Wonderful Weather for Open Farm Sunday

This week's guest blog is from Sofi Lloyd our Open Farm Sunday Coordinator

 

The glorious weather deserves some of the thanks for the making of a great Open Farm Sunday event on the 8^th June. The sun shone on about 400 visitors to the 9^th annual national LEAF coordinated event.




Visitors enjoying the sunshine

Waiting for trailer rides



At the Allerton Project Farm this year there was so much for our visitors to see, that many were still there when packing away began.

Plenty of attractions for our visitors

 

Richard and Geoff Wright ran the very popular tractor & trailer rides around Loddington, taking in the beautiful SSSI woodlands called the Reddish’s.





Richard and Michael part of the 'tractor and trailer team'

...and they're off...

The gorgeous South Devon calf and his mum joined 3 breeds of sheep including the local and rare Leicester Longwools, Saddleback pigs, chickens, a Shetland pony and Apollo and Mortimer the alpaca’s in the “meet the farm animals” area which proved a big hit with all the visitors.

South Devon's

An array of animals

Saddlebacks 'home sweet home'

Aplaca



Jasper and Hattie 'lapping it up'

Jasper and Hattie the border collies posed for countless photographs and lapped up all the strokes and pats.
 

The CR9080 Combine Harvester was the star of the 5 piece farm machinery show and everyone became a farming expert by the end of the day.



The machinery gang

Big bright combine harvester

Our local fire brigade were on hand, so health and safety and rural driving issues were covered.

The fire brigade were a star attraction

Member of Loddington WI and the 'Bee Aware' team

The super-organised WI team kept all well fed and watered, including more cake than I have ever seen in my life (Mmmmm those scones). The Bee aware team were inspiring all to help to protect our charismatic pollinators and raised the profile of the recent 'Great Food Debate'. 

 





Richard and Chris discuss Kelloggs mini-fields

Richard from Kelloggs explained the fascinating processes which go into delivering our favourite breakfast cereals from plant to plate. 



Local produce for sale with Katy and James

And if that wasn’t enough, visitors could take home as a momento, anything from a beautiful original local painting to a pair of Joules wellies, local honey and eggs, a locally handmade bird-box or garden planter or a Loddington-grown plant for their garden to remember their day. Phew! Thanks so much to all who supported the event, exhibitors, helpers and of course visitors. We can’t wait for next year, the sunshine is already on order.

 

Sofi Lloyd and Chris Stoate

Thanks to all the team from the project, the village and our local farmers. See you next year on the 7th June 2015

 

Sofi

 

Does the CAP fit the environment ? Dr Alastair Leake

The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) – who have been at the sharp-end of developing innovative and well proven techniques for restoring farmland wildlife such as conservation headlands, beetle banks and wild flower seed mixes, were in an upbeat mood about the new ‘greening’ measures announced by Defra this week.

Dr Alastair Leake, the GWCT’s director of policy explains; “None of the new reforms are a surprise and we believe that the Government have implemented these as well as they could. With over 210,000 more people swelling the global population each day and expected to reach a total of 9 billion by 2050, the earth will need to produce more food in the next 50 years than it has in total so far. Indeed the UK population alone has increased by almost 100% in the last century while wheat production – a crop which Europe out-strips the world in producing has flat-lined for two decades. Clearly food production is going to become an increasingly important issue.”

Under the new reforms, farmers will have to manage 5% of the farm area in an ‘ecologically focused way’. Options include growing crops such as peas and beans, growing cover crops to protect soil from erosion and to build up soil organic matter. Farmers will also be able to register their hedgerows, something they have not previously been given credit for maintaining.

Dr Leake comments, “Overall we believe the ‘greening’ measures as proposed are a rational response to the conflicting demands of food production and environmental enhancement. Under existing stewardship schemes, over 70% of English farmers have signed up. There is a huge sea-change in the way farmers now run their businesses and environmental protection is an increasingly important part of their farming operation. We are therefore pleased that those farmers who already farm well are not going to be penalised, but we are pleased also that those with less sustainable systems will be encouraged to do more.”

