Category: Uncategorized

Analysis of the Groundswell Benchmarking Group results from 2020 harvest shows that No-Till Regenerative Farming more profitable than conventional tillage.

Average output per hectare is 21% lower

Variable costs are 18% lower

Gross margin is 24% lower

Labour and machinery costs are 32% lower

Net margin very similar – the Groundswell group achieved£27/ha, while those with conventional systems ended up with £7/ha

It is when we look at the investment per hectare that we see the big savings. In 2020 the Regenerative Farms had over £ 300 per hectare less at risk than the Conventional Farms. In 2022 the difference is likely to be in the region of £ 400 per hectare, imagine the effect of that on the overdraft!

Whilst the cost of financing £ 300 in 2020 was about £ 15 for most farmers, the change in financial gearing puts the farmer back in charge of his/her business, not her/his bank manager.

It is the Regenerative Agricultural Practices which sequester carbon and thus the Soil Capital Carbon Payments for more details follow this link https://esusagri.co.uk/services-2#Soil-Carbon of email JamesSiggs ajs@esusagri.co.uk

To see the full Groundswell Benchmarking presentation follow this link https://youtu.be/ShzYKInyeKg

Following on from our last blog, we are looking at how to generate income from no-till beyond the savings identified in our last blog.

ESUS Agri is a partner of Soil Capital Carbon and works with farmers throughout South West England who are taking up the Soil Capital Carbon Offer. At present farmers have lots of questions about carbon schemes . In the last issue of Direct Driller Magazine (https://www.directdriller.com/latest-issue/), Andrew Voysey, Head of Sales and Carbon at Soil Capital Limited writes about 10 questions farmers ask. He concludes:

“But new revenues from carbon should be seen as the cherry on the cake of practice change. Even more significant are the cost savings and operational resilience that can be achieved as soil health is continuously improved.

There are plenty of other questions that we field from farmers about the carbon markets and our particular programme every day. You should be full of such questions and you should do your due diligence carefully.

But with the right perspective on how to navigate the offers that are emerging, this does not need to be overwhelming or paralysing. On the contrary, an exciting world of new opportunity is emerging and there are plenty of reasons why it makes sense to get involved sooner rather than later.

But new revenues from carbon should be seen as the cherry on the cake of practice change. Even more significant are the cost savings and operational resilience that can be achieved as soil health is continuously improved.”

Download the article here

Direct+Driller+Magazine+Issue+15

Famers have always understood that soil organic matter (SOM) underpins soil health. However, since the invention of the steel mouldboard plough and specialisation of farming, all too often, SOM is being destroyed faster than the soill can replenish it. Reducing cultivations, returning to diverse rotations and planting cover crops between cash crops can increase SOM, soil carbon, reduce costs and increase profits. Then there is the cherry on the top of Soil Capital Soil Carbon Payments.

To learn more about Soil Capital Soil Carbon Payments go to https://esusagri.co.uk/services-2#Soil-Carbon

To read Dr Tom Sizmur, Associate Professor in Environmental Chemistry at the University of Reading’s paper “Crops and Carbon Farming” presented at the AHDB Webinar “Cover Crops and Carbon Farming”which sets out how SOM accumulates and the means of increasing SOM and the benefits click on the download below.

A large part of my working life has been about paradigm change, either being subjected to paradigm changes or working with organisations to change paradigms, the mental images you have in your mind of the way things are ‘out there’ or ‘in here’.

As I participated in an agronomists’ meeting last week I started going back through my own farming experiences and related paradigm changes.

When I left my father’s rather traditional fam and entered the wider farming industry in 1977 it was a period of white-hot technical and financial change; plant breeding, chemistry and agricultural engineering combined to enable us to increase cereal yields by 50%, abandon centuries old crop rotations and grow cash crops where previously we could only grow grass. It was an exciting time, with little regulation and we did not heed the warnings as fungicides quickly lost their efficacy because new chemistry was being invented all the time.

I spent 15 years working in tropical agriculture, mainly oil palm, rubber and cocoa, across Asia and Africa. I had the good luck to start my career with PTPP London Sumatera Indonesia (Lonsum), a very progressive plantation company that valued its people and its natural resources; cover crops were mandatory, burning was forbidden, erosion was controlled, non-invasive weeds were allowed, and pests were controlled biologically. We were all very proud to work for Lonsum and our results were outstanding, looking after your people and the environment pays. I found this to be the case over the rest of my career.

I returned to farming in the UK to find that yields had plateaued, chemical usage had increased, weed and disease resistance to chemicals was escalating, more and more regulation meant options were being taken away all the time and famers were totally reliant on subsidy for their incomes.

In 2012, I visited Soil Capital in Belgium. It was mind blowing, what they were doing with cover crops was like being back in the tropics. When I took on the management of 16,000 ha in Romania in 2014, I called on Soil Capital for support. We already had a four-year rotation of wheat, oilseed rape, wheat/barley, sunflowers, we diversified this further, sold the ploughs, introduced cover crops, improved timeliness and yields went up by 50% in two years.

So where is my paradigm now? I recently read David R Montgomery’s books “Growing a Revolution” and “Dirt” (https://www.dig2grow.com/). Both books reinforce what I have learnt over the years: looking after your people, your environment, and your animals pays. This is reinforced from the findings of Groundswell Benchmarking summarised in our blog “Regenerative Farming brings Big Savings and Carbon Credits”(https://ajs562.wixsite.com/esusagri/post/regenerative-farming-brings-big-savings-and-carbon-credits).

I am sure that most farmers think that they are looking after their people, their environment, and their animals, this is what they do with the plough and chemistry, government subsidy gives them the illusion that it is working. However, an examination of profit margins in the John Nix Pocketbook for Farm Management (https://www.thepocketbook.co.uk/) reveals that the average farmer is losing money without the subsidy, and the subsidy will be phased out by 2028. The paradigm is shifting.

I am now focussed on farming in South-West England. Most farms have cattle and sheep, so are well placed to switch to regenerative agriculture, but it requires a huge paradigm change. Recently a son who wants to change to regenerative farming told me that his father had said “If I had wanted to do that, I would have done it 40 years ago”, the son has persisted and is being allowed to try regenerative farming on a part of the farm. The start of a paradigm shift.

A major issue is risks, these can be reduced using available resources. Moving to direct drilling requires a big investment, but there are experienced contractors throughout South-West England with a wide range of no-till drills ready which will enable farmers to try direct-drilling with minimal investment and a skilled operator. The risks and costs of the introduction of mixed species swards of grasses, legumes and wild flowers, can be reduced by entering a Countryside Stewardship Scheme.

In conclusion, my own paradigm has not changed. I believe with passion that to be successful farmers we must look after our people, our environment, and our animals to have a sustainable business. We must reduce our reliance on chemistry and rediscover the art and the science of regenerative farming. My mission is to help farmers in South-West England do this so that our grandchildren can enjoy a bountiful countryside, rich in nature and delivering wholesome sustainable food with vibrant rural communities where farmers are valued.

The challenge for min/no-till farmers in the UK is the establishment of spring crops.

A good article in the Agronomist & Arable Farmer Magazine, with some practical tips, which reinforces what James Alexander of Primewest Ltd told me many years ago.

Essentially:

1. Wait for the soil to warm

2. Increase seed rate to allow for reduced germination

3. Be prepared to control grassweeds

4. Roll once and be prepared to roll again

5. Control slugs