Norman Dunne is six years into his regenerative farming journey and is using a flock of 200 laying hens to graze down cover crops on his heavy land farm about 20 miles west of Dublin.

Working in partnership with his father, Michael, he farms 162ha outside Maynooth, County Kildare, and, in 2016, he started going down the conservation ag route.

He recalls that using a plough-based system felt like being on a treadmill.

See also: Why farmers need to do their sums before altering 2023 N rates

“There were too many variables – crop type, rotation – and soils had become very damaged.”

It was proving hard to create good seed-beds on the very heavy land and he noted a lack of worms. “Soils were dead,” he admits.

After years on the regen journey, by harvest 2022 yields finally matched those with the plough-based approach, and he is seeing the benefits of improved margins and soil health.

© Norman Dunne

Regenerative farming approach

Back in 2015, Mr Dunne realised a radical change was needed.

“We started our regenerative approach when the crows and seagulls weren’t following the plough anymore because of the lack of worms.”

He took a biological soils course, run by farmer David Wallace, and “it opened up a lot of new thinking and different approaches”.

He also had to convince his father to adopt a more regenerative farming approach.

So he started with a 4ha field and hired a contractor to direct-drill some beans.

“They went into what looked like a poor cover crop, but they did 1t/acre, which was good in a dry season.”

It was followed by a first wheat, and yields were better than some of his neighbours, who suffered with take-all issues. “It was a fantastic crop of wheat,” Mr Dunne says.

During that time, he also visited different farms in Ireland and worldwide, including some on heavier soils, and saw regen farming in action.

“He [my father] had to see it, as seeing is believing.”

The family kept increasing the area that was direct-drilled a bit at a time until 2020, when the whole farm was in no-till with cover crops.

© Norman Dunne

Soil health benefits

Mr Dunne says that when he used to plough and power-harrow, it was difficult to achieve good seed-beds on his soils.

“We are now seeing better rooting and the soil breaks up more easily. It also has fibrous roots and worms, and there is good percolation of rain.”

He puts the better soil health partly down to cover crop roots doing their job.

Cover crops are kept as diverse as possible, and he likes brassicas because they “get up and out early”, so he includes radish, mustard and forage rape.

Other species in the mix include phacelia, linseed, buckwheat and clover.

He also grows oilseed rape, which is drilled with a companion crop mix and Australian winter peas.

The mix includes sunflowers, buckwheat, clover and phacelia. Soil is quite heavy and he drilled it twice – first the companion crops and then oilseed rape.

“Most die during the winter, leaving mostly OSR. Then, in spring, the winter peas will fix some nitrogen,” he explains. Both will be harvested and separated.

© Jayjay/Adobe Stock

Chopping straw

Another part of his approach is to chop straw. “We chopped a lot of straw this year and will chop even more next year.”

2022 will be remembered for being bone dry, but Mr Dunne says where he had chopped the straw, there were good moisture levels for establishing the next crop.

“It is a blanket to protect soils from baking heat. It is also a food and carbon source for soils, and a food for worms.”

In late August/early September, the place was dry and there was a small bit of moisture, which the straw protected.

Next year, he is looking to blow seed on the combine and then chop straw on top to seal the moisture in.

He carried out two tests sprinkling seed after the header. “It gave better results than drilling the crop,” he says.

© Norman Dunne

Cutting inputs

After several years of regenerative farming, Norman Dunne has successfully cut back his inputs.

In the past two years, he has eliminated phosphorus and potassium inputs and is instead feeding crops with compost.

“We have an agreement with our neighbour to supply straw and we get compost back.

“Yields are back to where they were with the plough-based system, but we have higher margins, as we are burning less diesel, resulting in lower establishment costs”, he says.

He has also reduced fungicides and nitrogen fertiliser inputs.

With nitrogen, he is now using 150kg/ha for winter wheat, where he was previously applying 213-225kg/ha.

Mr Dunne achieved this by cutting back a little each year. He believes this was made possible through a combination of cover cropping, applying compost and moving to a more diverse rotation.

“Things are working better now, so we find we need less nitrogen,” he says.

Lower risks

One key benefit of the regen farming approach is that establishment costs are lower and the system is more flexible, with less risk.

Like many farmers, he lost an area of wheat and barley in the autumn of 2019. It was drilled in the last two days of October, just before the rain arrived and seedlings drowned. “It didn’t stop raining,” he says.

With his approach, the lower diesel use, combined with using home-saved seed, meant he didn’t lose too much.

In contrast, some neighbours redrilled that autumn and lost that crop too.

Hens

One unique part of his system is the addition of a 200-hen pasture laying flock in a mobile house with mobile fencing. Eggs are sold directly to consumers.

It is a low-labour system with an automated shed based on a system set up by Richard Perkins, a regen farmer in Sweden. Hens have access to green, fresh pasture at all times.

The hens are moved every seven to 10 days on cover crops or pasture. They are good at using cover crops, and the droppings return nutrients to the soil, he says.

He adds that they see good egg production on the cover crops – higher than when they are on pasture.

Birds are supplemented with feed produced on farm, including barley/peas, oats/peas, some beans, and wheat. All are sprouted, which improves digestibility for the birds.

Hens grazing the cover crop © Norman Dunne

Norman Dunne and Tommy Hughes were speaking at the recent BioFarm 2022 conference organised by National Organic Training and held at Carrick-on-Shannon, County Leitrim, Ireland.