The Farm Walk is being kindly supported by the AFN Network, and is free for farmers and growers to attend.
The Walk will start at 2pm and tea / coffee and light refreshments will be provided.
Please bring appropriate clothing for all weather and note that the ground may be uneven.
Rotmell Farming is based in Perthshire, running an upland beef and sheep system over approximmately 1000 hectares. Alex has been working on building the biological capacity within the soil through the use of rotational and mob grazing systems. Starting out with a transition to a rotational grazing system, this has now adapted and is a hybrid mob system with a focus on improving the diversity of plants within the pasture. Other goals are to improve both soil organic matter and pH through the use of animals and to build a deeper root depth and mass to allow the plants to access slightly warmer soils and moisture found deeper in the soil when temperatures drop in the winter.
The farm walk will begin at 2pm and provide the opportunity to hear the learnings of Alex and the team since being awarded the Livestock Soil Farmer of the Year in 2020.
The event will take place outside, please wear suitable clothing and footwear. Light refreshments will be provided.
The Agri Carbon Kernow project offers farmers in Cornwall free support to help them:
The project is an extension of the highly successful Farm Net Zero project that already supports farms in Cornwall.
Part-funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, Agri Carbon Kernow is a collaboration between Duchy College, Westcountry Rivers Trust, Cornwall Wildlife Trust, the Farm Carbon Toolkit and the Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Growth Hub to deliver support to a limited number of farms during 2024.
Geoff Williams will be leading a farm walk and showing how he is reducing the farm carbon footprint at Tretharrup through a range of practices, including outwintering, bale feeding and herbal ley management.
There will also be an opportunity to discuss with Geoff how to meet that critical work-life balance.
The Agri Carbon Kernow team will be on-hand to discuss farm carbon reduction planning, biodiversity gains and water quality improvements.
Tea/coffee and pasty lunch provided.
Find the venue at What3Words: ///driftwood.televise.eruptions
Please book your free place here – we look forward to seeing you!
Join the Farm Net Zero team at Duchy College for a technical day on growing maize, and a farm walk to view the trial field.
Traditionally-grown maize has frequently come under fire for being associated with soil erosion and runoff. At this event we’ll talk about the best ways to minimise negative impacts of growing maize, and maximise the benefits for yield, silage quality and soil health.
We’ll discuss:
We’ll also take a walk to the Duchy trial field to look at the cover crops in situ.
The event is free to attend and food and refreshments will be provided.
Please note: This event is in a lecture theatre but includes a farm walk. Please bring appropriate clothing for all weather and note that the ground may be uneven. The trial site is a 5-10 minute walk from the venue, please get in touch if you have specific accessibility requirements and we can arrange transport.
For health and safety reasons, no children or infants are permitted at the event.
If the event is booked up please add your name to the waiting list as spaces may become available. If you have a ticket, and find you cannot make the event, please let us know as soon as possible so we can reallocate tickets.
Filming and/or photography by Soil Association may take place at this event. To decline consent, you can get in touch or complete an opt-out form on the day.
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By registering for this event you agree to the terms and conditions stated in our privacy policy. If you have any queries about the event please contact [email protected]
Alongside the farming community, organisations contributing to deliver of the project include the Duchy College Rural Business School, the Farm Carbon Toolkit, Westcountry Rivers Trust, Innovative Farmers, Innovation for Agriculture and Just Farmers. The project is managed by Cornwall College and funded by the National Lottery Community Fund from January 2021 for five years.
Join renowned entomologist and dung beetle specialist Clive Turner as he shares his knowledge on dung beetles in our environment, developed over three decades of research and observations.
Attendees will enjoy:
Topics will include dung beetle ecology, how to encourage them and what you can do to help them.
The talk or walk may take place first depending on the weather.
Please check weather conditions for the day and dress accordingly.
Parking and accessibility: Please visit the venue website
If for any reason you can’t attend, please cancel your ticket so that your space can be offered to someone else – thank you.
The charity restores and protects freshwater environments in the Westcountry for the benefit of people, wildlife and the local economy.
Farming with greenhouse gas emissions in mind, as well as all the other targets farmers work to, is fast becoming the norm.
Oakley Farm in South Lincolnshire has been in the Gent family for four generations. Now with father and son team Edward and Thomas managing the 800 ha business, they run their arable farm following regenerative agriculture principles.
Having already fully adopted minimal cultivations and the incorporation of cover crops across the farm, the team are now turning their attention to the potential to incorporate agroforestry and livestock onto their holding. Through continuously refining the management system Edward and Thomas have managed to produce 10 tonne/ha wheat crops with 150kg N and 30 litres diesel per hectare.
Location to meet/congregate : https://maps.app.goo.gl/UhwiPfPmZQYmCD8i6
What3Word: ///crank.frantic.rules
The farm walk will begin at 1.30pm and will provide an opportunity to find out more about Edward and Thomas’s strategy to reduce emissions on the farm and how this has benefited the business, leading Thomas to be named as one of FCT’s finalists in our first Carbon Farmer of the Year Competition.
