Rural Business School Newsletter - Spring 2022

The Rural Business School ISSUE 56 - SPRING 2022

Agri-tech Cornwall Soil Carbon Farm Net Zero Farm Business Survey Future Farm

Agri-tech Cornwall Legacy

Editorial

“UK farmgate prices are likely to remain strong in 2022.”

Director: Robin Jackson

Moving into 2022, there is some optimism with the buoyant beef and lamb market and upward trend in the milk price, which is reflected in the Farm Business Survey’s farm income report (page 36). Looking forwards, production is predicted to end 2021/22 down, owing to high input costs. This drop means, that together with several key countries such as the Netherlands taking measures to reduce farm pollution and reduce total milk supplies, UK farmgate prices are likely to remain strong in 2022.

Loss of subsidy and increased costs are likely to reduce the national suckler herd, but the increased use of beef semen on dairy cows is likely to counter this and maintain current beef production levels and prices. Predictions on lamb are that the market will remain buoyant in 2022.

This positive outlook, however, has to be tempered with soaring input prices, particularly fertiliser and energy.

We also have looming environmental and net zero targets, the threat of new trade deals and the impact of Brexit particularly reduced Basic Payments, which

0845 458 7485

page 2 | The Rural Business School | Spring 2022

have been vital to many south west farming businesses. All have been noted by our industry commentators (page 3).

Some of the other predicted effects of Brexit have come about e.g. the drop in UK lamb exports to the EU (20%); this seems, however, to be as much due to increased global prices (associated with demand elsewhere, particularly China), as it is arising from the predicted difficulties of accessing the EU. Lamb imports have reduced by the same amount, though.

As payments will be moved to the Environmental Land Management schemes (ELM), Defra made £9m available through the Future Farming Resilience Fund to help the industry understand the effects of the changes and prepare for the future. Many of its projects providing the service to farmers have recently been extended, which should be welcomed as farmers face a new future and need to consider how challenges can be addressed and opportunities taken.

Also aimed at helping to address the current challenges faced by the industry, is the UK

government’s agritech strategy, targeted to ensure that the knowledge and insight from the UK’s worldleading science base is translated into benefits for agriculture and society. For the benefit of farming at a local level, the Agri-tech Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Project (ACP) was aimed at encouraging local businesses to develop innovations for farming, as described by its director, Dr Robin Jackson (page 4).

Indeed, this edition is aimed at enlightening readers on a selection of the initiatives supported through the ACP. These range from encouraging beef and sheep farmers to take up rotational grazing (page 12) and already being put into practice (page 25), to helping with the challenges of climate change e.g. soil carbon monitoring (page 8) and the viability and practicalities of utilising herbal leys (page 22). We also include an update on the Future Farm dairy research unit.

Some newer projects are highlighted such as Farm Net Zero (page 26) and Agriculture Bas Carbone Dairy (ABCD) (page 29).

Paul Ward

www.ruralbusinessschool.org.uk

ARABLE: For arable farmers it really seems to be a question of: ‘Is your glass half full or half empty?’ Harvest, whilst not breaking any yield records, turned in a respectable average.

Even more satisfying was that, for the first time in three years, we managed to complete all the planned autumn drilling before Christmas.

Crops generally look good. The winter barley that we made feel very unwell after applying the pre-emergence herbicide and then getting a deluge of 60mm of rain in one day, has recovered. The OSR established well; Cabbage Stem Flea Beetle hasn’t caused an issue so far, although larval counts in the spring may still be an issue, but it has suffered significant damage from large flocks of voracious pigeons.

However, the biggest conundrum we face is the volatility of prices. Market movements since harvest have been dramatic, a bonus for those who had not sold forward and a cruel blow and missed profit opportunity for those who did. Both Feed Wheat and Feed Barley have been trading well over £200 per tonne, whilst OSR has reached incredible levels with prices in excess of £650 per tonne including bonuses. Riding these markets and making the right marketing decisions is difficult; OSR rose

almost €200/t on the MATIF futures in 5 weeks and then promptly lost €100 of that gain in the next 2 weeks.

But there will be no windfall profit.

Agricultural input inflation is at eyewatering levels. Nitrogen fertilisers have more than doubled in price since late May with prices for Ammonium Nitrate hitting close to £700 per tonne. Other key inputs such as Glyphosate have risen by almost 400% in a year with supply as big an issue as the price.

With the volatility, we have seen the risk and working capital carried by the farmer has increased considerably. Couple this with the abolition of BPS that English farmers will have to absorb and the next few years will be challenging. Weather events will continue to have a dramatic impact along with political issues. Wheat markets are currently very sensitive to what President Putin might do in Ukraine.

Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn’t be more fun to spend a week in Vegas and put it all on black!

Mike Hambly, Westcott Farm Partnership, Callington.

ARABLE, BEEF & SHEEP: We must be getting back to some normality

after a long break as I’ve been asked to write a few words. With the dry weather continuing at the moment, some of the out of yard jobs are being done. Crops are looking good, if not a bit too proud. April-lambing ewes are grazing roots and are keeping clean.

Most of our commercial cows are in ready to start calving; they are keeping exceptionally clean due to the dry air. Some pedigree cows have started calving to sexed semen, all good so far, better touch wood!

The biggest fly in the ointment at the moment is the new buzz word, ‘Agri-inflation’. In the last 12 months most commodities have seen a fair increase in price; this is now being eroded by input increases. Alongside this is the reduction in Single Farm Payment, so careful planning for the future needs to be observed!!

Graham Whiting, Looe.

BEEF & LAMB: Cattle At the time of writing beef price is stable at around 405p/kg with various premiums for native cattle; movement is relatively easy at most outlets too; organic UTM cattle have just had a price lift (at some outlets) as numbers coming forward have dropped off and cows Continued on page 25

Industry Comments

The state of farming in the south west - your views.

Here we list some of your comments on the current state of agriculture in the westcountry.

“Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn’t be more fun to spend a week in Vegas and put it all on black!”

For more information If you would like to share your views in a future issue, please contact Paul Ward on 0845 458 7485 or email paul.ward@ duchy.ac.uk

Spring 2022| The Rural Business School | page 3

RBS News

The Agri-tech Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Project – in retrospect.

By Dr Robin Jackson, Director of the Agritech Cornwall & the Isles of Scilly Project & the Rural Business School

Looking back, I should not be surprised at how time has flown by, nor that there would be challenges, as agriculture is such a complex sector.

However, back in June 2017 when the Agri-tech Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Project (ACP) was launched at the Royal Cornwall Show, I doubt any of us would have predicted the last couple of years under Covid.

Since 2017 111 businesses have been supported through Research projects, with Innovation Grants and with support for Graduate Placements.

That said, so much has happened, some of which we would like to share with you in this Rural Business School newsletter. Unfortunately, there is not enough space to do justice to all the work that has been done in the ACP. It will take several editions. I hope that we can continue sharing updates with you as the projects and businesses supported mature and develop now that the ACP is over.

The ACP was designed to support small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) based in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly research and develop innovations for agriculture, the bedrock sector of the Cornish economy.

Back in 2017 there were only a handful of businesses in Cornwall who were developing an agricultural technology.

Since then 111 businesses

page 4 | The Rural Business School | Spring 2022

Dr Robin Jackson

have been supported through Research projects, with Innovation Grants and with support for Graduate Placements.

The ACP has also developed an asset for our region, Future Farm, a dairy systems research and knowledge transfer platform.

The ACP was led by Duchy College (through The Cornwall College Group); our Partners were the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth, Rothamsted Research and the Cornwall Development Company: Plymouth, Exeter, Rothamsted and Duchy undertaking

23 Research projects involving 93 SMEs; Cornwall Development Company providing Innovation Grants to 35 SMEs and Unlocking Potential (also part of The Cornwall College Group) supporting 19 Graduate Placements in 16 SMEs. Cumulatively 37 companies were supported to develop new products, the majority of which were new to market, and several of these companies developed more than one product.

Even though the ACP’s activities finished on the 31 December 2021, the project will have an enduring legacy: there is now a new sector to the Cornish economy - agritech - with a multiplicity of companies providing innovative products and services; a Future Farm platform and several research projects being continued by Partners.

None of this would have been possible without the financial support of the European Regional Development Fund, Cornwall Council, the Council of the Isles of Scilly and the project Partners. Our heartfelt thanks go to all those

involved in the ACP – the Partners, businesses and their staff. There are two other groups that deserve a special mention: our Strategic Steering Group in particular, the industry representatives – Andrew Brewer (Ennis Barton), Bill Clarke (Trewithen Dairy),

Catherine Mead (Lynher Dairies), Dick Sibley (West Ridge Veterinary Practice), Luppo Diepenbroek (Straight Line Nutrition), Malcolm Crabtree, David Rodda (Cornwall Council) and Caroline Drummond (LEAF) – and, finally, to the farmers and growers,

the 83 who were involved in our research trials and the hundreds of others who attended our events.

For those unsung heroes we have not mentioned – apologies, you know who you are.

Let’s Keep in Touch….

We’d like to continue to send you the Rural Business School Newsletter full of the latest developments, training and opportunities within the rural sector.

Please confirm below that you wish to continue to receive the newsletter or we may have to cease all communications with you, to be compliant with the law.

YES, I wish to continue to receive the newsletter NO, I do not wish to continue to receive the newsletter If YES, please indicate your preferred delivery method:

Post to your home address, as given on cover sheet (please amend if any details are incorrect)

Email copy to .......................................................................................................................................

Please return to our FREEPOST address: Rural Business School, Duchy College, FREEPOST SWB40825, CALLINGTON, PL17 8ZZ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------We will never sell your data and we promise to keep your details safe and secure.

You can change your mind at any time by contacting The Rural Business School at: Email: rbs@duchy.ac.uk Telephone: 0845 458 7485 Spring 2022| The Rural Business School | page 5

Not just a carbon copy

By Ruth Wills

This recent initiative means farmers will soon be able to measure soil organic matter and carbon, helping them to manage their soils in a sustainable and profitable way. The Soil Carbon Project was founded to provide better guidance to farmers on measuring their soil health and improve understanding of the link between managing land and soil quality. With future payments favouring farmers whose management practices benefit the wider environment, the project is more important than ever.

Funded by Agri-tech Cornwall, the project was a collaboration between Duchy College’s Rural Business School, Rothamsted Research and Plymouth University, which provided research support to a range of small and medium sized businesses. This research has helped to identify important issues facing farmers. “There has been such negative projection on the carbon produced by agriculture that a lot of farmers are frightened to engage with carbon footprinting, but everyone has to deal with soil, so it’s a practical way to start talking about it,” says Becky Willson at the Farm Carbon Toolkit, one of the businesses that worked with the Soil Carbon research team.

How does it work?

