the hill 100 yards to Tregooden
entrance.
The trial seed was supplied by South West Seeds Ltd. and the forage analysis funded by FAB Farmers.

How to book

To book your place, contact Hannah Jones ([email protected]) or Alex Bebbington ([email protected]).

Carbon calculators for dairy farms: why are they all different?

You are invited to come along and find out more about carbon calculation for dairy farms and dig a little deeper into the accounting process and where the differences are.

This workshop run as part of the Farm Net Zero project will use real farm data and showcase the results of different carbon calculators to provide a discussion point to look at how carbon calculators work on farm.

Areas for discussion will be:

  • The inclusion of sequestration – is soil carbon accounted for?
  • Farm scale or product level – what impact does it make?
  • How to use carbon tools to evaluate the impact of management change
  • How do carbon calculators align to future standards and requirements for ELMS

Booking is essential – please contact [email protected] or [email protected] to book your place.

Date: Monday 17 January 2021, 11am – 1pm, with lunch afterwards.

Venue: Port and Starboard restaurant, Chapel Road, Indian Queens, Saint Columb, TR9 6JZ

Farm Net Zero for vegetable production

A workshop aimed at farmers and growers.

Meet at the Real Food Garden, Trelowarth, Inches, Bodmin PL30 5LR for a tour, and then reconvene at St Wenn Village Hall for discussion and lunch.

Time: 10.30 – 13.30

Lunch will be provided  

Details

Amelia Lake of the Real Food Garden will discuss her vegetable production system, the challenges, the opportunities and how to sequester carbon whilst running an economically viable vegetable production system.

At this event, the Farm Net Zero team will host a discussion about:

  • Carbon accounting for vegetables
  • Nutrient management
  • Cover cropping
  • Soil health
  • The Field Lab for composting

We will launching this horticultural forum, and participants will have the opportunity to steer this group over the next 4 years.

Booking essential:

To book your place, contact Hannah Jones ([email protected]) or Alex Bebbington ([email protected]).

Soil Carbon: New developments and guidance on sampling and testing

PLEASE NOTE, THIS EVENT IS NOW FULLY BOOKED

A workshop aimed at farm advisors, agronomists, consultants and trainers. 

Lunch will be provided  

Details

With an increasing appreciation of the critical role and value of soil to our farm net zero ambitions comes a need for more effective measurement of soil carbon levels.

At this event, experts working on the Soil Carbon project will present new insights and recommendations including sampling to account for in-field variations, protocols for monitoring change over time and guidance on the practicalities associated with laboratory testing methods.

We will also be launching our Soil Carbon Field and Laboratory Guide.

With:

  • Becky Willson (Farm Carbon Toolkit)
  • Prof. Paul Harris (Rothamsted Research)
  • Prof. Andy Neal (Rothamsted Research)
  • Jasper Newman (Plymouth University)
  • Tom Tolputt (Southwest Farm Consultants)

To book your place, contact Stephen Roderick ([email protected]) or Alex Bebbington ([email protected]).

Part-funded by the Agritech Cornwall project.

Becoming nutrient dense ready: Introduction to measuring crop quality

Are you interested in understanding more about the link between nutrient dense food and soil health?

Would you like to learn practically how you can measure nutrient density in your crops?

Come along to this practical half day workshop to learn more about how to meaures and understand crop quality based on nutrient density and realise the potential to increase crop quality, save costs, and add value to the food that you produce.

This course will cover:

  • Background to the concept of nutrient density, how it can be measured using affordable hand-held tools and what this tells us about supporting natural ecosystems, including increased carbon sequestration and biodiversity, and the potential to increase health of animals and people
  • Practise using a hand-held Brix Refractometer to measure crop nutrient density
  • Take part in a taste testing session to deepen your understanding of the relationship between high and low values of nutrient density, and how this relates to healthy soil  
  • Learn about the Bionutrient Food Association’s Real Food Campaign (USA) and development of their Bionutrient Meter to empower farmers, growers and food citizens to select nutrient dense food. Also, how their database is showing nutrient variation within the same crop to help increase our understanding of what crop quality is in relation to soil health and growing practices

The course is being run as part of the Farm Net Zero project and will be led by Matthew Adams from the Growing Real Food for Nutrition organisation. The course is open to horticulltural growers and numbers are limited, so book your place today.

Book your place today through Eventbrite by clicking here Places are limited so don’t miss out!

Farm Net Zero: Farm Walk at Erth Barton

Date: Tuesday, 19th October

Time: 10am – 2pm

Tim Williams at Erth Barton will take us on a farm walk to discuss the innovations he is using to restore the soil health and ultimately achieve carbon net zero. Details of his mixed sheep, beef and arable farm can be found here. Key areas for discussion at this launch event will be:

  • Soil health and Climate Compost
  • Regenerative farming
  • Diverse swards including a quasi-perennial system of arable wheat production

To book yourself a place, and lunch, please register here.

Farm Net Zero: Farm Walk at Blable Farm

Date: Tuesday, 5th October

Time: 10am – 2pm

Location: what 3 words: zones.irony.flank / Blable Farm, St Issey, Wadebridge PL27 7RF

We have teamed up with the Robert’s family to address the potential of reaching carbon net zero on the beef and arable farm. Mike and his son Sam will lead a farm walk to showcase their high quality beef herd.

Further details about Blable Farm can be found here but key areas for discussion on the day will be:

  • Out wintering stock on diverse covers
  • Compost bedding
  • Bespoke herbal mixtures for high quality beef

To book yourself a place, and lunch, please register here.

Farm Net Zero: Launch at Ennis Barton Farm

Date: Tuesday, 21st September

Time: 10am – 2pm

The first Farm Net Zero launch event will take place at Ennis Barton. Andrew Brewer will discuss how he aims to achieve carbon net zero. There will be opportunities to discuss the innovations he has put in place, and the trials being under taken as part of the Farm Net Zero project.

Further details on Andrew’s farm can be found here but key areas for discussion will be:

  • Dairy systems grazed on a diverse sward system
  • Grazing management
  • Rotation including field vegetable in a mixed system 

To book yourself a place, and lunch, please register here.