CARBON FARMING EXPLAINED AND DEMONSTRATED

Farmers keen to understand the benefits of regenerative, low carbon farming were able to learn more about the approach at an evening event in Oxfordshire.

Around 50 farmers from across the South East gathered at Rumbolds Farm, near Wallingford, where host Richard Davey welcomed them to the Carbon Farming Made Simple event.

The event, organised by carbon farming company Agreena and Wantage-based agronomists Edaphos, aimed to provide a firsthand introduction to regenerative and carbon farming.

As part of a family partnership, Richard farms 1,600ha of land running from the top of the Chilterns to Little Haseley. Just under half the land is owned, with the rest made up of three contract farming and two stubble to stubble agreements.

Working closely with Edaphos, he grows milling wheat, soft wheat, feed barley and spring barley alongside break crops including forage maize, oilseed rape, beans, poppies and a small area of lupins. Pigs housed in rented buildings at Rumbolds Farm get through 2,000 tonnes (t) of cereals each year and provide manure.

Introduced to Agreena by Edaphos about three years ago, Richard was already moving towards regenerative farming, reducing cultivations, applying organic matter and exploring cover cropping. He explained that joining the AgreenaCarbon soil carbon platform was a natural progression.

Now in his second year with Agreena, he is expanding his regenerative farming practices –using no-till farming techniques, growing cover crops, reducing his use of chemicals and artificial nitrogen, and adding digestate.

Those at the event enjoyed a farm walk with Richard and Edaphos Advisor Ben Harrington, during which they discussed cropping details, firstly visiting a field of Skyscraper milling winterwheat which had been direct drilled.

Nitrogen usage had been around 160kg, made up of a mixture of digestates and synthetic nitrogen. The average wheat yield across the entire farm last year was around 10t per ha.

Farmers then looked at a field of poppies drilled using a Horsch Avatar following shallow cultivation. Richard had grown his usual cover crop mix of black oats, phacelia, vetch and berseem clover and applied 80kg of nitrogen. Expected yield is 2t per ha.

Thomas Gent, Agreena’s UK market lead, explained how the AgreenaCarbon programme helped farmers quantify the yearly carbon impact of regenerative farming and turn those calculations into carbon certificates, an asset that farmers can sell or retain within their own businesses. He said each hectare would annually yield approximately one to two certificates.

Tim Hayward, farm and estate manager for the 1200ha Woolley Park Estate near Wantage, attended the event to help with his decisionmaking process around joining the Agreena programme.

South Fawley Farm, part of Woolley Park, already practises some environmentally friendly farming methods. Tim has increased spring barley cropping to a third of the farm in two years. The lower input spring crop replaced high input second wheats and winter barley and remained just as profitable.

Growing spring barley also provided the opportunity to grow cover crops, while grazing them with sheep saw livestock on some of the fields for the first time in 40 years. Reducing cultivations made sense given South Fawley’s highly abrasive soils, and direct drilling oilseed rape was tried to help crop establishment.

“These measures meant we had the basis of a regenerative farming-type system. Initial conversations with Agreena highlighted that we were already in a position to generate a useful amount of carbon certificates,” said Tim, who had also researched regenerative and carbon farming at an Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board monitor farm at Welford Park Estate.

“Independent verification is key for me before adopting more non-traditional techniques,” Tim explained. “I had looked at other carbon soil programmes but liked the Agreena model. Thomas Gent and his team were very attentive in answering my many questions, getting back to me quickly if they couldn’t initially provide answers.

“Talking to neighbouring farmers during the event and listening to the presentations made up my mind to sign up to the AgreenaCarbon programme with 700ha of arable at South Fawley.”

Agreena will be paying AgreenaCarbon farmers who choose to sell their carbon certificates back to Agreena €32 to €36 per anticipated carbon certificate generated, depending on where they are based. That figure is an increase of 45% year on year.

“Richard gave farmers a great opportunity to see how he has improved his soil, taken action against climate change, and benefitted from a new revenue stream from the sale of carbon certificates,” said Thomas.