How sustainable farming is made central to Raby Estate’s business

Attention to detail has been critical as Raby Estate has changed direction and set about creating a more robust and commercially viable business, with an environmentally sustainable farming enterprise at its heart.

Farm manager Philip Vickers describes the system as “best farming practice” rather than giving it a regenerative label and explains that the focus has been to reduce reliance on external factors.

While that has created challenges in some circumstances, it has also allowed them to improve timeliness and find other ways of solving agronomic issues.

See also: 4 challenges facing farm businesses and how to overcome them

“I’m as confident as I can be that we are going in the right direction,” he says.

A good example of that in practice is slug pressure, which initially increased with the introduction of less soil disturbance and more ground cover on the farm’s heavy soils, especially in a wet autumn.

However, the purchase of a straw rake helped to reduce slug numbers by disrupting their life cycle and redistributing surface trash – with slug pellet use falling as a result and carabid beetle numbers rising.

“It’s taken some of the pressure off,” he says.

“Our system is based on appropriate use of inputs – we still need to be profitable.” 

Flexibility

Philip adds that sustainability extends beyond the in-hand farming operation in a business-wide strategy that encompasses the whole of the Raby Estate – meaning that resource efficiency, biodiversity uplift and wider public engagement are all relevant to the farm.

“Lord Barnard had the original vision and aims to hand over the estate to the next generation in a better condition.

“By working together, that is what we are all trying to deliver.”

With direct drilling used wherever possible and fewer synthetic inputs applied, both the scale of the farm and its northerly location can work against it in terms of timeliness, he says.

“It is more challenging and we do have to think on our feet,” Philip says.

“Some of the windows we have to get field work done are very tight and we know that if we compromise a direct-drilling situation, we will see a yield reduction.”

Overwinter cover crops are a good example.

The benefits of including them for better soil function and nutrient cycling are well known, but the opportunity to get them drilled and established before the weather changes can be challenging.

For that reason, Philip maintains a flexible approach.

He has introduced diversity into the rotation in other ways – by growing some bicrops of peas/spring barley for cattle rations and using variety blends for feed wheat crops.

He is also growing spring oats for the first time this year, as he continues to weigh up cropping options and their place in wider, more diverse rotations.

Variable costs

Fuel use has come down and the farm now uses 4.5 litres/ha to establish crops by direct-drilling.

On average, that’s a 10-litre/ha reduction.

Kerosene use in the mobile grain driers has also fallen due to the strong reluctance to combine the grain above 18% moisture.

Input use is described as appropriate and is always being scrutinised.

“We dropped our nitrogen rates to as low as 150kg/ha in some first wheat crops but found that protein levels in winter wheat were slipping.

“They’ve come up a bit now and are around 10-15% below the RB209 recommendation.”

Fungicides are complemented with biosolutions, and sheep are used to graze winter wheat and eliminate the need for an early spray, Philip says.

“We are learning all the time so it will be interesting to see what results we get this year.” 

The opportunities to graze wheat this year were really limited due to low biomass crops because of the wet autumn and winter.

 A 0.8t/ha yield uplift has been recorded where sheep grazed winter wheat.

Otherwise, bromes are the biggest grassweed challenge and seem to favour direct-drilling situations.

Both margin and yield are important, stresses Philip, who says that yields have held up well as the system has changed.

Sustainability baselining

The wider estate’s sustainability strategy has implications for the farm in terms of resources and soil health, reveals Raby Estate’s sustainability manager, Victoria Cadman.

As a result, baselining is being done across 10% of the fields, to see if the change in farming operations is being reflected in soil health and function and whether it is helping to address pre-existing issues.

“We can’t sample all the soils everywhere,” she says.

“But we are doing soil organic matter tests, as well as undertaking physical analysis such as visual evaluation of soil structure scores, bulk density, infiltration tests, earthworm counts and slake tests.

“We are also comparing fields that have had different cultivation regimes. Some have been direct-drilled for a while, such as High Carlbury, and others are still in transition, as with Low Carlbury.”

Early results are encouraging, continues Victoria.

“We have measured soil organic matter increases and improvements in nutrient status across both sites and the changes are statistically significant.”

Getting soil organic matter levels up has involved straw chopping and the use of farmyard manure, as well as changing cultivations, she notes.

“We are continuing with this work so that we get enough data from more varied soil types and management operations to confirm what the most robust approach is.”

The final part of the work will be to see if there is a relationship between these variables and yield/margin, she concludes.    

Fertiliser changes

The repurposing of the farm’s original fertiliser store as part of the wider estate’s rejuvenation plan prompted a switch to liquid fertilisers.

“Losing storage facilities is only one reason to change”, says David Booty of Omex, who adds that there are also good technical and practical arguments for using liquids.

“The accuracy of application is better,” he points out.

 “It’s also less susceptible to drift, due to better targeting, and nutrient availability tends to be higher.

“Some of the fields here are very exposed and can be affected by high winds.”

Workload and logistics also come into play as fertilising becomes a one-man operation with liquids, continues David.