However, it has been suggested that growing legumes in ‘Ecological Focus Areas’ is a poor use of tax-payers money as they might not deliver much for biodiversity.

Dr Leake disagrees, saying, “Growing a legume crop can substantially reduce the environmental footprint of the farm, since nearly 50% of the fossil fuel demand comes from the use of nitrogen fertilisers. Legumes do not need nitrogen fertilisers as they make their own and some of this is passed on to the subsequent wheat crop, so inputs can be cut to that crop too.

Winter beans helping our environmental footprint.

                                 
 Legume crops are also insect pollinated so they provide a source of pollen and nectar to bees and other insects and as they are a spring sown crop it means that winter stubbles are left for longer, which is another good result for wildlife. Research on our Allerton Project has also shown that bean crops are favoured over wheat crops by foraging tree sparrows.”

Both birds and bees can benefit from legumes

 

Looking to the future Dr Leake concludes, “Going forward the EU must continue to focus on production, keeping productivity up and farmers on the land, but a greater proportion of the Basic Farm Payment needs to shift to pay farmers for the other services that they provide society with, including clean water, healthy soils, carbon sequestration, renewable energy and biodiversity. Past experience has shown that where funds are more specifically targeted and farmers respond voluntarily, rather than through compulsion, with the benefit of good advice, better outcomes are achieved.

“The GWCT has been running the innovative Allerton Project research farm at Loddington, Leicestershire for more than 20 years and has during this time added greatly to the pool of knowledge on environmental protection within the farmed landscape. A key research aim within the farm is to show how to intensify food production without compromising wildlife protection and the achievements of the farm have inspired a generation of farmers to do more for wildlife on their own land. A 20-year report outlining the achievements of the GWCT’s Allerton Project is available at http://www.gwct.org.uk/allerton20

Hurry up with the detail I'm warming to Greening

After a few days to contemplate, I feel there is enough in the recent Greening announcements to make me more relaxed about our future plans at Loddington. The timeline for next season's plantings marches on and the finer detail is still not known on EFA's and the 3 crop rule.

The drip feed of information has, at times, resembled a Chinese water torture, but the rules on nitrogen fixing crops and Higher Level Stewardship double funding is encouraging.

On Monday I could have boiled a kettle from the steam emitted from my ears, but by Tuesday I was happier after the ministerial statement. On Wednesday I gleaned enough information at Cereals 2014 to improve my mood. As the weekend approaches I've just got falling grain prices and black grass to worry about. Typical farmer!!

Getting the rules right with Europe to avoid infraction and therefore fines is one of the reasons for this drawn out process. Sometimes I do feel the European Commission should be subject to the same process if it misses its deadline (perhaps it does and I'm not aware of it).

So although the details on spring and winter cropping, rules on cover crops and fallow still tantalisingly on the horizon, I feel our own 'environmental efforts' over a number of years are being appreciated.
We should be able to accommodate Greening and use cover crops and fallow to create some wins for the environment and wins for our business

Dr Alastair Leake puts some well reasoned observations forward on the GWCT website today and I'll reproduce these in the next blog.

Footnote Sat 14th June 2014; The 3 crop rule particularly penalises small farms and makes it particularly difficult for contractors to run an efficient operation on such units. The efforts in the next round of reforms should concentrate on crop rotation and ways of recording it on the new BPS forms.

We're gearing up for Open Farm Sunday

With just over a week to go the staff at the Allerton Project are continuing preparations for Sunday June 8th.



Sofi Lloyd, our Open Farm Sunday Coordinator...it on June 8th

We just want to make sure you all know where we are Loddington, LE7 9XE

and its from 10.00am - 4.00pm

You can see pictures from last year's event here

The good, the bad and the ugly

In the last few days this insect , plant and molluscs graced our wildflower margins.

THE GOOD...Ladybird trying to keep dry

THE BAD ....Docks always trouble.