“Over three years we conducted a range of tests looking at soil structure, infiltration, worm counts and aggregate stability – all things that farmers can do for free themselves,” says Ms Willson. “We want to tie those in with soil carbon levels, so farmers can understand if their soils are moving in the right direction.”

An important development has been a new field and laboratory guide aimed at farmers and advisers who want to measure and monitor

The project worked with 86 farmers across a range of soil types, farming systems and management styles to understand in detail what’s going on in the fields.

page 6 | The Rural Business School | Spring 2022

soil carbon changes over time (see page 8). Using experiences from the field, the guide advises on issues related to when and how to take soil samples, as well as the options for lab analysis.

“The guide has lots of practical tips including ensuring consistency for example, if you soil test after harvest and before sowing in the first year of monitoring, then keep doing that and stick to the same lab for every analysis,” explains Dr Stephen Roderick, Research Manager at Duchy College.

The project also helped to establish the impact of different soil management practices.

“We’re aiming to understand what impact things like herbal leys or changing to min-till have on how much carbon the soil is holding,” he adds.

And so far, the results have provided a useful insight. “Across soil types comparing temporary grass (seven years or less) to permanent pasture (eight years or more) The new field and lab guide advises on when and how to take soil samples

up to a depth of 50cm, soil organic matter was 1.71% greater on average with permanent pasture,” explains Dr Hannah Jones, Farm Soils and Carbon Advisor at the Farm Carbon Toolkit.

“Not ploughing increases soil carbon over time, but the benefits were disproportionate in the uppermost layers of soil, compared to at depths of 30cm or greater. Soil type affects the rate of soil organic matter accumulation, with clay soils accumulating carbon at a greater rate,” says Dr Jones.

A variety of crops and soils have been involved in the project, including

arable, vegetables, vineyards and orchards.

“Some of the lowest soil organic matter levels were found in spring oat crops and field beans. This may be because oats and/ or beans are often grown at the end of the rotation when soil structure and quality is at its lowest, just prior to entering the grass ley phase,” she explains.

“Therefore, both the crop and the interaction between points in a rotation need to be considered when determining the relative merits of one crop compared to another.

Across crop types, light soils consistently had lower soil organic matter compared to medium and heavy soil types.”

The data generated from the Soil Carbon project was fed into a carbon calculator, the Farm Carbon Toolkit, which helps farmers see which practices can help them become more efficient at carbon sequestration.

“The calculator allows you to run ‘what if’ scenarios – if you added herbal leys for example, what impact that would have in reduction of fertiliser, nitrous oxide emissions and carbon,” says Ms Willson.

More farmers have since become involved and the project has linked up with a group of Cornwall County Council and Duchy of Cornwall Estate farm tenants – who

are looking at how to enhance natural capital across their farms and estates.

“We have livestock farmers who are carbon positive and others who are carbon neutral; that provides inspiration to other producers,” says Ms Willson. “We now have the data for farmers of similar systems and locations to show it can be done.”

For more information For more information visit www. agritechcornwall. co.uk

Duchy of Cornwall Following the successes of the Soil Carbon project, the Duchy of Cornwall Estate began working with the Farm Carbon Toolkit towards the end of 2020 to engage with their tenants on soil health as a component of their Natural Capital Project. “Soil health is something farmers have been working with forever and there’s so much more information available now,” says Ashley Taylor, assistant land steward at the Duchy of Cornwall Estate. “The aim of working with the Farm Carbon Toolkit is to better understand the condition of the Estate’s soils and make the progressive work that they are doing available to our agricultural tenants.”

Eight tenants from across the Duchy’s two districts have elected to become focus farms on which they and the Duchy are planning to demonstrate exemplary soil management with help from the Farm Carbon Toolkit.

This will help to illustrate how first class environmental management can work in harmony with, and offer benefits to, profitable farming businesses. “The idea is to demonstrate what can be achieved and, critically, the economic impact of achieving it through natural capital accounting,” says Mr Taylor.

“We will not deliver truly sustainable agriculture if businesses and the environment are not working in harmony with each other.”

Duchy College has also embraced the Estate’s Natural Capital Project with open arms. “I think it’s a fantastic learning opportunity for students at the College; with help from the Duchy’s ecologist and natural capital adviser we have presented our thoughts for an integrated environmental plan for the College Farm. This has been complemented by the College’s own ideas, creating a really progressive proposal which has the potential to inform and inspire future generations of farmers.”

Spring 2022| The Rural Business School | page 7

Practical guide to monitoring soil carbon launched

By Ruth Wills

A new practical guide to assessing soil carbon promises to answer farmers’ key questions at a time when many are looking to understand their soil health. Produced by Duchy College, Plymouth University, Rothamsted Research and the Farm Carbon Toolkit, the guide lists and answers key questions for robust on-farm monitoring of soil carbon and associated indicators of soil health.

This is particularly significant given the recent announcement of the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme, which is reliant on a consistent approach to soil sampling.

“In the Soil Carbon Project we were trying to understand the relationship between farm management practices and levels of soil organic matter, as well as issues around how we monitor soil carbon,” said Dr Stephen Roderick, Project Manager at Duchy

South West Farm Consultants’ soil sampling buggy

College. “The guide answers key questions for robust on-farm monitoring of soil carbon and associated indicators of soil health.”

Carbon sequestration plays a key part in climate change mitigation, but soil carbon’s importance goes beyond sequestering as much as possible, said Andy Neal, Research Scientist at Rothamsted. “What’s

much more important are the co-benefits of getting organic matter into soil – organic matter affects how much water and nutrients the soil can store, and can limit the carbon footprint,” he says.

So what tips does the guide include?

Soil sampling - timing “Traditionally the sampling periods are the spring and autumn,”

explains Becky Willson, Business Development and Technical Director at Farm Carbon Toolkit.

“We have been looking at what’s happening at different depths, 0 to 10cm, 10 to 30cm and 30 to 50cm; the important thing is to avoid sampling after cultivation, particularly if it has been ploughed. Leave the fields to settle after cultivation for at least three months,” she adds.

Farmers should sample at the same time each year because seasonality can affect results. “If sampling just for organic matter, in theory the soil can be sampled at any time of year but be consistent with that approach.

If you’re sampling for nutrients at the same time, think about when that fits in best in rotation management.”

Location “When it comes to sample location, it’s best to select fields which represent the

page 8 | The Rural Business School | Spring 2022

variation across the farm, including differences in soil texture, cropping and management,” says Ms Willson.

There are three main options for sampling patterns within a field: Sampling in a ‘W’ configuration, in a linear transect or a grid formation. The guide recommends at least five sample points, although 15 is preferable. Samples can be aggregated, but only on a field or zone basis and they must be well mixed before bagging.

“Robust estimates of soil carbon stocks can be a complicated subject; this guide is designed in collaboration with our research partners to answer those key questions.”

Equipment In terms of equipment, a soil auger is the best implement for the job – but digging a hole and removing soil by hand is fine. Clean buckets and sandwich bags are also necessary for collecting the samples. Farmers should send the samples off as soon as possible, although up to two weeks’ delay is acceptable

if they are refrigerated – this slows the organic matter breakdown.

Analysis In the lab, there are a couple of options for testing organic matter and soil carbon – Loss on Ignition (LOI) and DUMAS. “LOI provides a rough idea of the soil organic carbon content and is generally slightly cheaper; however, it is not standardised between labs making it crucial to stick with the same lab,” explains Jasper Newman, Researcher at the University of Plymouth.

The practical guide, which is based on the latest research, will help farmers, advisers and researchers to adopt the most consistent techniques for monitoring soil carbon – which will become increasingly important as focus on carbon intensifies, says Dr Roderick. “Robust estimates of soil carbon stocks can be a complicated subject; this guide is designed in collaboration with our research partners to answer those key questions. The learnings from the project have informed the Farm Net Zero project (page 26) and now that the Soil Carbon project has come to a close, its activities will continue in Farm Net Zero with the support of the National Lottery Climate Action Fund.”

For more information The practical guide is now available on the Farm Carbon Toolkit website: www.farmcarbontoolkit. org.uk

Spring 2022| The Rural Business School | page 9

Phacelia and oil radish uncovered as soil saviours

By Natalie Noble

Growing phacelia or oil radish cover crops in vegetable rotations helps to build and stabilise soils - with a new trial revealing it could safeguard future productivity. The trial – funded by Agri-Tech Cornwall with land provided by Duchy College - found that phacelia and oil radish outperformed 24 other species and varieties of cover crop, including legumes and oats.

Where a break from brassicas is required, phacelia proved to have the best results whether sown in spring, summer, or autumn – for improving soil organic matter. In contrast, where a break from brassicas is not required, oil radish gave the greatest above ground biomass, improving carbon and nitrogen sequestration.

So what does this mean for growers?

“With increased industry pressure on sustainable food production and more frequent extremes of weather, growers are seeking more ways to

preserve their soils,” said Ian Boase, Vegetable Specialist at Elsoms Seeds, and manager of the independently assessed trial.

tangible improvements in terms of nitrogen and carbon sequestration, nutrients in green material, and feed for the following crop.

“Soil Organic Matter (SOM) plays a crucial role in improving soil structure, health and capacity for carbon, nitrogen, and water storage. An incorporated residue from cover crop biomass is a very effective way of getting organic matter back into soils between cultivations.”

“At >61 days after March drilling, phacelia and oil radish produced 40t/ha and 35t/ha respectively of above ground biomass – each sequestering around 15t/ ha of carbon and 500kg/ ha of nitrogen,” explained Mr Boase. He estimated that between one third and half (166kg - 250kg/ ha) of that nitrogen could be available to the next crop, but further trials are required to quantify this.

In the trial, both phacelia and oil radish produced copious biomass, with

“The fixation of plant available nitrogen from these crops is of particular interest,” he stated. “Where growers may be inclined to look at legumes like clover for nitrogen fixation, the trial has identified a critical limitation; they simply can’t establish quickly enough within a minimum 12-week rotation break.”

Another limitation is predation by pests.

“Egyptian clover was the worst affected by predation with 80% damage,” remarked Mr Boase. “Phacelia and oil radish were less affected,

Trial protocol The trial assessed 26 cover crop species and varieties on objectives like biomass production (residue), carbon nitrogen ratio and sequestration, crop height, ground cover and pest damage. Each of these is valuable in determining production and commercial compatibility.

The cover crops were drilled during the three main vegetable break periods: February to March; mid-August to mid-September; and October. Each had 12 weeks between drilling and destruction, emulating the shortest period possible between rotations.

The trial was independently assessed by Reading University and Duchy College researcher Hannah Jones, with Ian Boase managing the project and assisting in the field.

Each plot was drilled at a standard depth into a randomised plot design at a mid-range seed rate.

