Plotting a path towards an agroecological farming approach – Agronomist & Arable Farmer
A recent Norfolk meeting organised by agronomy company Farmacy gathered speakers with experience of agroecological farming to define the practice, outline its benefits, and suggest ways in which it can...
Ed Horton, of Gloucestershire family farming partnership SS Horton and Sons, believes agroecological farming is not an exact science, but requires a blend of conventional and new approaches to get the best from an individual farm’s soils and systems.
“We chose to change things because we were facing rising costs and falling margins,” explained Mr Horton, who is BASIS and FACTS-qualified.
“My father challenged me to produce a plan that would keep the business going in light of this, so I began looking at what we were growing and why, the markets were growing for, how we were establishing our crops, and how we could better integrate our existing sheep and arable enterprises.”
The Horton operation covers 4,500ha in-hand and 2,000ha of contract farming, with the arable side down to combinable crops, but its scale is tempered by some challenging soils, ranging from brash to clay, and its altitude, at up to 300m above sea level. A fully mixed farming system with a pig finishing unit, 3,500 ewes plus 2-4,000 bought-in store lambs, a beef Shorthorn herd and a forestry enterprise has been developed.
“We have good crop export market access, with ports nearby, but meeting buyers’ quality criteria can be challenging, so I aimed for markets where I could speak directly to buyers about their requirements. Being on brash and with only 6.5in of good soil above clay also means trying to grow 10t/ha wheats is folly. Our average is around 7t/ha, so 1 also accepted that rather than chase higher yields, and focused instead on maximum quality and minimum cost of production.
“That’s meant developing good relationships with buyers to find out exactly what they want, and diversifying our cereal growing to focus on local quality markets, adding a diversity of crops including rye and spelt in addition to wheat, and sitting down with buyers to work out a fair price for both parties and a fair division of costings to share risk. From our side, with spelt, for example, we’re producing a locally-required commodity that produces three times more margin than winter barley, with very low growing costs.”
But before considering cropping itself, soils are the starting point for change when considering a regenerative approach to crop production, suggests Mr Horton.
“We’ve moved to full no-tillage, and a 12m controlled traffic system based on a 12m drill. Our aim has been to create field environments that can help deal with the things that we can’t otherwise address, chiefly through soil management. With more spring cropping in the mix, I’ve become a firm believer in the value of sheep-grazed cover crops in soil management, particularly – but not wholly – because of the effects on the soil profile of the rooting of certain species.
“Often, we’ve found roots can achieve what we previously used metal to do, creating an open profile and encouraging the ingress and passage of air and water. Having trialled a few types, I really believe there are cover crop blends to suit every farm and soil.
“We’ve taken control of what we use by producing many of the seeds for the mixes, growing crops of buckwheat, mustard and phacelia to harvest and blend ourselves before drilling: With the sheep fully integrated into our system, we not only have a good feed source at a time of year when there isn’t much grass, but our covers require no glyphosate destruction – we rely completely on grazing and/or frost and natural die-off.”
Good experiences with cover crops’ value also led Mr Horton to look deeper into the benefits of companion cropping.
In OSR, for example, the fibrous root system of a species like berseem clover helps to manage the soil profile, while buckwheat engages rapidly with soil microbes.
Beyond improving crop access to soil-available nutrients, Mr Horton has also sought to supply more of each crop’s additional requirements through livestock manures.
“Pig slurry was seen largely as a waste product and a nuisance to get rid of. But we have access to 6.3 million gallons which, depending on analysis, can provide around two-thirds of our nitrogen requirements over 3,200ha of cereals,” he added.
“After investment in a boom spreader, we’re now applying that proportion of our cereal nitrogen requirements this way. It’s a more readily-available nutrition source, particularly in dry conditions, and is a more soil-friendly and more gradual feed than liquid or solid fertiliser, with a full mix of the crop’s nutrient requirements.”
Meanwhile, sheep grazing off early crop growth has proven an ‘excellent’ way of removing early diseased leaf, and the business aims to have sheep in every field at some point during the year. Mr Horton added: “Managing early growth this way has enabled us to grow crops without growth regulator or fungicide or aphicide, and using sheep as a management tool in this way has meant we’ve not sprayed for aphids in 10 years.
“In OSR, we graze to check early advanced growth and for disease management, as it removes leaves diseased with light leaf spot and shocks the plant into fighting, producing more vigorous growth. We’ve recorded a 30% increase in root mass on grazed crops, and enhanced flowering later on. A stronger crop also aids predator encouragement.”
Grazing also has a positive effect on weed management, but later in the season Mr Horton has invested in mechanical weeding technology to supplement it.
“We’ve found comb harrows very effective on broad-leaved weeds, including cleavers, and are also running a 3D camera-guide hoe to remove young black-grass plants, with good results,” he said. “In fact, its cost was equal to our annual herbicide bill before we went down this route.”
Philip Wright, of Wright Resolutions, said the first step when considering a more agroecological approach to arable crop production should be gauging a soil’s current health and resilience.
“From a machinery perspective, that means identifying soil damage incidences, and addressing the causes,” he suggested.
“Soils are at highest risk when most vulnerable – generally when wet or loose, situations where low ground pressures and minimal trafficking are essential.
“Minimising cultivations helps enhance soil’s resilience and ability to restructure and recover, but a balance is needed, as loosened soil aids rooting, and roots repair and stabilise soil, so their action must be maximised to gradually reduce the depth of any compaction and required cultivations. Keep living roots in the soil through as much of the year as possible, and identify and address any barriers to root, air and water passage.”