THE UGLY.. slugs everywhere

Sshhh..... I'm under cover

Like a number of growers we've been looking at cover crops on our Denchworth and Hanslope soils.
Sown in early September 2013 conditions were dry and it didn't really rain until early October.... then it just got wetter and wetter.


Oil Radish and Winter Oats on 27th October 2013

February 7th 2014

3 weeks after spraying on the 7th April 2014

7th April 2014.. wet and rough seed bed,
one pass drill with spring oats and then rolled

 

Decaying cover crop and emerged spring oats

 

26th May 2014 oats nearly meeting in rows

 The benefits so far are reduced diesel use, better soil structure and less winter soil erosion. Lets see what the combine says in August 2014.

Peter Thompson hits the nail on the head

If you want to know something about the wildlife in our countryside then the GWCT's Peter Thompson is a man who can tell you a thing or two. In his recent 'Fresh from the Field' blog post, he hit the nail squarely on the head about British and European bureaucracy. Peter has kindly given me permission to reproduce the article as a guest blog.

A "Bottom-up" approach but with far less crap please

Meetings, preparation, planning, developing strategies, production of all encompassing management plans and of course a regular plethora of briefing documents and reports – the world has gone completely mad. Before too long I honestly believe that absolutely nothing will ever get done on the ground and eventually we will all disappear up our proverbial backsides! 

Here is an example.

Yesterday I went to a meeting organised by the relatively newly formed Hampshire Avon Catchment Partnership. The aim of this group is to improve and create a sustainable water environment within the catchment, concentrating on the environmental aspects in particular, but also encompassing social and economic elements as well. Meanwhile, delivery of the European Water Framework Directive will be central to their efforts. So, not an insignificant “ask” to say the least!

The first thing that the newly appointed catchment officer decided to do, quite sensibly I would have thought, was to find out exactly what else was happening within the catchment. Now, here comes the really scary bit – he uncovered 57, yes that is FIFTY SEVEN different management plans and strategies for this one, not particularly large catchment area. 

What on earth has this all cost and how many woods have been felled to create the endless stream (excuse the pun) of agendas, documents and leaflets? Apparently there are 83 catchment areas in England in which Government would like to see a catchment partnership created. If it turns out that the Hampshire Avon is an average kind of place, then the 83 newly appointed officers could be dealing with 4731 different plans and strategies already in place, no doubt fiercely protected by those who set them up as “they were there first”. 

I wonder how many of those circa 4731 different groups, started off their existence by going to the (and including in their steering committees) farmers and land managers, who will, in most cases manage the vast majority of the catchment’s surface area? I also wonder if they discussed with them the issues and improvements that they, the farmers would like to see, alongside the groups own ambitions. I suspect not.

I was rung up recently by a very pleasant chap who told me that he worked for an action group, who spent well over a year putting together their strategy, and now wanted to implement it on the ground. But he then told me in rather a pained voice, that the farming community on which the success of the project would depend seemed totally disinterested. He had heard that I was involved in the Marlborough Downs Nature Improvement Area (MDNIA), where farmers were apparently doing all sorts of brilliant things – how did we get them so involved?

I asked him if he had included farmers from the start. No, he replied. There was not even one on the steering committee. That’s your answer I told him. If you go to the MDNIA website you will see that it was set up by farmers and is led by farmers – it is “owned” by them and they are proud of it. It is a “Bottom-up” project not a “top-down” dictating one.

Personally, I am only interested in results on the ground. Of course there is a need for some meetings, but with strict agendas which result in actions that make a difference. Invited to those meetings should be the local, knowledgeable and trusted advisers and it does not particularly matter in my opinion, for whom they work. If they are good, they are good. Not sure who they are – a sensible start is to ask the land managers as they will have sorted out the wheat from the chaff, don't you worry.

At yesterday’s meeting there were a number of farmers present and what is more, they were actually asked what they thought was needed in the catchment to improve the situation. There were also a useful scattering of advisers who obviously had the respect of these farmers and so key issues started to emerge, with some possible solutions too. 

That is a refreshingly good start and I wish this project success - anything has to be better than 57 various groups bombarding beleaguered land managers with a multitude of different demands.