Every variety was repeated three times, producing 78 plots per period, each measuring 10.57m2. page 10 | The Rural Business School | Spring 2022

with recorded damage statistically irrelevant.”

cover crops, or ones that are killed over winter for ease of incorporation.

The trial also considered ground cover and crop height, the former an indicator of weed suppression efficacy. Here, oil radish triumphed, reliably covering ground across all three sowing windows. The latter, influencing means of crop destruction and residue incorporation, proved a more complicated matter for growers, as oil radish exceeds 20cm in height.

“Ultimately, the grower needs to know what they want to achieve with a cover crop, said Mr Boase. This may be increasing soil organic matter and nutrient capture, improving soil structure and crop yields, preventing soil erosion or reducing fertiliser inputs.”

Once decided, then you can look at your rotations, available cover crops and destruction method.”

“We didn’t apply any fertiliser, plant protection products, or weed control so it achieved what all growers will be aiming for - low cost” “Single pass systems are increasingly popular, used to reduce soil disturbance and to keep cover crop costs low,” he explained.

“However, the equipment used in single pass systems is designed to go over cereal stubble, so cover crops with residues higher than 20cm are likely to tangle and be problematic.”

As a consequence, growers in these systems will need to favour short

Keeping costs down is also important, which was reflected in the trial.

“We didn’t apply any fertiliser, plant protection products, or weed control so it achieved what all growers will be aiming for - low cost.”

However, the trial results are not the end of the work. The overarching purpose was to identify which species would be suitable for further data analysis and investigation into commercial viability, particularly for vegetable rotations in south west England. “In this region, land is often rented on long term tenancies – we also want to look at whether the new environmental schemes on offer could be applicable,” said Mr Boase.

“We can now explore further, like how much the top performing crops could raise SOM levels and what that means

for soil structure and water holding capacity.

We can also gain a deeper understanding of increases in follow-on crop yields – whether through greater nutrient release or reductions in crop pressures like weeds, pests and disease.”

There were 12 weeks between drilling and destruction

For more information visit www. agritechcornwall. co.uk

CPTC Ltd Assessment Centre We offer assessments for City & Guilds NPTC Certificates in a range of vocational land-based qualifications including Certificates of Competence in: •

Safe use of Pesticides

•

Safe use of All-terrain Vehicles (ATV & UTVs)

•

Forklift Truck Operations

•

Pest Control (rats & mice)

•

Chainsaw and related operations

•

Transport of Animals (short & long journeys)

•

Safe and Responsible Use of Veterinary Medicines Please contact us for all your assessment needs!

Telephone: 01579 372349 / 372285 email: cptc@cornwall.ac.uk Spring 2022| The Rural Business School | page 11

TechnoGrazing

By Melanie Jenkins

TechnoGrazing, a form of managed rotational grazing, could be the answer both to more productive beef farming and meeting socio-economic targets through improved environmental and regenerative impacts.

Regenerative agriculture is not just a trend, it is driving changes to farm management as well as policy, legislation and consumer demands, but it is still an area where further research is needed to understand best practice. There is already a drive towards more carbon-friendly farming, alongside initiatives aimed at improving water quality, with anticipation that both will become increasingly relevant to UK farmers in the near future. Understanding the inter-relation between land management and environmental impact is therefore vital.

Having previously undertaken a study with AHDB to determine the economic and productivity benefits of TechnoGrazing versus setstocking, James Daniel at Precision Grazing also wanted to evaluate the environmental impact of this grazing strategy.

Managed rotational grazing can have positive

impacts including increased soil organic carbon and reduced inputs like fertiliser, but there is currently no peer reviewed evidence to support these claims.

With financial support from Agri-tech Cornwall, Mr Daniel and Rothamsted Research set out to redress this by undertaking a fouryear collaborative project to determine the environmental and sustainability credentials of TechnoGrazing. The study, which began in 2018, is based at Rothamsted Research’s North Wyke site in Devon.

What is TechnoGrazing?

Pioneered in New Zealand, it involves bespoke electric fencing and water supply, with areas of land divided into precise lanes, which are then sub-divided into equally sized ‘cells’. Run using the key principles of managed rotational grazing, TechnoGrazing is planned and monitored to have short grazing periods of one to two days with controlled rest periods and adjustable stocking rates. It involves

page 12 | The Rural Business School | Spring 2022

grazing the maximum number of animals for a minimal time period to optimise pasture utilisation. Adequate rest periods after grazing allow the pasture to recover, promoting species diversity and soil health.

In TechnoGrazing, the allocated grazing area and time is tailored to meet the desired rotation length in line with grass availability, grass growth and quality, liveweight targets and ground conditions. The calibrated nature of the system offers both precision and flexibility, allowing pasture deficits and surpluses to be managed in order to maintain pasture quality and promote animal intake. Paddock areas are easily adjustable and a mobile water supply enables optimal grazing management.

The project Six experimental plots were set up at North Wyke at the start of 2018, consisting of three replicate 1.75ha plots for set-stocking and three 1.0ha plots

for TechnoGrazing. The pasture was last reseeded in 2013 with a perennial ryegrass and white clover seed mix. Plots were paired across grazing treatments to minimise the effects of differing topography, soil type etc, and each plot was individually monitored and managed with all inputs and outputs recorded.

The set-stocked plots were continuously grazed with dairy x beef steers at a fixed stocking rate of around 1,500kg LW/ ha, and received no active management of sward height whereas the TechnoGrazing plots were rotationally grazed with the cattle moving every one to two days and the stocking rate varied depending on pasture growth and availability. Pasture covers were measured weekly using a rising plate meter and feed demand of the animals was estimated based on a % bodyweight calculation, which in turn was used to calculate grazing area to achieve the desired rotation length.

“Determining the forage demand meant that if there was a surplus available, we could add more animals”, explained Dr Jordana Rivero-Viera, Senior Research Scientist at Rothamsted Research.

“If there was a deficit we could reduce the number of animals in the system – which is why regular grass measurement and animal weighing was important. Weekly pasture measurement and monthly weighing is industry best practice.”

The flexibility of TechnoGrazing also means that when the soil gets wet, cattle can be moved more often or given a larger area to reduce soil damage from poaching”, says Dr Sarah Morgan, former Postdoctoral Research Scientist at Rothamsted Research. “This flexibility allows for cattle to be kept out on grass for

more days than usual, even on heavy clay soils.

In 2019, the set-stocked cattle grazed for a total of 175 days whereas the TechnoGrazing animals were at grass for 225 days.”

“In a TechnoGrazing system, the pasture is much more productive as the plants are grazed to a suitable height, then left to recover their root reserves before being grazed again”, explains Mr Daniel. “The plants grow quicker and they have a greater nutrient take up, with better rooting structure. This increased productivity also helps to store more carbon in the soil.”

The impact of grazing management on nutrient flow is also being monitored to identify the soil processes and microbiology that drive

this. “This can be scaled up to farm level and the national landscape”, explained Dr Rivero-Viera.

“If grazing management is affecting the nutrient flow, then this affects the sustainability of the system”.

The project used dairy x beef steers consisting of a mix of breeds including Aberdeen Angus, Hereford, Fleckvieh, Simmental, British Blue and Montbeliarde. These were chosen to recognise the potential of dairy x beef calves to provide a high quality, low carbon source of beef.

Two cohorts of autumnborn dairy x beef steers have been through the systems, with a subgroup of cattle from each treatment being slaughtered straight off grass at the end of their second grazing season (2019 and 2021) at 25-26 months of age, achieving

an average carcase weight of 335 kg, killing out at 51% and average carcase grade of O3.

TechnoGrazing animals were very slightly lighter and leaner compared to the set-stocked animals.

Samples for meat quality analysis were also collected and are due to be analysed for tenderness, fatty acid and mineral profile.

There have been a few setbacks to the project, namely the dry summer of 2018, where farmers across the country struggled to produce enough grass to keep their livestock, and the COVID-19 pandemic. At the start of the project the field had a lot of weed cover and very little clover. “It is important Fig. 1: Botanical Composition at year 1 and year 4

Spring 2022| The Rural Business School | page 13

to remember that the performance is in context to the site”, explains Mr Daniel. “In the first two years, the TechnoGrazing cattle have had to work hard consuming weeds but the improvement in pasture quality and productivity is now really coming through”.

Analysis Data was collected at multiple levels of the production system, including factors relating to soil, pasture, animals, water and air. This was analysed at the end of the project to determine the overall environmental impacts of TechnoGrazing compared to set-stocking.

At the soil level, factors investigated include fertility, compaction and water quality.

Samples were taken and analysed each March for pH, phosphorus,

potassium, magnesium, carbon, nitrogen and some micronutrients.

Compaction was assessed annually, and ground water samples were collected during the winter and analysed for nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon content.

The productivity, nutritional quality and botanical composition of the pasture was also recorded. Weekly rising plate meter measurements were carried out to determine pasture growth, cover and availability. Pasture snip samples were taken fortnightly and analysed in-house using wet chemistry, with a monthly sample sent to an external laboratory to be quickly analysed using near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy. The botanical composition of the pasture was assessed

page 14 | The Rural Business School | Spring 2022

at the start and end of each grazing season.

The effect of management on the animals was determined by recording daily liveweight gain, behaviour, health, welfare, carcase grade and meat quality at slaughter.

Preliminary Results “Now that the project has been running for four years, there are some really interesting and exciting differences starting to emerge between the grazing management approaches”, explained Dr Morgan. “However there is still a lot of unexplained variability in the data which is most likely related to uncontrollable factors such as the weather”. Although there is still more data to come through before a full

analysis can be carried out and firm conclusions made, some of the preliminary results are already showing that: •

TechnoGrazing increases the proportion of sown species, in this case perennial ryegrass and white clover, in a sward, meaning the productivity of a pasture can be sustained for longer and reduce the requirement for reseeding (See Fig. 1).

•

Output per animal is reduced with TechnoGrazing, with DLWG around 27% lower than setstocking. Achieving greater pasture utilisation means DM intake is slightly restricted. The outcome is greater

Fig. 2: Stocking Rate

output per hectare, which was on average 50% higher than set-stocking across the four years of the study.

•

TechnoGrazing is able to support a higher stocking rate, which has increased year on year from just below 2,000 Kg LW/ ha in 2018 to over 3,000 kg LW/ha in 2021, compared to set-stocking which has maintained a stocking rate of around 1,500 Kg LW/ ha. (See Fig. 2)

•

Grazing helps to increase soil organic matter, which improves soil water retention, thus providing drought resistance and helping with flood mitigation as well as soil health and crop productivity. There is some suggestion

that this increase was faster under TechnoGrazing, but more data is required to firm up this conclusion.

•

Similarly, there are suggestions in the data that soil available phosphorus and potassium may increase at a higher rate under TechnoGrazing, even though all plots received the same fertiliser applications.

