Environment Archives - Page 4 of 5

It’s amazing how a few consecutive days of dry weather completely changes one’s mood after the long wet winter. Fields that were water logged on a Monday morning and looking more appropriate for planting rice than wheat were, by Thursday afternoon, dry enough to start thinking about preparing the soil to plant our spring crops.

From an impatient farmer’s perspective, spring arrived around the middle of March, since when we have been working continuously. It is not just us, as all our neighbours are busy working away in their fields as everything appears to need doing at once.

The first job was to put some fertiliser on the autumn planted crops as soils warm up and day length increases, letting dormant crops realise it is time to start their long growth through spring. To achieve this growth, crops, like humans, require good nutrition to grow healthily, which is gained from the soil and some extra plant food in the form of fertiliser.

Fertiliser applied, attention turned to crops that are not yet planted. Firstly the spring beans, which were planted in pretty much ideal conditions in the third week of March. Next, it is the spring wheat this will take a bit longer to create an ideal seedbed, rather than rushing in just to get the job done quickly. We have started cultivation in preparation for the wheat, but on our heavy clay soils they can change from mud pie texture to concrete in the space of 36 hours, meaning that a mixture of perfect timing, a bit of luck and working with nature rather than fighting it is the name of the game.

In addition to being busy on the farm, we also start thinking about the new season of shows in Farrington Oils. Farrington’s Mellow Yellow is now ten years old and I have always enjoyed meeting customers at food shows, as they provide the perfect opportunity to explain to existing and potential customers why they may like to try our products. The first show of 2015 will be the BBC Good Food Show in Harrogate. We are currently putting the stand together in the office, making sure everything looks spick and span, ready to go, as well as making sure we can get it all in the back of a van to take to Yorkshire. If you are going, we will look forward to seeing you there. If not, then look out for us at other shows during 2015.

Kate Quilton and the team from Channel 4 Food Unwrapped visited Bottom Farm to see first hand how Duncan produces our brand of cold pressed rapeseed oil. Grown to LEAF Marque standards, our rapeseed is cold pressed on the farm. Cold pressing is a traditional process whereby the seeds are simply pressed and filtered and the oil’s natural properties are retained. Cold pressed rapeseed oil is becoming more and more popular as home cooks and chefs appreciate it’s culinary and health benefits. Duncan first launched Mellow Yellow cold pressed rapeseed oil in 2005 and was Britain’s first ‘seed to bottle’ producer, and today remain’s the only LEAF Marque branded rapeseed oil.

The programme airs Monday 20th April at 8 pm, Channel 4.

10 Years & Exclusive Preview

Farmer Duncan Farrington launched Farrington’s Mellow Yellow cold pressed rapeseed oil in 2005. Produced on the Farrington’s family farm in Northamptonshire, we have since expanded our award-winning range to include dressings and mayonnaise. However, it was two years before its launch in 2003 that Duncan decided to become a LEAF Demonstration Farm and planted rapeseed crops under the LEAF Marque standard. This decision to grow and produce his brand of cold pressed rapeseed oil to the highest environmental standards raised the bar of British produced culinary oils as he led the growth of the sector within the UK and numerous awards followed.

Duncan started selling bottles of Mellow Yellow cold pressed rapeseed oil to independent retailers from the boot of his car. Since then he has seen sales of Mellow Yellow grow as consumers switch to using the British product over other culinary oils. Duncan Farrington, said, “We are still a small farm producer. Compared to the olive oil and sunflower oil market in the UK we generate only a fraction of sales but we have focused on quality and grown sustainably. We will continue to produce a high-quality product that is accessible to everyone, from home cooks to the leading chefs in the world”.

Leading chefs to discover Farrington’s early on included Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson. Duncan introduced himself to Jamie at a trade show in 2006, and since then has produced one of Jamie’s brands of rapeseed oil as well as being on the menu at his Union Jacks restaurant. Nigella was an early fan too, naming Farrington’s Mellow Yellow as her rapeseed oil of choice in her book Kitchen. More recently, we were chosen by Michel Roux Jr’s Cookery School to become a partner. The school contacted Farrington’s because their chefs have been using the oil since the school opened in 2013.

