Getting your head around agroecology – Farm Contractor Magazine

According to Ed Brown, agronomist and head of agroecology for Hutchinsons, the charter has been designed not only to define agroecology using five core principles but to de-risk the transition process for growers. “It’s turning the big picture into achievable objectives,” he explains.

Key to agroecology is balancing cultural techniques with conventional agronomy, something the company has been doing on its Shropshire Helix Agroecology Farm since 2021. Many stakeholders within agriculture have provided definitions for this process. All of which are broadly similar but have key differences which can cause confusion to growers.

Having recognised that will be a greater focus from both the supply chain and the government on sustainable farming practises, Hutchinsons has created a company definition of the practises to help its customers.

“We’re also expanding the agroecology practises across not only our Helix farms, but customer farms up and down the country so that we can provide data and justifications using real-world conditions,” Ed adds.

We met up with Ed on a Staffordshire farm, where he has been integrating agroecology principles for three seasons now. When asked about the starting points for farms, he emphasised that growers shouldn’t try to run before they can walk.

“There are a lot of factors to consider before you make any changes,” he says. “You need to have a clear aim as to how the benefits of agroecology are going to translate into benefits on your farm.” He adds that this comes from understanding the resources of the farm before any decisions are made. These include soil quality, habitats, infrastructure, staff and equipment. This will help to identify potential problems and opportunities.

“Then you need to make sure that any stakeholders and the staff are on-board with the plans,” he says. “These are the people who are going to help implement any ideas you have, so they need to understand what the long-term goals of are and how they will be actioned across the farm.”

It’s possible that a farm which has been practising agroecology for a season or more may not look that different from when it was conventionally farming. While a Hutchinsons agronomist might advise the grower to build a new rotation from scratch, this doesn’t mean that everything from the old system will be thrown out.

“Taking a baseline of soil health will indicate what the best starting point is,” Ed says. “It could be that a similar rotation is implemented at the start, but with a focus on increasing organic matter through manures, cover crops and field margins.”

In line with this, he recommends gradually moving areas of the farm away from conventional methods instead of taking the leap and changing the whole farm. “If you look at the farm we’re on now; it had been ploughed and combi- drilled for years, had no straw or organic manures and the soil was not fertile. We were achieving okay yields, but it was solely through artificial fertilisers.”

Rather than try and bring the full estate into an agroecology regime, Ed agreed to change around 60ha per year, with an additional field identified that he could experiment on.

“I was allowed to do whatever I wanted with the field to push the boundaries of agroecology; however, I insisted on always having at least one saleable crop in the ground each season. Agroecology cannot be just about the environment. It must be financially sustainable for the grower as well.”

Initial changes to the farm were relatively minor, outside of Ed’s experimental field. Cultivations were gradually scaled back and the farm worked with local contractors who could offer shallow cultivations and min-till drilling for the light, sandy soil. There was some targeted investment as well, notably a subsoiler so that the farm could proactively handle possible areas of compaction.

One of the biggest changes was the move away from soil applied fertilisers. Instead of large amounts of granular product being spread, the farm has opted to replace some of this with foliar products that can be more easily taken up by the plant. This reduces the negative effects of large doses of soil applied nitrogen.

To boost biodiversity and encourage beneficials-allowing the farm to cut back on insecticides-flower margins have been established around every field. This links back to the financial sustainability of agroecology. Growers can receive £798/ha through the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) IMP2 option, as well as £45/ha for not using insecticides, on top of the cost savings from reducing inputs.

Ed has gone a step further on the estate, establishing habitat corridors that link the hedgerows and flower margins to pockets of woodland around the farm. While this cuts into the cropping area, it can also be claimed for under SFI.

Catch and cover crops are the next step to ensure that there is a living root in the ground all year round. Herbal leys have been introduced as part of a new mixed rotation. Ed has also negotiated a deal with a local farmer to bring in sheep and cattle to graze the cover down and utilise the leys.

He adds that agroecology requires a change in mindset to open up more options for growers. “We were just as affected by the weather last season, and we had fields that failed to establish because of the conditions. Instead of leaving bare soil, we established a pea and barley crop that was wholecropped for feed.”

Another field that failed to produce a crop after the poor weather was put into a mixed legume fallow mix, worth £593/ha under SFI. “We made the decision to go all in with the mix, including 15 different species that have multiple root types and benefits to the soil health and wildlife,” Ed explains, before acknowledging that this likely would not be possible with the SFI support.

“It’s not that we wouldn’t put a cover crop in if the financial support wasn’t there, but we likely wouldn’t have included as many species. The SFI payments enable growers to make a balanced decision about soil health, alongside the commercial crops.”

Ed concludes by saying that the benefits of agroecology extend beyond soil health. “It provides resiliency, allowing growers access to subsidy payments, as well as potential new markets and premiums.”

As an example, he points towards the experimental field at the farm. It has the flower margins around the edges and is sown with spring wheat and a companion crop of beans, as well as an undersown crop of clover.

“If the wheat meets the grade, we’ll be able to sell it on to Wildfarmed and see a premium there,” Ed explains. “The beans have also done well. Despite signs of rust, the pods are filling out nicely, not to mention the nitrogen fixing benefits we’ll see in the next crop.”

Yellow rust had impacted the wheat, but this was treated not with fungicides, but with a nutrition plan based on plant sap analysis. This boosted levels of various nutrients including manganese, zinc and boron. A seaweed-derived feed was also applied. No herbicides were used on the field because the clover has provided a level of weed suppression. “The proof will come after harvest, and this is a very advanced form of agroecology. However, if the crop comes off well, the combination of premiums and subsidy payments could be very lucrative for growers.”