However more data is required to firm up this conclusion, highlighting the need for long-term studies to assess the impacts of grazing management on such parameters.

Using the same sward composition, livestock and fertiliser inputs: •

Output per hectare has significantly

increased year on year with TechnoGrazing. In 2021, +284 kg LW/ ha was produced under TechnoGrazing compared to setstocking; based on 51% kill out, this has a value of +£507 per ha at £3.50 kg/DW. Since access to land is the main limiting factor for most businesses, the TechnoGrazing system offers the ability to increase production without the cost of extra land (See Fig. 3).

•

With TechnoGrazing, it is possible to improve permanent pasture to a productive level through grazing management alone, with tillage and reseeding not always needed, therefore keeping carbon locked in the soil.

Fig. 3: Total Liveweight Gain per Hectare Although the research funding from Agri-Tech Cornwall has now ended for this project, the team hopes to attract more funding to be able to continue running the experiment longer term.

“Ideally, we could do with another six years”, says Mr Daniel. “The challenge with livestockbased experiments – especially in terms of grazing – is that it takes time for differences to become apparent and uncontrollable factors such as the weather can have a significant impact on performance, as seen during the 2018 drought”.

For more information visit www. agritechcornwall.co.uk

Spring 2022| The Rural Business School | page 15

Reducing starling impacts in cattle housing

By Jez Prins

The project was led by the University of Exeter and its main aim was to reduce the damage caused by starlings to Cornish dairy farms by trialling a new technology called Sonic Nets.

pilot, and complete trials before winter starling flocks dispersed.

Associated with this primary aim were other objectives: to engage with local technical businesses who could design, refine, and manufacture Sonic Nets technology to bring it to market, to engage with regional farming equipment suppliers and pest control businesses who would sell or use Sonic Nets, and to better understand the potential spread of anti-microbial resistance (AMR) within and between farms.

The project also aimed to assess starlings’ role in this and find out if Sonic Nets might reduce the problem. The potential benefits of this last aim include reducing costs to farmers and restricting the spread of drugresistant pathogens, with implications for human and livestock health globally.

Starling damage is seasonal, (November – February) and so the project needed to design,

Fundamental to the project’s success was the expert input of Professor John Swaddle and his research group at the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, USA as well as APT-GB Ltd. based in Liskeard (who built loudspeakers 90% cheaper than commercial hardware) and Be-TaPest and Terminate, pest control businesses based in Falmouth and Mylor, respectively.

Farmers, however, were also crucial to the project.

Trials took place on 13

farms in total and around 30 other farmers had initially helped build a picture of starlingdamage in the area and their experience of existing deterrent technology.

It could be argued that the pandemic has helped raise the importance of the project’s focus on AMR, and that, as a result, its outcomes could prove to have global significance. Specifically, and shorter term, the project succeeded in trialling a new technology in a novel setting; farmers, pest control businesses, and technology businesses have benefitted from collaborating with, or participating in, the project. As well as benefiting these partners, Sonic Nets technology has the potential to be used across regions and sectors where existing technology is failing to halt pest problems.

For more information visit www. agritechcornwall.co.uk page 16 | The Rural Business School | Spring 2022

Speciality Crops

By Jez Prins

The Speciality Crops project run by the University of Plymouth (UoP) aimed to help Cornish businesses and growers to research and evidence the properties of seaweeds and native coastal plants that could be used in skin-care treatments.

Demand among international brands for natural, organic cosmetics and personal care is high, but a lack of research means Cornwall’s rich potential is largely untapped. The county’s advantages – high-value crops and plants and early cropping – have been eroded by advances in growing technology.

If native coastal plants can be successfully incorporated into new skincare treatments and agri-pharmaceuticals, Cornish growers could

see increases in the value of their crops and in their incomes.

Key to this project was developing groundbreaking technology to design a ‘human skin equivalent platform.’

This replicates skin with huge degrees of reality, yielding insights into tissue and cellular ‘events,’ and into the ageing process, which allows the effectiveness of different materials to be tested.

This expertise was not available in the UK, so the UoP collaborated with a US company to develop the skin printer and stretching device. This was used to test products from a number of Cornish SMEs to develop and screen their products for anti-ageing properties that could be used for UV protection and curing conditions such as dermatitis.

protection. The effects of seaweed extracts on wound healing were also evaluated. Research concluded that some specific Cornish seaweeds do contain compounds as commercially sensitive as they are profitable. UoP also collaborated with B Skincare to test the effect of beeswax on human skin and its effects on UV exposure, wound healing and inflammation.

The research partners at the UoP also worked with the Cornish Seaweed Company to analyse their products’ biological functions on human skin cells and found that some were extremely efficient in UV

The UoP intends to help a number of SMEs to capitalise on demand for natural, extracts-based organic cosmetics and personal care. Currently, there is still work to do to establish exactly how these ingredients work, and an urgent need to understand more about – and prove – the biological function of natural, extracts-based products on human skin. Such proof will be essential if Cornish SMEs and growers are to take on the international giants.

For more information visit www. agritechcornwall.co.uk

Spring 2022| The Rural Business School | page 17

Farm visualisation (Viz Ag)

By Jez Prins

To improve efficiency and sustainability, farmers are making increasing use of data gathered onfarm; they are helped to do this by proliferating technologies which collect, sense and interpret this data. Although this means opportunities for businesses which interpret, integrate and visualise data, it is not always a smooth or reliable process. Data collection can be impractical, costly, and, even if successfully completed, data needs to be turned into useable information for the farmer.

Viz Ag’s aim was threefold: to keep datacollection to a bare, cost-effective minimum; to generate it using a proven agricultural model and to develop visualisation tools to keep the farmer usefully and practically informed.

“The project’s work focused on a light-weight version of the well-established SPACSYS model which has been central to numerous research projects for 20 years”

Rothamsted Research (RRes) and Glas Data were the collaborators in the project, which was negatively impacted by various external factors especially Covid. Glas Data had to furlough staff so could not develop a full-visualised model; the previous, web-based prototype had to be used to engage farm businesses in testing and development, a process which, along with other industry events, exhibits, and knowledge-exchange opportunities, was also curtailed by lockdowns and travel restrictions.

The project’s work focused on a lightweight version of the well-established SPACSYS model which has been central to numerous research projects for 20 years.

Outputs consisted of crop productivity, soil carbon and nitrogen budgets, soil water content and water discharge through surface run-off and

page 18 | The Rural Business School | Spring 2022

drainage and expected financial gains/losses (most of which are not readily available in existing management tools).

Although constraints restricted scope to a prototype web-based form, RRes and Glas Data collaborated well and intend to again, especially in light of the reception at workshops and events for the idea of developing a SPACSYS-based decision support tool for onfarm monitoring. The considerable technical expertise already involved in this project has resulted in a

valuable first step being taken. Further steps and future progression and collaboration (in the form of this decision support tool) are exciting and likely.

For more information visit www. agritechcornwall.co.uk

Developing genetic assignment resources for lobster conservation and fisheries traceability (Lobster Genes)

By Jez Prins

The Lobster Genes project aimed to help lobster hatcheries to ensure they were managed in an ecologically and economically sustainable way. The motivation for this was that although hatcheries have reaped the benefits of the species’ population enhancement, their successes have also had some unintended consequences, not all of them beneficial.

In short, the importance of proper genetic management has sometimes been overlooked, mainly because the only available tools to distinguish recaptured hatchery individuals from their natural counterparts have been expensive and unreliable.

The genetic screening techniques developed

and tested through the project, enable lobsters to be identified in three ways: by species, population and family.

These categories help with aquaculture development and stock conservation, as well as seafood traceability.

Practically, this means potentially-invasive American lobsters can be distinguished from their European counterparts; it means enabling the

establishment of regional provenance among catches and it also means accurate identification of pedigrees, parentage and sibships to foster the optimum levels of selective breeding and inbreeding.

Over and above these goals, the work helped develop knowledge and tools which, industry-wide, could help with conservation management, product traceability and bestpractice in new stocking efforts. The European lobster is, pound-forpound, Britain’s most valuable commercial seafood, and the project’s industrial collaborators in Cornwall – the National Lobster Hatchery in Padstow and Wing of St Mawes in Indian Queens – saw the project’s ability to provide this genetic analysis commercially as being key to their businesses’ long-term viability and success.

The project delivered a trio of genetic assignment tools, whose commercial applications became very clear as the project developed, and which will mean conservation measures can be focused on native rather invasive species. By extension, this could lead to producers, processors and retailers being able to prove the provenance of what consumers are eating.

Plans are now being actively pursued with potential customers to put these resources into practice. This also means the project will have lasting impacts on fields as varied as biological conservation, aquaculture development, as well as fisheries traceability.

For more information visit www. agritechcornwall.co.uk

Spring 2022| The Rural Business School | page 19

Virtual tree mapping

By Richard Maxwell, COO, Tremap Mapping every tree in the world and creating the most accurate tree database is a bold ambition, but one that technology company, Tremap, is aiming to achieve with its mobile phone app. Quite simply, Tremap is a smart-phone based app that lets anyone geo-position and digitally label trees. It adds them to our global database and users can then view those virtual trees on a map.

We firmly believe that key to the whole global initiative to preserve our tree ecosystem is the ability to know, digitally, where trees are. We believe that by transferring physical trees into the virtual space, they can be made much more “visible,” accessible and relevant to people in their daily lives. We aim to create a connection between people and trees, and, by making them digital objects, turn

them into something far more than “just a tree.”

Trees can be mapped for many different purposes, explains Tremap owner, Jonathon Jones OBE. “It might be for protecting a tree, checking its DNA, collecting seed or building biodiversity knowledge – these are only possible if we know where trees are.” Supported by an Innovation Grant from the Agri-tech Cornwall

page 20 | The Rural Business School | Spring 2022

Project, Tremap has been developing the app in the UK and North America.

It has worked with large apple orchards in Canada that want to map every tree to help breed apples with particular flavours.

There has also been interest in the technology from the US-based Smithsonian Institution, as well as the Eden Project.

“It is interesting to see what problems Tremap can help solve. Some COP26 delegates were held up on their rail journey to Glasgow by trees that had fallen on the line. Tremap could

have been helpful in getting them reported and cleared up,” said Mr Jones. “As well as potential commercial and service applications, the technology can also be used to virtually label trees in large gardens or arboreta, saving time and money when creating tree databases and avoiding problems with physical labels,” explains Mr Jones. “Existing methods of labelling and recording trees are cumbersome – what used to take hours takes seconds with Tremap.

Traditional labels can be swapped around or broken down by animals, sunlight and frost.”

Tremap desktop interface

Virtual labels In tree collections open to the public, visitors can get information about the tree from their phone.