In many cases, addressing those barriers can be done via a combination of cultivator metal and plant roots. Mr Wright added: “They can work in synergy, with just the right amount of cultivation creating the passage for the roots do the rest of the work. Conversely, compromised crop roots may indicate parts of a field where targeted use of deeper cultivations may be required.”
He urged farmers to give as much attention to tractor set-up as to that for implements.
“To minimise compaction and wheel slip, the drill tractor’s tyre pressures and ballasting must be correctly set for the load, especially with trailed drills. For best effect, adjust pressures and ballasting for each operation,” he said.
Anyone considering a move towards agroecological practices should ensure they do the maths beforehand, cautioned Peter Riley, Norfolk-based Farmacy agronomist. He sees many whole-farm benefits to the approach, but suggests farmers thinking about adopting any part of it should ask themselves a number of questions.
“These include whether you have a suitable soil type and a good arable acreage fit for broader cropping,” Mr Riley said. “Low weed pressure in the first instance also helps, and you should be prepared for the transition, both culturally and financially, which may involve lower commodity prices and margins. On the other hand, consider the long-term benefits to your land and business, and the co-benefits of some form of carbon scheme and Defra support.”
Quoting farm business consultancy Andersons, Mr Riley suggests that simply ditching the plough and moving to no-till will be insufficient to turn an unprofitable situation into a profitable one.
“Figures from Catalyst Farming, a Norfolk farms group, suggest cultivating at 30cm uses 30 litres/ha of fuel and working at 10cm uses 10 litres/ha, but a light discing at 7cm uses 5 litres/ha. Of course, shallow work savings are more difficult to achieve for those with roots in their rotations – and they also face soil damage challenges.
“From a more general non crop-specific viewpoint, I think controlled traffic (CTF) systems make an ideal fit with a agroecological farming approach. CTF is something I am surprised more aren’t adopting.
“It’s difficult to identify significant seed savings from moving to a agroecological farming regime, but savings in fertiliser are more easily identifiable. Weed control can be more challenging. There may be some potential savings in fungicides, but these are unlikely to be that great. But Groundswell regen group benchmarking figures from farm business analyst Gary Markham of Land Family Business suggest that, while crop outputs may fall by 5% on average under a regen system, variable costs fall by 15%, and labour plus mechanisation costs by 13%.
“There are many degrees of agroecological farming, and it is not an exact science or single approach. Semi-agroecological approaches, perhaps blending conventional and agroecological practices, may work best for some, and selecting and blending practices including precision technology, reduced traffic, cover crops and beneficial crop traits such as disease resistance or strong rooting can all play a part in getting crops to do more for themselves.”
Norfolk-based Farmacy agronomist John Purslow believes both cover and companion crops have a crucial role in agroecological farming, particularly in soil management.
“An effective cover crop will not only enhance soil stability, but also harvest sunlight, storing its energy in the soil for later release. It will also act as a carbon store and hold water – just 1% additional soil organic content will contain 75,000litres/ha of water. And living roots produce exudates that help plants access nutrients and provide nutrition for soil microbes – species such as buckwheat are especially effective here.
“German trials have shown that broad cover crop species blends accumulate almost 22% more carbon than single species, so take advice to choose a mix to suit your situation.
“In terms of companions, utilising different plant species can help secure soil nutrients and cut crop pest numbers. Cabbage stem flea beetle populations have been reduced by up to 49% and damage by up to 61% in OSR companion crop trials, while the right companion mix can help boost utilisation of soil-available nutrients.”
Ian Robertson, Head of Soil Health, suggested agroecological agriculture and good farming practice are not altogether different.
“Boosting soil resilience by building organic matter levels is a sound aim whatever you call the agriculture you are practising,” he said.
“But it’s not easy, particularly in very inorganic sandy soils. Not even the poorest soil is dead, though, and by managing the resources you have and those available to you, it’s possible to shift towards reduced soil movement.
“To do this, it’s necessary to get your soils’ physics and chemistry right to enable its biology to flourish. Chemically, a high pH soil will be fungally-dominated, while bacteria will dominate in a low pH situation. Excessive cultivation will raise your soil’s pH and disturb its physics.
“Once a soil’s chemistry and physics are working correctly, crops will have better access to the soil’s existing nutrients not just in the ‘kitchen table’ at the surface, but also in the storage reserves deeper down, improving the availability of extractable nutrients, enabling greater nutrient cycling and reducing the need for ‘more-on’ applications.
“Cover crops will help lock up carbon and store other nutrients for later release. If you are growing them, measure what they are bringing – we use a soil life monitor plan.”
“We can offer a range of services to help, beginning with consultancy to classify soils’ physical state, and advice on cultivation and nutritional planning. And that then extends to more detailed chemical, biological and physical analysis which can be part of the TerraMap precision digital platform. Our soil life monitor is a lab test measuring the levels of bacteria, fungi and protozoa in the soil, plus the diversity of the microbial biomass. This is a very useful to take before and after management actions, to see how diverse your soil biology is – the more diverse, the better the nutrient cycling and the more the soil will give you.
“Know your starting point to enable you to form an action plan. Think about your farming system and aspirations, and calculate the baseline of your existing operation. Plan with your advisory team, using the process to highlight shortcomings and find ways of overcoming them. And be realistic about the speed of change, managing physical and financial changes over an 8-10 year rotation. Finally, try to not jump from trend to trend. A journey of a thousand miles begins with just one step.”
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