We received our first Gold Taste award for the oil in 2006, with the latest Gold Star awarded to our flagship cold pressed rapeseed oil in 2014. Duncan’s wife Eli Farrington shares his passion and with her meticulous approach, has produced our dressings and mayonnaise recipes, again picking up many awards. Continuing to strive for quality, the range is one of the few widely available that is completely free from additives and is Vegetarian Society Accredited and Coeliac UK Approved.

A key part of the rebrand involved customer research. We asked customers what they like about the Mellow Yellow cold pressed rapeseed oil and what’s important to them when selecting a culinary oil. Based on this research, we have simplified the information on the front, retaining the important elements, particularly the British flag as provenance is one of the most important factors for shoppers.

Whilst putting branches on a bonfire is admittedly very different to talking to customers in a farm shop about the virtues of using Mellow Yellow to cook their roast potatoes in. They both make me feel that winter is here, getting one in a festive mood ready for Christmas. It’s a great time of year. It is also a great example of the diversity of jobs involved on a modern farm, and whilst we may not be masters of them all, we certainly have to be a Jack of all trades. For it to really work, though, you do need a great team of different skills which we have at Bottom Farm.

With the shortening of the days, winter routine on the farm is well underway. It is the time of year when trees and hedges are pruned or planted, ditches are cleaned and general maintenance takes place using a variety of men and machines. There is nothing better than a cold damp day, removing overgrown and falling braches from trees, sawing some of the wood into logs for the home fire and making a bonfire in the field for the rest. I love this work as it gives a real satisfaction of a hard day’s work done, whilst carrying out an important conservation operation, encouraging healthy hedges and copses.

These days I don’t get to do as much of the actual conservation work as I would like and have to delegate the role to the guys on the farm. Whilst my neighbouring farmers use this time of year as a chance for some good old fashioned exercise, before finishing early for a warm bath once the sun goes down. I turn my attention to selling our Farrington’s Mellow Yellow rapeseed oil brand, in the busy run up to Christmas.

November and December is a very busy time for Farrington Oils. In the factory, the presses run flat out producing oil, whilst the guys just as busy putting it into bottles ready for the shops. Additionally, we attend major food shows in London and Birmingham, as well as spending winter evenings going around our customers in the County and further a field supporting them in their festive evenings, where people come along to taste (and hopefully buy) many of the delicious foods on the show.

As September draws to a close, we are in the final stages of the busy workload. Harvest seems a distant memory, the rapeseed is all planted and growing well, although a little rain wouldn’t go a miss; now it is just the wheat that needs planting. So the question is to plant wheat or not to plant wheat?

Like many of the jobs on an arable farm, I don’t have the luxury of a crystal ball to see what the weather is going to do over the next few weeks. September has to date been the driest on record. The lack of rain has not allowed much blackgrass and other weed seeds to germinate and grow, which ideally I would like to have a chance to kill off with a weed killer before we start planting wheat. If we drill too early, these weed seeds will germinate at the same time as the crop and cause problems for the next season. If we wait too long and the weather breaks, we may struggle to get the crops into good soil conditions, or at all. The plan is to encourage the weeds to grow quickly by giving the soil a gentle rake, kill off the weeds before planting some fields whilst the conditions are favourable, then wait as long as I dare before planting the remainder. In other words, I’m hedging my bets in trying to make the right decision.

I read recently that Richard Branson has given up eating beef because of his concerns over greenhouse gas emissions produced by cattle. He is, of course, correct – cows produce methane (from flatulence), however, Mr. Branson’s concerns are more about intensively produced beef in South America where cattle are raised in feed lots consuming huge resources to produce beef for North America. It is a completely different story in Britain and other similar countries, where beef is reared less intensively. Whilst it is true cows do flatualte because they are ruminant animals, meaning they eat grass, something we humans are not able to do. If we all stopped eating beef, what would happen to our green and pleasant land? Perhaps we could plough it all up to grow more crops to feed a vegetarian world, but there again that would cause other environmental issues, including the emission of greenhouse gases.

Sometimes, out of good intensions and trying to make the right decision, people can get a little side tracked without seeing the bigger picture. Besides, did I mention that air travel is a huge cause of greenhouse gas emissions? What would Mr. Branson say about that?