“There could also be a phone-based guide to the collection, updated each year, avoiding the need for maps,” says Mr Jones. Information from tree databases can be exported into Tremap and vice versa, making collections cheaper and easier to manage, he adds. “While we could label every tree on earth by 2030, it is more about escalating the process.

With a small effort we could learn far more about existing trees.”

Mr Jones has been talking with some of the COP26 sponsors, who are interested in protecting trees. It is about positioning, protecting and then planting them.

Usually, it is done the

other way around which is why loss rates are so high. Individuals also want to be involved and Mr Jones says there is potential for a ‘citizens’ army’ to map trees using the app.

Some of the directions Tremap intends to develop: 1. Positioning Tremap as the simple tool for managing tree collections and for providing a slick, effective virtual visitor experience tool for gardens and arboreta. We want to help them to do away with physical labelling systems and replace paper-based maps for their visitors.

2. Integrating Tremap into citizen’s volunteer tree care groups. Councils are forming these groups to engage the public in preserving urban forests and to offset their costs

in monitoring tree health and risks.

Tremap could be an accessible “citizen’s tool” for reporting disease cases, fallen trees or limbs, risk to power lines and structures and infractions of TPOs. 3. Tremap as a tree inventory management platform for orchards in the UK and overseas. Niche cider producers in Canada who have started zero-wastage, crowd-sourced apple collection operations are interested.

4. A “Land Availability for Tree Planting” brokerage system for local councils and other government agencies, NGOs and Not-for-profit organizations. All too often, these entities have budgets allocated, deadlines to meet, and trees actually available,

ready to plant, but they simply cannot find suitable areas of land for their projects. Often private land owners and commercial land owners have smaller areas of land that could be used to plant trees. The Tremap registery/ brokerage system acts as a broker/ coordinator between tree planters and landholders. Tremap offers advocacy and legal advice to the private landholder to encourage them to make their land available and offers a very efficient solution to councils who don’t have the time and resources to search out all of these locations.

For more information visit www.tremap.com

Spring 2022| The Rural Business School | page 21

Toolbox of Multi-species Swards website and app launched

By Gemma Eales, Research Leader

The Toolbox of Multi-species Swards (TOMS) project was a collaboration between the Rural Business School and Rothamsted Research at North Wyke in Devon, and aimed to evaluate multi-species sward yield and forage quality at farms across Cornwall, benchmarked against a simple ryegrass and white clover mix, and the farmer’s own control ley, as well as at replicated plot trials at North Wyke. In addition, the TOMS project also evaluated existing research, sought farmers’ experiences and produced easy to use tools.

The project came about through feedback from the farming community that although there was an increasing interest in multi-species swards (also known as herbal leys and diverse forages), there was a lack of easily accessible information about their establishment, management and use.

TOMS was funded by the Agri-tech Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly project and has worked closely with a number of small to medium sized

Cornish businesses to address their research needs around herbal leys, and all research activity undertaken by the project has been in order to provide answers to these questions.

The project included two years of field research on commercial farms (including dairy, beef and sheep and mixed enterprise types) and plot trials, and the findings from the project have now been released on the recently launched project website: www. multispeciessward.co.uk.

The website contains a number of proven benefits of multi-species swards (MSS), which resulted from an in-depth literature review of 77 peer-reviewed papers.

The review indicated that MSS were better able to supress weeds than a simple one- or The app includes species identification and traits scores for 17 species

page 22 | The Rural Business School | Spring 2022

two-species control sward, and they also had more potential to reduce nitrogen leaching than the control.

The website also includes the results of a perception survey of farmers, which aimed to understand what both users and non-users of MSS felt about them, along with any potential barriers to their uptake.

For example, there was universal agreement that herbal leys offer benefits to pollinators and other wildlife alike, and both groups were positive about the palatability of diverse swards. However, both groups were less clear on the ease of ensiling a herbal ley, and concerns over seed cost meant that it is a potential barrier to uptake.

The results thus far of the farm and plot trials are also outlined on the website and include details of the project design and methodology.

Data was obtained for

a number of factors, including yield, forage quality, micronutrient content, establishment aspects and soil and water quality. Initial results indicate that there is no yield penalty from growing MSS, with yields not differing significantly from those from the ryegrass and white clover control swards. Of the 18 species sown in the “TOMS mix”, the most common species found on the farm sites (present in over 50% of quadrats sampled), were ryegrass, white clover, plantain, chicory, timothy, yarrow, festulolium, cock’sfoot and red clover. The results from the first year of farm trials also showed no differences in forage quality parameters (crude protein, metabolisable energy and digestibility) between the herbal ley and the control, which would suggest there is no quality penalty from growing a herbal ley as opposed to a rye-grass and clover sward.

The mineral content of the swards is a complex issue, influenced by a number of factors including species abundance and season, and work in this area is still on-going. Results from the TOMS trials also indicate that herbal leys leached less total nitrogen and nitrates than the control, which could have important ramifications for water quality and the protection of water courses.

In addition to the website, the TOMS project has also released the Multi-species Sward app, which has three functions: to help with the identification of 17 common herb, grass and legume species; to provide comparisons of species functional traits, including digestibility, persistence, and drought tolerance amongst others; and also a

function for monitoring the composition of a sward over time. The survey function is intended to help farmers and advisers record what establishes and persists in their farm conditions, which can help with the design of future mixes, thus ensuring that only species that will thrive are sown, saving the farmer money and increasing the success of future swards.

The app is free to download on Android platforms, just search “Sward app” in the Play Store and look for the chicory flower icon. More information can be found on the TOMS website, where there is also a link to download the app.

In order to include those users without smartphones or Android devices, hard copy cards

have also been produced which include the species traits and photographs of different growth stages to aid with identification. An e-set of these cards, along with a “print-at-home” PDF set are also available to download from the TOMS website.

For more information Please contact the TOMS project team on: multispeciessward@ cornwall.ac.uk

Devon Agri Tech Accelerator Devon County Council have launched a £500,000 pilot scheme supported through the Community Renewal Fund to help Devon’s agricultural sector called DATA (Devon Agri-Tech Accelerator). The overall aim of this project is to support existing AgriTech businesses with their innovations and to create a community between Agri-Tech businesses and farms, using

government funding to: reduce Devon’s carbon footprint, enhance farm productivity, keep a localised economy, and grow the agriculture and Agri-Tech business sector in Devon.

Devon County Council will be working with Business Information Point, the Rural Business School, and the University of Plymouth on the

project which will cover four key areas of work; knowledge exchange and voucher scheme pilot; building an Agri-Tech Alliance, and research & mapping.

In addition, there will be two showcase events (hosted by the University of Plymouth) where farmers and stakeholders can learn more about the latest research, processes

and opportunities within Devon’s Agri-Tech sector.

For more information Please visit: https:// businessinfopoint. co.uk/data/ https://www.devon. gov.uk/economy/ devon-agri-techaccelerator-data/

Spring 2022| The Rural Business School | page 23

Climatehub

By Jez Prins

New and high-value crops are increasingly thriving thanks to recent temperature rises. As the climate keeps changing, so new crops will become viable, and those currently grown in small quantities will be able to be cultivated more widely. However, they need specific microclimatic conditions to thrive. Being able to identify exactly the best places for them will maximise their chances of success; standard temperature sensors cannot accurately measure temperatures relatively close to the ground in direct sunlight.

Climatehub led by the University of Exeter, developed state-of-the art farm- and field-scale climate and crop models to show the specific areas of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly best suited to growing such crops, now and in future.

The project partner, Farm Cornwall, is using Field testing in Cornwall

the maps developed to deliver sound, practical advice to farmers and horticulturalists.

In partnership with Empowerment Innovation & Resource Ltd, a new temperaturesensor capable of accurately measuring microclimatic conditions was designed. The product underwent field testing in Cornwall and

prototypes were tested across Europe.

to assess crop pest and disease risk.

Alongside the sensor, the project yielded open-source software for high-resolution climate modelling and for high-resolution crop suitability modelling, as well as developing climate and crop suitability maps. Climatehub has also triggered inward investment and skills to Cornwall through a Research Councilfunded PhD and funding from Defra to use the same climate models

The main aim was to develop and make publicly available crop suitability maps for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, and to embed these in a web platform to help Farm Cornwall. The work done to develop a thermal sensor helped develop a low power-consumption, battery-operated data logger with much wider applications than thermal sensing.

Market opportunities and partner businesses with whom to work on further development of and potential applications for this device are being explored.

For more information visit www. agritechcornwall.co.uk

page 24 | The Rural Business School | Spring 2022

Industry Comments Continued from page 3 are also in good demand currently with a base of around 305p – 310p/kg (with a small premium for organic).

last year; this I feel was my fault in allowing the wholecrop wheat to be too mature (must make sure I make time to inspect crops this year).

Lamb In recently weeks we have seen a fall in the deadweight lamb price; this has been caused by a number of factors •

•

•

Exchange rate – we are dominated now

by Irish companies and Irish lamb has been available at around 55p/kg cheaper than British.

Lots of lambs currently available in Spain and France - so lower export numbers.

High numbers coming on to the market; some producers have lost grass keep earlier this year due to worrying high fertiliser prices.

Price however is looking likely to improve as we move forward into 2022.

Soaking the wholecrop overnight in the feeder wagon means the grain is digested. The robot herd is milking about 6 litres more than the parlour herd though with lower solids. Fertiliser price has concentrated our minds on improving our slurry utilisation and justifies carting manure further to our maize ground and investment in a new slurry tanker with dribble bar. Silage stocks are good and will last through until new crops are ready, which is always a relief at this time of year.

At the end of January, you have to remind yourself cutting silage is only 11 weeks away!!!

By which time, I should have recovered from my second hip operation due in a week’s time (I hope!).

Simon Ward, ST & AL Ward, Wadebridge.

Shelley Lockett, CQLP DAIRY: With escalating costs of production and a milk price at last increasing, we are trying to concentrate on looking after cows the best we can. Milk yields are good, but slightly down on

SHEEP: January tends to be the quieter(?) month in my farming calendar, when I get chance to take stock and look at how our farm has performed in the last growing season.

This is especially

interesting when looking at my sheep flock, which we single sire mate as part of the AHDB Ram Compare project. By using performance recorded rams (EBVs), it’s always interesting to see how the different breeds and rams rank in our grass based system.

Generally, as farmers, the figure we all look at is always average £ returned per lamb. This year we had a spread of £12 a head from best to worst. But is that as far as we need to look when deciding the best ram?

With high selling prices this autumn/winter, it has elevated the slower growing animals to show a good return, but to what cost?

My quickest finishing ram’s lambs finished an average of 70 days earlier than the slowest ram’s – but looking at the return, they were worth £12 less, so are we worse off?

