Event Category: Farm Net Zero

Learn about climate friendly gardening and composting

Join us and learn how to reduce your carbon footprint through your everyday gardening activities.

About this event

Through our partnership with West Country Rivers Trust you can discover how to reduce the impact of what you use on the environment, and learn how to actively lock carbon in your soils and plants. The farmers involved in our Farm Net Zero project want to share their findings with the wider community so that everybody can take part in this important process.

Through a series of four citizen science workshops this autumn we aim to share knowledge between gardeners and farmers on the following topics:

• Assessing soil health and productivity, and how this contributes to carbon sequestration and climate resilience

• Composting, managing waste to build soil health and carbon storage and avoid the need for artificial fertilisers or peat

• Creating a diverse lawn or meadow, to build organic matter and create habitat for wildlife

• No dig gardening and green manures, minimising soil disturbance and building soil fertility to help lock in carbon and maximise soil health and productivity

At this event, the focus will be on climate friendly gardening and composting.

To see the other events in the series go back to our events page.

All levels of horticultural expertise welcome; we value your contribution to the conversation.

On-site refreshments available.

To book

Follow this link to the Eventbrite page.

You can find out more here.

Any questions, please email [email protected] or call 07376 302488.

For full details about the venue, visit: https://newquayorchard.co.uk/contact/

Conservation grazing – the balance between profitability and ecology

Part of Farm Carbon Toolkit’s Farm Net Zero project this evening event will focus on conservation grazing, how to manage and produce high quality beef, and the resultant benefits to the farm carbon footprint and biodiversity.

  • Campbell Hill will discuss his system including the practicalities of herd management.
  • Gerald Babcock, farmer from West Penwith, will explain his conservation grazing system over 1500 acres and the stewardship payments he receives and the future options.
  • Mike Ingram and Lawrence Sampson of FWAG SW will provide an ecological perspective for the grazing of fragile habitats.

You will come away with knowledge of the practicalities associated with conservation grazing, and some of the challenges in delivering ecological diversity.

The event will be hosted by Farm Net Zero Monitor Farmer, Campbell Hill of Trerieve Farm. A pasty will be provided, so booking essential. We will meet at the end of Portuan road, Hannafore, Looe, at the start of the coast path.

To book your place, contact Alex Bebbington ([email protected]) or Stefan Marks ([email protected])

Erth Barton Summer Farm Tour


The event will be hosted by Farm Net Zero Demonstration Farmer, Tim
Williams. Lunch will be provided, so booking is essential.

Tim’s field walk and discussion will cover:

  • The population wheat sown into a permanent diverse ley understory
  • Adaptive multi-paddock grazing
  • Getting to net zero – the latest on soil organic matter sequestration

To book your place, contact Hannah Jones ([email protected])
or Stefan Marks ([email protected])

Royal Cornwall Show

The Farm Net Zero team will be at the Royal Cornwall Show – do come and say hello. You can find us at stand number 236 where we look forward to meeting you.

The show is Cornwall’s biggest annual event and is brim-full of exhibit, activities, entertainment and information about food and farming and Cornwall.

Holistic Worm Management and the Role of Dung Beetles

Matt and Pip Smith will provide a detailed overview of how they optimise flock health and productivity through breeding, animal screening, sward management and rotation.

Tim Bebbington of Castle Veterinary Group will discuss sustainable wormer use using Matt and Pip’s flock as a case study.

Entomologist Sally-Ann Spence from the Oxford Natural History Museum will talk about dung beetles and their role in soil health and reducing parasite burden.

Lunch will be provided.

Location

The event will be hosted by Farm Net Zero Monitor Farmers, Matt and Pip Smith.

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How to book

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

Field vegetables in rotation – best practices for soil health

The event will be hosted by Farm Net Zero Demonstration Farmer, Andrew Brewer.

Lunch will be provided.

This Lottery-funded Farm Net Zero event will integrate the ELMS Test and Trial project work of Jan Dinsdale (Cornwall Wildlife Trust), and perspectives from James Wimpress (Environment Agency) and Ashley Taylor (Duchy of Cornwall).

The field walk and discussion will cover:

  • Soil health and soil carbon in rotation with respect to Net Zero
  • The challenges and opportunities in growing field vegetables in a profitable rotation
  • Best practice rotations, including the integration of livestock
  • Future opportunities for increasing on farm sustainability

To book your place, contact Stefan Marks: [email protected].

Let’s Talk About Grass

James Daniel of Precision Grazing Ltd. will be discussing how to make the most out of your grass. He will detail how to optimise grass management and improve grazing efficiency using Ben’s paddocks as a case study.

This event will highlight ways to:

  • Eliminate bought in feed and fertiliser
  • Improve soil health
  • Increase resilience of your farming system

Lunch will be provided.

Location

The event will be hosted by Farm Net Zero Monitor Farmer, Ben Thomas: Treveddoe Farm, Warleggan, PL30 4HF.

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How to book

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

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]).