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Anyone who is trying to farm without synthetic inputs and trying to rely on natural systems has also been under pressure, which is what we have found here. Good soil health has shown itself to be crucial, showing where we have better fields of per- manent pasture and, it is also clear that our temporary grass and cultivated crops have done pretty well too.


I haven’t been tempted to buy and use nitrogen fertiliser, because I don’t think the return on investment is as good as it was perhaps a decade ago, not to mention the fact that our plants and soils have adapted to manage without it. New seeds though have really shown their value, with all the related issues they bring.


That is the great conundrum. New seeds have lots of energy and grow really well. It is the reason our global food system is based on annual cropping. Five annual crops in fact; wheat, rice, maize or corn, soya and canola, or oilseed rape. However, because of the embedded carbon and energy in buying and planting new seeds, we need perennial cropping if we are to have any chance of transitioning to a post fossil fuel food system. What is the most resilient of perennial crops? Grass, herbs and legumes of course! An argument can be made for not eating animals, but not one based on energy. Our old pastures and hay meadows continue to grow whatever the weather and they require no inputs, just sunshine, rain and good management. The problem is, good management often involves not grazing those fields, which is a difficult thing to do when you have animals to feed. Reducing the amount of animals is the easy answer, but it isn’t always as profitable as maybe it should be.


Grazing grass is also much lower risk. Anyone who watched the final episode of Clarkson’s Farm series three this summer may remember the figures at the end. The arable side of the business spent around £180,000, to make a profit of around £45,000. You might think that’s not too bad, but when you consider that profit was gross, not net and it was boosted by


the wheat just making milling grade and the barley scraping malting grade, it is a pretty risky investment. Add that to the fact that all of that gross profit was needed to finance the next year’s cropping plan and you are almost right back where you started. I for one would find myself asking, why bother?!


So, as thoughts turn to the next cropping year, we are reducing our arable area. We are simply too small to make it work. We are going to slowly turn the farm over to grass and plant more trees. The right tree in the right place though, agroforestry style. More fruit, nuts, willow and poplar for browse grazing and biomass and oak trees because I want our semi parkland to continue to be so for the next generation and beyond. This agroforestry, in our case silvopasture, (‘silva’ being the latin word for forest or woodland) will continue to integrate trees into our farmed landscape; and it is supported by the government under the new ‘payment for public good mantra.’


Low energy systems, for a low energy future. Sounds pretty good to me.


97


LIVE24-SEVEN.COM


BUS INE S S ON THE FARM


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