•

Grass @10p/day = £7

•

Seeing/moving @2p/ day = £1.40

•

Handling 5 extra times @40p = £2

•

Extra treatments 60p

That’s £11, but without any losses, or factoring in that they are eating grass that we could be feeding our ewes, instead of more expensive fodder or concentrates. I would also say this has been an unusual year to see such

a price rise going into the autumn.

Next year with the majority of costs likely to be higher, how much more will that 70 days cost us? It has been lovely this autumn/winter to receive a high price for our lambs, but for me, a finished lamb sold earlier in the year is more profitable. Using EBVs enables me to select rams with faster growth, which are advantageous for my system.

Also, with the aim of farming to be carbon neutral by 2040, what are the carbon implications of an extra 70 days on farm? The quicker animals are finished, the lower the emissions.

The farm is also part of the AHDB Strategic Farm project. Over the past 3 years, we have moved from a set stock system to rotational grazing. This has meant putting fences back into our larger fields to create smaller paddocks, and moving our grazing animals every two to three days.

After lambing, we graze all 500 ewes with lambs as one flock (over 1,200 head), rotating through 9 paddocks of approx. 7 acres. Unsurprisingly, the sheep soon get used to being moved on a regular basis!

Continued on page 30

Spring 2022| The Rural Business School | page 25

Farm Net Zero

By Alex Bebbington, Project Officer Following the success of the Soil Carbon Project, the Rural Business School was awarded over £1.2million from the National Lottery’s Climate Action Fund to deliver ‘Farm Net Zero’.

This community-led project involves the Rural Business School, the Farm Carbon Toolkit, Westcountry Rivers Trust, Innovative Farmers and Innovation for Agriculture. The main aim is to help the farmers of East Cornwall reduce their carbon footprints and reach Net Zero over five years from 2021.

Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture have been in the spotlight in recent years, with the UK Government committing to moving the country to net zero emissions by 2050 – and the National Farmers’ Union setting the agriculture industry the challenge of reaching the same goal by 2040.

However, there are still questions about the most effective way to achieve this. Farm Net Zero will therefore work with a core community of 40 Monitor Farmers and 3

Demonstration Farms to investigate where changes can be made to their carbon footprints.

Farm Net Zero is an exciting opportunity for farmers to lead the development of net zero practices at this important time for agriculture and society as a whole. There is a lot of valuable work going on in this sector and we look forward to bringing the community together to share this knowledge.

So far, the three Demonstration Farms have held their launch events in the autumn of

page 26 | The Rural Business School | Spring 2022

2021. Led by the Farm Carbon Toolkit (FCT) team, the Demonstration Farms have the target of reaching Net Zero over the course of the project.

At each launch event, the farmers outlined where they plan on making changes to their system to achieve this target.

Ennis Barton Andrew and Claire Brewer farm 1,000 acres, milking 500 Kiwi-cross cows and letting land for potatoes and cabbages. Much of the grazing platform is in herbal leys, with a grazing trial designed by the FCT team to compare cow productivity on

Ennis Barton Farm

herbal leys compared to ryegrass and clover.

Andrew explained that this will identify whether the herbal leys can maintain or even improve productivity while reducing inputs, with associated benefits to the farm’s carbon footprint. Soil health and carbon content will also be measured in both sward types to assess any differences.

Calves are housed on woodchip bedding; this is free-draining and cleaner than alternatives,

grasses and brassicas which is then mob grazed by store cattle.

Tim is aiming to see how quickly soil carbon can be accumulated and soil biology promoted through the combination of the rooting diversity and the grazing, trampling and dunging of the cattle.

which has had clear benefits for the health of the calves. There are plans to investigate the effect on the carbon footprint of woodchip over straw, including how to compost the woodchip and its influence on soil health and carbon once it is applied to the field.

Blable Farm Mike, Alison and Sam Roberts own 500 acres with 150 Stabiliser suckler cows. Rotational grazing and herbal leys Erth Barton Farm

have been adopted to increase productivity with minimal inputs. Some stock are outwintered, on both deferred grass and stubble turnips and rape. The Roberts will be trialling the use of a diverse cover crop for outwintering, to understand the effect on soil health and whether pastures can be reseeded with minimal cultivation, to the benefit of the farm’s carbon footprint.

One of the main innovations at Blable is the use of green waste compost as bedding. The

Blable Farm

compost has reduced the need for purchased straw, and nutrient analysis as part of a trial managed by the FCT team showed that the dirty compost bedding had more available N, P and K than the equivalent straw bedding. This has had major financial and carbon savings through reduced fertiliser requirements, as well as improving soil health and potential carbon sequestration via the addition of organic matter to the soil.

Erth Barton Tim and Claire Williams contract farm 300 acres on the Antony Estate, taking land back from the previous tenant as it is cleared after harvest.

This land goes into a super-diverse cover crop containing 30 different species of herbs, legumes,

Compost is another feature at Erth Barton, with Tim and Claire making compost following a process developed by the Land Gardeners. The compost is used in three ways: as a liquid spray (compost tea), as a coating for seeds prior to drilling and as a direct amendment to the field. The FCT team have set up trials to monitor changes in soil health and carbon in areas with and without compost addition to determine its effectiveness.

Attendance at all three Demonstration Farm events was very good, with fantastic discussions breaking out across the group.

For more information To follow progress of the Demonstration Farms subscribe to the Farm Net Zero newsletter at https:// farmcarbontoolkit. org.uk/farm-net-zero/

Spring 2022| The Rural Business School | page 27

Cows move into Future Farm

By Paul Ward

A landmark was reached at the end of 2020, when Duchy College’s dairy herd moved into the new ‘Future Farm’ (FF) dairy unit at West Coombeshead Farm. After a settling in period, the first research trials are starting.

The use of high-quality synthetic translucent roof sheeting for the unit, allows improved daylight entry without extra radiant heat being created inside the building. Furthermore, its low weight compared to conventional materials permits the use of automatic mechanical ventilation systems for optimum relative humidity. This precluded the requirement for a typical single span cow cubicle shed with central ridge outlet to facilitate natural ventilation. In turn, this allowed a significant reduction in the steel required for construction and therefore reduced financial and carbon cost compared to a more conventional design, in addition to the lower profile and visually appealing building.

Inside, the cow cubicles were designed using optimal dimensions from flexible materials to allow cows to stand up and lie down without fear of injury and with mattresses for maximum comfort. Animal welfare is further enhanced through the automatic

399 days) and lowered culling rate (40% to 30%), the reduced feed usage, and an increased margin over purchased feed/ litre. This also links into a much-improved carbon footprint/litre of milk produced.

feeding system, capable of feeding a total mixed ration up to five times per day, which with the provision of optimal feed spacing and feed rail height, ensures that cattle always have access to high quality feed.

High standards of animal health are maintained through the use of the latest milking technology including automatic cluster removal and flushing to reduce mastitis incidence.

Rubber matting along with automatic scrapers and non-slip grooves in the concrete floors and slatted covers to slurry channels ensure hygienic conditions are maintained and lameness controlled.

The immediate impact on the dairy herd in terms

page 28 | The Rural Business School | Spring 2022

of animal welfare has seen an increase in cows lying (from a sub-optimal 60% to an optimal 80%) and ruminating with improved rumen fill (score 3-4) following the move to FF. Herd somatic cell counts were reduced from a sub-optimal 178,000s/ml, indicating significant mastitis infection to 62,000s/ml, indicating extremely low mastitis infection.

The impact on production included an increase of 400 l/cow per annum (7,900 to 8,300l), a milk protein increase from 3.26 to 3.38% and butterfat from 3.60 to 4.20%.

This brought in an extra £40,000 income for the unit. This is without considering the increased fertility (calving interval reduced from 414 to

The facility embraces a host of features, including an ability to split the College’s herd into three mini herds, allowing the comparison of different feeding regimes and management techniques.

There is a computerised, precision-control robotic feeding system, plus an ability to separate slurry and manure from the different groups of animals, allowing multiple research projects to be run simultaneously – including ones exploring the storage, spreading and treatment of slurry.

The main initial work is a feeding trial under the Agriculture Bas Carbone Dairy project, studying the effect of removing soya from dairy cow diets (page 29), but work is also starting on investigating the effect of a slurry additive and a mineral block.

Carbon-cutting farm project gets underway

By Jacob Double, Communications Lead

Cornwall’s pioneering agricultural research and education facility at Duchy College, Stoke Climsland, has kick-started its first international carbon-cutting project. Working with Cornwall Council, local farmers, the council of Finistère and Trévarez Research Station in Brittany, France, the research team at Duchy College’s Future Farm will look at ways of reducing the carbon footprint of dairy farming in Cornwall and across the Channel.

The project took its first major leap in the autumn when a delegation representing Département du Finistère, and leading farming research organisations from the region, visited Future Farm to see the leading research facility in person. Paul Ward, farm Research Manager at Duchy College’s Rural Business School (RBS), commented, “It is incredibly exciting to be embarking on this project with colleagues across the Channel to further the Cornwall-Finistère cooperation. We have spent three days showing our French research Research team members at Future Farm

partners around Future Farm, where most of the research will take place, as well as some of the local farms we work with”.

“At a time when climate change is so firmly part of the international agenda, it’s important to be working on projects such as this that will make a meaningful and lasting difference to cutting carbon emissions and increasing carbon capture in agriculture, both here in the UK and now around the world. What makes it even more important is that our students at Duchy College will not only have access to the research - they will be placed at the heart of it. Which means we are

creating a legacy that will see cutting-edge research put into practice for generations to come, helping to make farming more sustainable for the future.”

The ABCD (Agriculture Bas Carbone Dairy) project, which is funded by the European Regional Development Fund, focusses around reducing methane produced by dairy cattle, zoning in particularly on the food they are fed, and the carbon footprint of getting it to the farm.

From this, the team at RBS want to calculate the net emissions that the herd are producing, monitored from cutting-edge sensors placed around

the farm and near the cows themselves.

The project will also run knowledge transfer events to assist Cornish dairy farmers to reduce the carbon footprint of their farms.

Gaïd Carval, Finistère/ Cornwall cooperation officer and part of the delegation from France commented, “We are happy to be working with Duchy College on this exciting project. By sharing our expertise and working together, we hope to make a real difference in giving new solutions to dairy farmers to reduce their carbon footprint.”

For more information regarding Future Farm paul.ward@duchy.ac.uk or call 0845 458 7485 Spring 2022| The Rural Business School | page 29

A warm welcome to Jodie Cutler, the new Curriculum Area Manager for Land & Environment

By Zara Fullbrook, Area Marketing Executive

worked with so many inspirational people from key conservation projects.

I left Living Coasts in 2012 to move back north where I accepted the role of Deputy Manager for Aquarium and Aquatic projects at Chester Zoo.

Jodie Cutler, the new Curriculum Area Manager for Land & Environment based at our Stoke Climsland campus recently joined us.