The event will take place outside, please wear suitable clothing and footwear. Light refreshments will be provided.
This event is free but spaces are limited. Please book via our Eventbrite page by following this link
Increasingly farming with greenhouse gas emissions in mind, as well as all the other targets farmers work to, is becoming the norm.
Lockerley Estate & Preston Farms, based near Stockbridge in Hampshire is a 2,000ha diverse estate which champions an approach to agriculture where biodiversity, soil health and the wellbeing of the community and future generations is at the heart of everything they do.
Craig Livingstone, Director of Farming & Estates, has four key aims to enable the estate to reduce emissions which are focussed on maximising soil carbon sequestration; reducing reliance on chemical inputs; using the wider estate to sequester more carbon and increasing the natural capital on the estate.
The farm walk will begin at 1.30pm and will provide an opportunity to find out more about Craig’s strategy to reduce emissions from the estate and how this has benefited the business, leading him to be named as one of FCT’s finalists in our first Carbon Farmer of the Year Competition.
The event will take place outside, please wear suitable clothing and footwear. Light refreshments will be provided.
This event is free but spaces are limited. Please book via our Eventbrite page by following this link.
For Andrew, farming with greenhouse gas emissions in mind has become the norm over the past three years as a demonstration farm within the Farm Net Zero Project in Cornwall. Alongside this he farms to maximise biodiversity across the farm whilst optimising output and margin.
Andrew manages 500 Jersey-cross dairy cows on 400ha at Ennis Barton near Fraddon in Cornwall. He stood out to the judges for his understanding and application of a range of practices to enable his pasture-based dairy farm to remove atmospheric carbon into soil, trees, and hedges, while simultaneously minimising farm GHG emissions by focusing on maximising forage intake for his dairy cows and minimising inclusion of supplementary concentrate feeds. Andrew also selectively breeds his cows to work well within his pasture-based system.
The farm walk will begin at 11.30am with a traditional Cornish pasty lunch. During the farm walk you will have the opportunity to find out more about Andrew’s strategy to reduce emissions on the farm and how this has benefited the business, leading him to be named the winner of this year’s Carbon Farmer of the Year Competition.
The event will take place mostly outside, please wear suitable clothing and footwear. Tea/coffee and a pasty will be provided so please let us know of any dietary requirements when booking.
This event is free but spaces are limited. Please book via our Eventbrite page.
Tom farms 760 acres of grassland on Exmoor and runs both a suckler herd and a hill sheep flock. In 2017 Tom began shifting to a more regenerative farming system which predominantly focussed on an improvement in grazing management, aided by James Daniel from Precision Grazing.
Over 5 years, Tom has completely cut out the use of artificial fertiliser and reduced his feed use by over 90%. This has greatly reduced Tom’s fossil fuel based emissions and crucially the farm is now profitable before taking into account income from subsidies and environmental schemes. Join us to hear how Tom has achieved all of this and his plans for the future.
The farm walk will begin at 11am with tea and coffee, ending with a traditional local pasty lunch. During the farm walk you will have the opportunity to find out more about Tom’s strategy to reduce emissions on the farm and how this has benefited the business, leading him to be named a runner-up of last year’s Carbon Farmer of the Year Competition.
The event will take place mostly outside, please wear suitable clothing and footwear. Tea/coffee and a pasty will be provided so please let us know of any dietary requirements when booking
This event is free but spaces are limited. You will need to book in order to secure your place and also to receive your lunchtime pasty! Please book via our Eventbrite page by following this link
Doug Christie is the first winner of FCT’s new competition to celebrate farmers who are leading the way in adopting farming practices and developing new technologies to reduce farm emissions whilst optimising output.
Doug has a mixed farm with beef cattle and arable cropping and is organic for the grassland and livestock. He has been incorporating conservation agriculture practices increasingly since 1999 and was very much a pioneer of and advocate for climate friendly farming when it was far from fashionable. Doug initially focused on soil health and by doing this soon realised that it also provided a platform by which emission heavy inputs were reduced with a corresponding reduction in his carbon footprint while also enhancing natural capital services such as biodiversity, water quality, reduced diffuse pollution, water infiltration as well as overall farm resilience, a tall order while attempting to optimise sustainable output. Testament to this focus on biodiversity is that Doug ceased using insecticides over 20 years ago.
The farm walk will begin at 1pm and will provide an opportunity to see and hear how Doug’s strategy has benefitted his business and led him to win this year’s Carbon Farmer of the Year Competition.
The event will be signed from Leven. Additionally this is the what3words to aim for: saving punctual shape.
We will be walking around the farm, but can accommodate up to five people who require transport if necessary. We will be outside most of the afternoon, so please wear suitable clothing and footwear. Light refreshments will be provided.
This event if free but spaces are limited. Please book via our Eventbrite page by following this link.
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