“You don’t need bag handling and help with filling the hopper. It becomes a more seamless operation and saves time.”

Flexibility is another consideration, as the balance of nutrients applied can be tweaked, along with any other crop nutritional requirements.

The use of urease or nitrification inhibitors can be planned for without having to commit to advance purchasing.

Solid fertiliser still has a place at Raby, he acknowledges.

“It helps to take the pressure off the sprayer and is used to keep up with operations at busy times.”

Looking ahead, David notes that low carbon fertilisers are on their way, which will suit Raby’s sustainability focus.

“Products based on blue ammonia will be coming along this year.

“Further ahead, we have green ammonia, which is made from renewable energy but comes at a higher cost.

“Then we will have fertilisers containing recovered nutrients, such as those from waste water.

“Again, they will suit the circular economy approach.”

Business changes

Robert Sullivan of GSC Grays, who has worked alongside the Raby Estate for 35 years, outlines some of the changes that have been made since Philip Vickers arrived three years ago and the farming system started to evolve.

Machinery

Having reviewed the fleet, almost two tractor units have been dropped. As a result, less capital is tied up, running costs have been reduced and the hp/ha of cropping figure has come down.

Two main drills are used – a 12m Horsch Avatar as the workhorse, while a Seedhawk is used for environmental plots and some other drilling.

“Given the tight working windows, drill capacity may not be optimum yet,” Robert suggests.

Labour

Previously, three full-time staff worked on the farm. When two of them retired, the labour requirement was reassessed and there are now two full-time staff on the arable enterprise, covering more land.

So labour costs are down. “We’ve got a great high-quality, motivated team. The aim is to maximise the area we can manage with the existing kit and labour.”

Rotation

A wider, more diverse rotation that includes spring cropping and cover crops is in place, with an SFI agreement helping, but the margin has not reduced, stresses Robert.

“We have more first wheats in the rotation now, so the gross margin hasn’t slipped. We also have more grassweed control opportunities.”

Yields

Providing the farm team has been able to stick to the narrow September and early October window for drilling, yields have held up.

“We get five to six weeks maximum up here. If we have to go outside of that period, the risks associated with direct drilling increase and yield is the first thing to suffer.”

Nitrogen

Overall, nitrogen rates have dropped by 50kg/ha, although they have been revised upwards slightly after protein levels in wheat dropped.

First wheats receive an average of 170kg/ha of nitrogen, while tissue testing is used to check the crop’s nutritional status.

Sprays

Fungicide use has fallen but the use of nutritional products has increased, so the costs haven’t altered. “There are lots of environmental scheme options on the farm,” points out Robert.

“Over time, they will provide the resilience and sustainability that a lower-input system needs.”

Sustainable Farming Incentive

The SFI has been embraced enthusiastically, admits Robert, but in a way that benefits the farm and the environment.

Payments for companion crops, no-tillage, zero insecticides and summer cover crops are all received by the business, which has helped with the loss of funding from the Basic Payment Scheme.

“It takes a lot of management time, so don’t underestimate what’s required.”

Funding – looking ahead

With the future of government funding uncertain and climate change creating challenges for rotations and business planning, there is no one-size-fits-all approach for farm businesses, says Lewis Butlin of Agrovista.

“We are at a crossroads – until we know the detail of any future government funding and how the SFI [Sustainable Farming Incentive] is going to develop, it isn’t possible to be more specific.

“Those who have an existing SFI agreement will be able to carry on with the practices that they have committed to, most of which will

be improving land and delivering for nature,” Lewis suggests.

He believes that the original concept of the SFI was correct, but its implementation was flawed.

“It funded different behaviour and allowed farmers to make the decisions that were right for their farms.”

An added complication has been seasonal factors, he notes.

“We haven’t had a normal season for five years, so the SFI has helped to manage some of that risk and keep farms on track.”

With pressure on public funding, more private funding opportunities are becoming available through the supply chain, according to Ed Jones, sustainable farming adviser with Frontier Agriculture.

There are already a number of sustainability programmes up and running through Frontier, with two main different types for the harvest 2025 crop, he reports.

The first is a sustainability data collection contract, where growers are paid premiums as part of a grain contract to supply crop production data, while the second is a sustainable supply chain programme, where growers receive payments per hectare for certain farming practices.

“Both help supply chain partners understand the environmental footprint of products entering their supply chain.

“With the latter, the practices that growers are being asked to do are linked to reducing emissions, improving soil health and supporting biodiversity,” he explains.

To date, these programmes cover winter wheat, winter oilseed rape and spring barley.

“For farmers, the key is to make sure that you understand what you have to do and what information you have to provide, before you sign up,” advises Ed.

“The supply chain needs evidence so farmers must be prepared for audits.

“The data on how crops are grown has a value and making sure that you know why any partner needs it is important.”

This focus on the Raby Estate was based on a Transition Project farm walk in June. It is part of a series of events to help you achieve a more sustainable future for your farm business.

The events are free of charge and supported and attended by our Transition Project partners, who provide an invaluable source of advice and information.