Hi Jodie - Can you tell us a little more about your background?

I graduated with honours in Marine Biology in 2004.

After finishing university, I travelled the world spending a lot of time volunteering in Australia and Fiji. When I returned

to the UK in 2006, I began my career path as a Junior Aquarist and Educator for SeAquarium. I climbed the ladder quickly and soon was promoted to Aquarist at West Midlands Safari Park.

From there, I advanced to Living Coasts in Torquay, where I spent several years as Head Aquarist/ Keeper. Working at Living Coasts were some of the best days in my career and I met and

Sounds fantastic.

How did you get into education?

I spent several years working at Chester Zoo before a twist of fate saw me chancing upon an education role based at Reaseheath College in Nantwich.

I started as Course Manager for the Aquatic Ecosystems & Fisheries Management course. I went on to complete my teacher training and after a number of years was promoted to Programme Leader for the Academy of Land and Environment.

There, I assisted in the management of the agricultural programmes,

floristry and horticultural provision and finally the suite of countryside programmes to include fisheries, conservation, forest & arboriculture and game management.

Lucky for us, it’s led you to Duchy College. What are your goals for your new role at our Stoke Climsland campus?

With my passion for wildlife, the environment and conservation, I’m constantly grateful being fortunate enough to work in a field linking together my passions. I have high hopes and expectations for my department moving forward and hope to implement some new and exciting things.

Education is key; learners are at the heart of what we do and I strive to be an inspirational figure in these young peoples’ lives.

Advice Days

Industry Comments Continued from page 25 We have found that by regularly moving on to fresh pasture, the ewe body condition and lamb daily liveweight

gains have been better than when we were set stocking. By letting each paddock rest for about 21 days, we are

page 30 | The Rural Business School | Spring 2022

growing more grass without having to add extra artificial fertiliser.

This has meant that we are currently keeping

more sheep on the same acreage than we ever have.

Adrian Coombe, Dupath Farm, Callington.

Outstanding Duchy College student wins Academic Partnership Prize where few start from outside the sector. As an undergraduate, Ellen blossomed as she demonstrated the drive, determination and diligence towards her work, which led to her success.

Ellen Pearce of Yeoford near Crediton has been awarded the Academic Partnership Prize from the University of Plymouth (UoP). Ellen was an outstanding student who achieved a First Class honours degree in Rural Business Management in 2020 and was up against contenders from all UoPaccredited degree courses run by the Cornwall College Group.

Ellen progressed from a Level 3 to a FdSc Agriculture course at Duchy College before topping up with the BSc (Hons) Rural Business Management course.

Ellen had showed determination to enter the farming industry,

Furthermore, she was always keen to support her fellow students and led a team, which achieved outstanding success in the development of a marketing plan in conjunction with Trewithen Dairy, a key employer and regional milk processor.

Outside her academic studies, Ellen is a keen member of Cheriton & Tedburn Young Farmers, where she is well-known for utilising her excellent skills in organising the younger members to improve their agricultural and social skills to facilitate their progress in the farming industry.

The views expressed in this newsletter do not necessarily represent the views of the Rural Business School, Duchy College or The Cornwall College Group.

Miscellany A CRISPR wheat may lower cancer risk | New Scientist, 2 October2021 Field trials of a CRISPR gene edited wheat created at Rothamsted Research have begun. Bread made from the wheat will have lower levels of the cancer-causing substance, acrylamide. Gene editing techniques such as CRISPR involve changing an organism’s existing DNA, whereas earlier genetic engineering often involved adding extra DNA from other organisms.

Brewing milk | News Scientist, 14 August 2021 ‘Real’ milk and egg made without animals will soon be on the menu. A company in the USA is using ‘precision fermentation’, which consists of genetically engineered microorganisms to produce ‘milk’. The milk produced is claimed to be identical to the real thing. Other companies are also likely to be following suit. Similar processes are now used to produce rennet – some 90% is now produced in this way, rather than from calf stomachs. ‘Whey proteins’ are being produced in a fungus for vegan ‘ice cream’, also in the USA. Vegan fermented ‘cheese’ is likely to be available in 2022.

Cattle gene-edited to survive climate change | New Scientist, 10 October 2020 CRISPR gene editing has been used to create a Holstein -Friesian calf with grey patches instead of black ones, so it will absorb less heat in New Zealand. The PMEL gene in foetal skin cells was changed using CRISPR.

Don’t kill, repel | New Scientist, 5 June 2021 Scientists in Australia have trialled the concept of using insecticides to protect crops rather than killing pests. They are aiming to protect crops to secure food production, but not necessarily killing the insects.

They have found that using insecticides at low concentrations stops insects from feeding on crops.

This would reduce the cost, reduce leaching into the environment and avoid killing beneficial insects.

Most SUV sales are to city dwellers | New Scientist, 17 April 2021 Sports utility vehicles (SUVs) are designed for off-road use, but a report by charity, Possible, found that 74% of those bought in the UK since 2018 were registered to urban buyers.

Spring 2022 | The Rural Business School | page 31

Martha Richards and Hugo Ellis win RABDF Farm Health Management Awards 2021 Martha Richards, from near Helston, a student on Duchy College’s BSc (Hons) Agriculture course has won the 2021 Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF) Farm Health Management Awards.

Martha said, “Amazing – I can’t quite believe it!” when she was told.

Hugo Ellis from Brixham made it a double act as runner up in the category for students studying agriculture at colleges across Britain. It is open to agriculture, livestock and veterinary students from any course year – including postgraduate students.

The competition, sponsored by Volac, is organised to raise awareness of the importance of proactive farm health planning among younger members of the industry.

The entrants had to prepare a 1,500-word essay demonstrating their understanding of proactive health planning.

They were asked to identify the barriers to adopting such a strategy and how to overcome those issues to improve health and profitability.

Students undertook the task as part of their Managing Animal Production module and Martha and Hugo were two of three chosen to represent the College.

It was judged by a panel consisting of a farm manager, a practising farm vet and chaired by dairy consultant, John Sumner. Mr Sumner, who has judged the competition since it began in 2007, said the quality of entries this year was some of the best they have had. “In all three categories, the winners and runners up were very hard to separate, almost interchangeable.

Martha introduced SMART objectives, which went beyond the farm gate,” he added. He also confirmed that Duchy College has had the highest success rate of any College or University over the duration of the competition.

Rachel Bowcott, Operations and Project Manager at RABDF commented, “The standard was high and Martha was a very deserving winner.” Martha commented, “Despite the challenges of studying for a degree during the Covid-19 pandemic, the knowledge I have gained over the years has

page 32 | The Rural Business School | Spring 2022

inspired me not only to enter this competition, but also to pursue a career in the dairy industry.”

Hugo remarked, “As a student at Duchy College, I am lucky to be supported by a wealth of knowledge in the agricultural industry, especially in the dairy sector. We are taught best practices in livestock systems to meet the changing needs of the industry. Entering RABDF’s Animal Health Competition has enabled me to put my knowledge into practice and to discuss the importance of animal health and proactive health planning, which can be seen in today’s thriving dairy businesses across the country.”

Paul Ward of the Rural Business School and Programme Manager commented, “Martha and Hugo did very well to win, producing essays of top quality. This reflects the expertise that Duchy College and in particular, the Rural Business School,

has built up as a result of running successful knowledge exchange programmes such as ‘Healthy Livestock’ and more recently ‘BVD – Stamp It Out’ with farm vets and the livestock sector across the south west. This is illustrated by the fact that the approaches to the prevention and control of both Johne’s disease and BVD, piloted in the south west have now been adopted at national level”.

Roger Clarke, former Curriculum Area Manager Land based and Environment, added, “This was an excellent opportunity for students to apply knowledge gained from their studies and develop innovative, but realistic solutions. We aim to develop our students’ professional skills and to see that they have achieved this through such competitions is an honour.”

Their awards will be presented at Dairy-Tech in April.

Stop Press - Louise Miscellany cont’d from page 31 Harrison, star degree Goat milk could make cheaper cancer drugs |New Scientist, 20 June 2020 student, qualifies for 2022 finals!

Louise Harrison from near Tavistock has just been advised that she has reached the finals of the 2022 Farm Animal Health Management Awards, to be held at Dairy-Tech at Stoneleigh Park in April.

A thrilled Louise responded, “Surprised and really pleased that my essay has been selected! I have really enjoyed studying on the BSc Agriculture course at Duchy College and

I am passionate about the need to transition to sustainable agriculture.

My research has highlighted for me the benefits of proactive farm health planning as an essential tool for animal health and welfare, but also to facilitate an innovative and business minded approach to farm management.”

Louise Harrison, who has won through to the national Farm Animal Health Management Award finals

Scientists in New Zealand have genetically modified goats to produce cetuximab, a common bowel cancer drug. The goats produced 10g/litre of milk, so with an average lactation of 800 litres, could generate up to 8kg of the drug per annum. There was no effect on the goats’ health.

Government to unlock investment in geneedited crops | New Scientist, 9 October 2021 Following its consultation on gene-editing earlier this year, the UK government has announced that it plans to introduce legislation that treats gene-edited crops and livestock that mimic the effects of natural breeding differently to genetically modified crops (GM). This approach signals a post-Brexit divergence from the EU and will facilitate the running of trials on gene-edited crops in England. The rule changes will not allow gene-edited food to be sold, but that may change in the future.

How to grow metal | New Scientist, 9 January 2020 Plants take up minerals via their roots from the soil and some are very rich in certain minerals, which are in high demand. They could be utilised to ‘grow’ metal.

Indeed the first metal farms are being set up in China and Malaysia to do just this. Nickel is an example and was found in a brassica with levels 2,000 times higher than a cabbage. These ‘hyperaccumulators’ are typically found in soils close to past tectonic activity where minerals have been pushed up close to the earth’s surface. In Borneo, Phyllanthus, a woody shrub is being grown and pulped to extract nickel.

It’s time to take methane seriously | New Scientist, 4 December 2021 At the COP26 climate summit, methane was finally taken seriously and 100 nations agreed to a cut in emissions by 2030. Although levels plateaued in the early 2000s, they have been rising since then. Stopping leaks in the fossil fuel industry would allow for a 25% reduction; capturing methane from landfills and draining rice paddies would also help and along with a reduction of methane from cattle, a 30% cut would be possible. Despite much discussion in Glasgow, no target percentage was agreed.

Spring 2022 | The Rural Business School | page 33

Is your farm fair to nature?

Kevin Rylands, Fair to Nature Conservation Advisor Across the south west many farmers have embraced nature-friendly farming, working with the landscape and often stewardship to protect and enhance nature. However, this conservation work and effort is rarely rewarded by the market, this is where Fair to Nature aims to make a difference. others, the Fair to Nature Standard has been developed to be applicable across the UK farming sector.