Over the years I have had bird surveys carried out on the farm. Primarily because I find this sort of thing interesting and whilst I am no bird expert (although I have learned a lot in the last few years), I do like to know what we have and what we can do to improve the likely hood of getting more species on the farm. Local conservation expert, Dr. Mark Avery has been surveying the birds at Bottom Farm since 2003. Back then he got very excited when he found Turtle Doves on the farm, which came back each year to nest. Unfortunately, in recent years he thought they had disappeared, which is the case in much of the UK. However, I was delighted recently when I thought I had spotted them here again, the turtle doves return. An excited call to Mark, who came out and confirmed, even more excitedly, that I was right! They’re back. This is great news, especially so as it was waste seeds I scatter around the farm from Farrington Oils, that they were feeding on.

Mark has just launched a new book, ‘A Message from Martha’, which talks about the sad demise of the last carrier pigeon in America, 100 years ago and the social history around the subject. It also draws parallels with the plight of the Turtle Dove today in the UK, mentioning our farm as part of the message. I haven’t read the copy kindly given to me yet, due to harvest keeping me busy at the moment, but am looking forward to soon. Until then it looks great on the coffee table, with the cover designed by local artist, Carry Akroyd.

Harvest is in full swing, with the rapeseed nearly gathered in, giving very pleasing results following a near perfect growing season. Marvin is taking over from Father as the main combine driver this year, for which he has some big boots to fill. After over forty years experience driving combine harvesters, there is not much my Father doesn’t know and to let a new man lose on our beloved machine can’t be easy, however, Father seems reasonably relaxed, showing Marvin the finer points to help make him into an experienced operator in time.

Once we have finished the rapeseed, there will be a few days catching up on other jobs around the farm in readiness for the main wheat harvest to start in August. This is when the real fun starts and it all gets a bit hectic, so preparation is key.

www.leafmarque.com

Farming Diary

From LEAF Demonstration Farmer Duncan Farrington

I love this time of year when Spring has sprung, nature starts to wake up; blossom and leaves start appearing on trees and hedges, birds sing, the countryside has a lovely fresh smell and everything starts feeling a little more pleasant. At last we are able to get on with some real farm work as it is full steam ahead with spring work. We have started planting our spring crops, with the beans going in. The rapeseed is really growing quickly now as weather warms and days lengthen; it is literally growing in front of my eyes, as last week alone it doubled in height.

Marvin, our latest recruit on the farm is finding his feet quickly as I throw him in at the deep end. Currently he is putting fertiliser on the rapeseed to ensure it has a nutritious diet to maintain its strong growth. Fertiliser is food for plants. Like us, all plants require food, with a balanced diet being vital to healthy living. We give the crops a mixed diet of nutrition to include Nitrogen, which forms the building blocks of protein; Sulphur to help make healthy oil; Manganese to help the chlorophyll work efficiently and so on.

Much of a plant’s need is gained from what is in the soil. We analyse what the soil has and balance this with the extra parts the crop needs. Over time I need to ensure I am not mining the soil, but putting back what the crop takes out, as well as looking after all the bacteria and organic matter that work in symbiosis with the plants to create a healthy and sustainable system. As gardeners know, it’s all part of a great big jigsaw puzzle trying to get the balance right.

Looking ahead to June 8^th, we are starting preparations for Open Farm Sunday, in which around 400 farms nationwide open their gates to welcome the public and show what we get up to in growing food for the nation. It is an event I thoroughly enjoy organising, with the help of our neighbours. We try to put on a great free family day out here at Bottom Farm, with farm walks, farm machinery, livestock, local food to try and so on. If you are interested please look at the website for more information www.farmsunday.org

Last month I predicted that by now I would have planted our spring beans, however, the stormy waters has so far not allowed that, although conditions are improving and I hope we can be doing something in the next couple of weeks.

Those who have read my column for some time will know I do mention the weather occasionally. Recently it has been making the national headlines. We had a few trees blow down, including one which blocked the road for a couple of hours before we cleared it up. However, this is nothing compared to what many around the country have suffered. Farmers on the Somerset Levels have suffered a second year of potentially livelihood ruining conditions.

I visited farmers on the Levels last year, remembering one farmer; an award winning, forward thinking person, with a fantastic business he has built up with his family and staff over the years. Most of his pasture was under water for 11½ months of the year. This nearly sent his business to the wall, but thanks to determination and a close relationship with his bank, they had worked out a way for him to pull through it. That was last year, but now I think of him as it has all happened again.

