Building soil resilience into farming systems is becoming increasingly important, especially with the reduction in support payments for farmers. We’ve outlined six ways to build soil resilience through regenerative agriculture principles.
As part of Catalyst Farming in Norfolk, Holkham Farming Company has a 3,500 ha farm and 100 ha ‘Great Farm’ dedicated to testing and data analysis. As Holkham’s farm manager, James Beamish has seen great results from taking a regenerative approach to farming.
Jock McFarlane is a grower at Easter Rattray Farm in Blairgowrie, Perthshire. By transitioning to a regenerative approach, he’s substantially reduced costs for compound fertiliser, seed, contractor charges and other inputs at his 216 ha farm.
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James Beamish of Holkham Farming Company (left) and Jock McFarlane of Easter Rattray Farm (right)
The weather in the past two seasons has highlighted the challenges of wet and dry conditions for many growers.
James stated that last season, they had their annual rainfall of 650 mm between 23rd September and 15th March. By the end of April, they had winter crops showing drought stress.
Whilst James has flinty soils, Jock’s sandy loam soils consist of sand, silt and clay. These different soil types require different approaches.
To protect soil from water loss and the impact of the weather, it should be covered with either living plant material (such as cover crops) or mulch. A combination of the two can often be effective.
At Easter Rattay, they plant a cheap cover crop mix of a cereal, such as barley or oats, with phacelia and clover after harvest before spring crops. As this isn’t usually before September, they don’t get a huge amount of biomass, but still have living roots in the soil over winter.
It’s then normally sprayed off in January or February, before being direct-drilled with spring barley or spring oats. Jock has had to change his perception of what the crop should look like, stating, “Because we’re on a 10-inch spacing and drilling into stubble, it can seem like weeks before you look like you have a crop.”
After watching a presentation by French conservation agriculture expert Frederic Thomas, Jock had a ‘eureka moment’ over how to look after his sandy loam soils.
He began by stopping using the plough on just one field seven years ago, a field which now acts as a test bed for further changes. After seeing gradual improvements in the soil, he committed to no-till three years ago with the purchase of a 20-year-old Horsch CO4 tine drill with narrow points. This meant he no longer needed a contractor to establish his crops.
One immediate learning from the original field was that no-till fields need to be level, particularly when using a drill without the ability to follow contours. Last season was the first time they’ve been completely no-till on the farm.
His next aim is to reduce chemical inputs. Jock stopped applying P and K after a gradual reduction suggested no impact on yields. However, a similar experiment with cutting spring barley nitrogen by 40% for 2020 harvested crops, was a big mistake. He admits that he was trying to do ‘too much, too soon’ and stated, “This season we’re back to a more normal level for the farm, although in the spelt we’ve cut by a third after beans. We’re also adding fulvic acid to try and get better use of N we’re applying. As the soil improves, I’m hoping we can reduce N.”
At Holkham, they’re introducing a more diverse rotation making use of cover crops. This is backed by an informed and educated team with good equipment to maximise opportunities.
James stated, “We want to prove we can grow salad potatoes, maize and sugar beet and maintain the life of our soils, and I’d like to think our soils are improving.”
Jock has also made a big change to their rotation. Previously, he was growing only four crops – winter barley, oilseed rape, winter wheat and spring barley. To those, spring oats, spelt, winter beans and from this autumn winter rye, as well as cover crops where possible, have been added.
After reducing cultivation depths last season at Holkham, they changed their rotation to potatoes followed by winter cereal for good yields. They then replaced some oilseed rape area with a one or two-year legume clover ley, which is a GS4-compliant mix with four grasses, four legume species and herbs. This is mob-grazed by 400 breeding ewes after lambing in April, until around July time.
Over winter, an additional 1,500 bought-in store lambs graze cover crops. James stated, “We’ve seen a big improvement in finishing times with more diverse cover crops. Cover crops are grown before sugar beet, potatoes and maize, between winter wheat and spring barley, and a short catch crop between vining peas and winter wheat.” One of their key principles is to have a living root in the ground for as many days as possible.