Fair to Nature is the only UK farm standard that recognises the scale of land management farm wildlife requires to thrive.

Operated by the RSPB, Fair to Nature provides the ‘gold standard’ hallmark for naturefriendly farmers.

Originally an arable initiative, working with the Nature Friendly Farmer Network and

How does Fair to Nature work?

Fair to Nature is designed to deliver the highest level of biodiversity through habitat and onfarm management. Fair to Nature farmers create and/or actively manage a range of high-quality farm wildlife habitats, alongside sustainable management of their soils and inputs in ways supportive of nature.

Fair to Nature farmers dedicate at least 10%

page 34 | The Rural Business School | Spring 2022

of their farmed land (including existing habitats and areas difficult to farm productively) to management scientifically proven to reverse wildlife declines, following the six key actions identified to conserve farm wildlife.

•

4% flower rich habitats (minimum)

•

2% seed rich habitats (minimum)

•

1% wildlife-rich boundaries and margins

•

One wet feature (c25m2) per 100ha

What are the key features of Fair to Nature?

•

Management of at least 10% of farmed land for biodiversity

•

Covers all farm types: livestock, dairy, cereals, mixed cropping and horticultural

•

Covers conventional and organic systems and designed to fit with Countryside Stewardship and ELMS

•

Supports regenerative agriculture practices through the inclusion of plans for:

Wildflower margin on a Fair to Nature farm. (Image credit: Brin Hughes )

•

Ĕ

Carbon reduction

Ĕ

Water protection and minimal use

Ĕ

Soil husbandry e.g. soil organic matter

Ĕ

Nutrient management e.g. inorganic N fertilisers

Ĕ

Livestock husbandry and sustainable feed

Ĕ

Progressive Integrated Pest Management to minimise pesticide use Provides a funding mechanism for suppliers/brands/ retailers to support farming, nature and planet-friendly produce.

Why consider Fair to Nature?

Many farmers and food producers are now working to address the biodiversity and climate crises.

By managing existing wildlife habitats, farmers can continue to provide high-quality, healthy and tasty produce, whilst also delivering the space, shelter and food for nature and measures to protect the environment.

Overall, the great thing about Fair to Nature is that farms can deliver space for wildlife whilst maintaining profitability.

With more brands and

products involved in the future, farmers will have the chance to maximise on the returns for their produce.

What about membership?

Membership provides: •

•

A gateway to, and designed as deliverable through, government environmental schemes Access to Fair to Nature contracts when they become available with the potential for a premium over market prices

•

Reduced overhead costs

•

Support for habitats providing areas for beneficial pollinators and predators of crop pests.

•

Practical guidance and training with on farm habitat advice, regional updates and regular newsletter

•

Knowledge transfer and support with other Fair to Nature members.

For more information The Standard is available at www. fairtonature.org or please email fairtonature@rspb. org.uk with any questions or to register interest.

Miscellany cont’d from page 33 Plants routinely swap DNA | New Scientist, 1 May 2021 Genes can transfer between grasses without any need for inheritance. This was known to occur in singlecelled organisms, but only recently found in higher organisms according to work carried out at Sheffield University. This happened more commonly in grasses with rhizomes which reproduce asexually. The precise mechanism is unclear.

Radio waves boost plant growth | New Scientist, 22 August 2020 Work at Sorbonne University has found that radio waves encourage activity in a light sensor in plants, cryptochrome, and that thale cress plants grew slightly faster. Scientists believe that radio masts could be used by farmers and growers to encourage plant growth.

The vegan health illusion | New Scientist ,30 October 2021 Veganism is often equated with healthy eating, but there is increasing evidence that eating factoryproduced meat alternatives are worse for human health than eating the meat versions they claim to replace. The problem arises from the use of additives to try to replicate the taste and texture of real meat; many are high in salt with its negative impacts on heart problems and ultra-processed soya, which has also been associated with increased cardiovascular disease.

This is particularly a worry in people who have recently moved to vegan diets and younger people as both groups have a higher consumption of processed foods.

Work at Paris-North University showed that vegans eating large amounts of ultra-processed foods were more likely to be obese. So called plant-based ‘milks’ and ‘cheeses’ also have drawbacks; they lack many of the useful nutrients found in dairy products e.g. they are lower in protein, vitamin B12, iodine and calcium.

Trees to be swapped for livestock by fake meat boss | New Scientist, 11 December 2021 Pat Brown. the founder of plant-based ‘meat’ firm, Impossible Foods, has been talking to UK farmers about a pilot project to show the benefits of taking farmland out of cattle and sheep production and allow trees to grow on it to absorb carbon.

Spring 2022 | The Rural Business School | page 35

Farm Incomes for the 2020 harvest year Mark Fogerty, Senior Research Officer

The results for the 2020 harvest year for those farms who co-operated in the Farm Business Survey, have recently been published for England. The figures have been ‘weighted’ to reflect the whole on the industry and a brief summary follows.

The results for the south west should be available in late February on the website http://www. farmbusinesssurvey. co.uk/regional/Reportson-Farming-in-theRegions-of-England.asp Key results • For the 2020 crop year, average Farm Business Income increased across all farm types except general cropping and specialist poultry.

•

It was a far from typical year; the

Covid-19 pandemic, challenging weather conditions with the extremely wet winter of 2020, followed by a dry spring and the end of the EU exit transition period were important influencing factors.

•

On cereal farms, average income increased by 14% to £71,700; firm prices helped to offset lower yields for some crops and higher fixed costs. South west cereal farms are smaller so will have

page 36 | The Rural Business School | Spring 2022

lower income than the England average, but our percentage increase is expected to be higher with yields having held up better.

•

For general cropping farms, income fell by 21% to £66,900 with lower input costs insufficient to offset a drop in crop output, the result of reduced yields and areas for crops such as sugar beet and oilseed rape.

South west general cropping farms are not dominated by

these crops, so would expect an increase in profit similar to the increase seen by English cereal farms.

•

On dairy farms, average income increased by 9% to £92,500, with revenue from other cattle enterprises, which rose by 13%, a key driver. The situation in the south west is likely to follow the national increase in income.

•

On lowland grazing livestock farms, average income nearly doubled to £18,400, driven by a rise in output from cattle and sheep enterprises which more than

compensated for a fall in crop output.

Lowland grazing farms in the south west are smaller than the national average, but the improvement in income is expected to be higher.

•

For grazing livestock farms in Less Favoured Areas (LFAs) similar drivers resulted in an average income of £33,400, a 46% increase compared to 2019/20.

With less dependence

on selling breeding stock, the improvement in income seen in south west hill farms will be lower than the national increase, much closer to 10% only.

Mark Fogerty takes a step back

By Helen Polgase

Mark Fogerty is to retire from his role as Farm Business Survey (FBS) Senior Research Officer based at the RBS at Stoke Climsland in 2022 – however, Mark will continue to visit farms and provide the FBS service as usual for the time being.

After leaving the University of Nottingham with a degree in Agricultural Sciences, Mark worked for ADAS as an agricultural adviser before joining the FBS team over 35 years ago, initially based in the University of Exeter, before moving to Duchy College in 2005. As one of the longest serving Mark Fogerty, fourth from right with the rest of the FBS team

members of the FBS, Mark has supported and led the FBS team through the many challenges and changes from Defra and the EU to provide information on farming and agriculture in the south west.

Mark will be reducing his hours but will no doubt be keeping busy with his small hill farm producing finished lambs on Dartmoor. Mark stated, “I am looking

forward to a happy and long retirement, but am not putting away my calculator and pencil just yet!” Having retired from playing rugby and semi-retired from cricket, Mark now takes a more leisurely approach to his passion for the sports in his spare time – actively supporting his sons from the touchline!

We would like to thank Mark for all his support, knowledge

and professionalism in promoting the FBS and helping to retain long lasting and invaluable relationships with farmers and growers.

We are delighted that Mark will be part of the FBS team for the foreseeable future and are very pleased to announce that Caroline Lambourne will be moving into the role of Senior Research Officer.

For more information Call 0845 458 7485 www. farmbusinesssurvey. co.uk

Spring 2022| The Rural Business School | page 37

25th Challenge of Rural Leadership Course

By Morwenna Tregellas

The 25th Challenge of Rural Leadership course managed by the Rural Business School (RBS) at Duchy College, on behalf of the Worshipful Company of Farmers has taken place at Dartington Hall, Devon.

The first week of the course formed a case study of Lyecross Farm, Alvis Brothers, Bristol.

The delegates had an overview of every process that currently makes the business work. At the end of the week, the delegates have the chance to make recommendations to the Directors for further growth and improvements to their business.

During the second week, the focus turned to the individual.

There were sessions on psychometrics, the media, time-management and how to present yourself under scrutiny.

There were also a large range of guest speakers

including Minette Batters (NFU), Professor Allan Buckwell (IEEP), Caroline Drummond (LEAF), Bill Clarke (Trewithen Dairy) and Becky Willson (Farm Carbon Toolkit).

Delegates came from a wide range of backgrounds. Jo Martin, from the Rural Business Network commented, “It has been an incredible, life-changing 2 weeks. I am so, so grateful for the opportunity and can’t thank you all enough. My confidence has soared, and I now feel equipped to start our farm succession conversations.

I have gained friends for life who will help steer Rural Business Network into an organisation that can help farming families thrive. I am so excited for what the future holds .”

Romy Jackson, from the NFU said, “Challenge of

page 38 | The Rural Business School | Spring 2022

Guest speaker Minette Batters with delegates at CRL Rural Leadership - what an experience! Life affirming, enlightening and uplifting. It’s hard to put into words how much of an enormous privilege it was to get to know and share the course with this bunch. Apply, apply, apply!!!!”

Spring 2022| The Rural Business School | page 39

EDUCATION FOR EVERYONE

FULL-TIME AND PART-TIME STUDY

A WIDE RANGE OF APPRENTICESHIP VACANCIES

DEGREES AVAILABLE ON YOUR DOORSTEP

SHORT COURSES FOR LEISURE AND INDUSTRY

SUBJECT AREAS ON OFFER: • Agriculture • Animal Care • Apprenticeships • Arboriculture • Construction • Countryside & Conservation • English & Maths • Equine Management

• Floristry • Forest School Leadership • Foundation Learning • Gamekeeping • Golf • Horticulture • Land-based Engineering • Military & Protective Services

• Outdoor Adventure • Plant Operations • Sport • Veterinary Nursing • Zoology

Bicton College and Duchy College offer residential accommodation for age 16+ PLEASE CHECK WHICH CAMPUS YOUR CHOSEN SUBJECT IS OFFERED AT.

page 40 | The Rural Business School | Spring 2022 0330 123 4784

bicton.ac.uk

duchy.ac.uk