Somerset farmers know the levels flood; they have done since Roman times. Up until 1990, local rivers were dredged to manage the winter flooding. However with authorities like the Environment Agency now run by Westminster intelligentsia, priorities had changed and despite local knowledge and opposition, the powers from afar have not carried out this vital management in recent years, which has lead to the inevitable consequences in the last two years. Fortunately, with the political outfall, it looks like things may change from now on, as organisations will have to answer some big questions on the balance of priorities.

In the mean time, there has been a surge of support for the flooded farmers. Farmers around the country have organised much-needed food and bedding for stranded livestock, whilst the generosity of the wider British population has been overwhelming. In rural and urban areas alike, neighbours have been helping each other when homes have been deluged with flood waters. Often such devastating events bring out the best in people.

This month I have been working with Winter projects and have been building a Bio-bed. A what? I hear you ask. A bio-bed is the latest thinking on creating an ideal area to wash out agricultural crop sprayers. We use our crop sprayer to apply pesticides and fertilisers to the crops throughout the year to help them grow and to keep them in tip top condition. Pesticides are often a potential area of controversy from some quarters, however, just like modern medicine, they are an important and necessary part of growing food. As you would visit your doctor for an aliment, being prescribed a particular medicine to be taken as directed to help you recover. This is exactly the same with our crops. We take expert advice on what remedies to use and apply them skilfully, with the best equipment and trained people.

Getting back to our bio-bed, it is a specifically designed area to wash our crop sprayer on. Capturing any pesticide residue so it can ‘bio-degrade’ naturally, rather than risk it getting into watercourses. The bio-bed is basically a large lined pond, filled with a mix of straw, compost, and soil. The bio mix allows bugs and bacteria to break down pesticides, thus cleaning the water before it is safely trickle irrigated back onto the land. As our farmyard is surrounded by a brook, I am conscious that pollution risk is an issue and I am excited to see how this new system will work.

I have enjoyed this project as it allowed me to get out of the office and get my hands dirty, literally. As often is the case with such projects, we chose rather wet conditions, and after a couple of days with a digger, created a muddy mess. The bio-bed may be nearly finished, but it will be several weeks before we fully clean up the mess we have created around it.

Next on the agenda, once the weather starts to improve for the spring, will be the planting of our spring crops. Firstly the beans, followed by barley. With this, there is no fixed date as one has to be patient. It is crucial to plant when nature is ready and the conditions are right. However, by next month I will hopefully have a progress report that at least something has been done.

I have been refreshing my knowledge on how to manage our soils in our growing business. Soil is my pet area of interest, as ultimately everything we eat, whether this is meat, milk or vegetables comes from the soil it was grown in. Looking after soils both nutritionally and physically will ultimately look after us, to this end we have not ploughed on our farm since 1998. Ploughing is the traditional way farmers have prepared ground to plant crops for thousands of years. It has many benefits, which up until the last hundred years was mainly carried out behind a horse. However with the advent of the tractor, bigger and heavier machines have been used, which has bought some disadvantages from a soil health perspective.

At Bottom Farm, we talk terms such as ‘Minimum Tillage’ or ‘Direct Drilling.’ We use ‘Cover Crops’ and various other techniques, all of which have bought huge, measurable benefits to our soil health in increased organic matter and improved nutrition. However as our soils have improved, my knowledge has not kept up with the latest advances, so it has been really refreshing to learn more on the better use of cover cropping, crop rotations and improvements in how to establish crops. Some may say it is a dull subject and if you were to accuse me of being a soil nerd, I am happy to go along with that.

Agriculture and farming offer very interesting careers, not often considered by those from outside the industry. It is at the cutting edge of technology, for example I have just learnt about the use of LED lighting to grow British Strawberries throughout the year, or in my case understanding the biology involved in creating healthy soils. However it is also about an appreciation of the natural world we work within, the weather, wildlife, animals and living plants.

Agriculture is a growing industry, needing to recruit around 60,000 people by 2020. There are jobs for all sorts of careers from animal husbandry, engineers, biologists, financial and commodity trading and so on. I am just looking at recruiting one person this year, perhaps someone who is willing to share some of my passion about looking at the very ground beneath our feet.