Event Date : June 26, 2024 - June 27, 2024
Event Location : Lannock Manor Farm, Hertfordshire, UK
The Groundswell event provides a forum for farmers and anyone interested in food production or the environment to learn about the theory and practical applications of Conservation Agriculture or regenerative systems, including no-till, cover crops and re-introducing livestock into the arable rotation, with a view to improving soil health.
With Will Simonson, Christian Gossell and Prof. Pippa Chapman. Hedgerows are an iconic part of the British landscape with lots of practical, ecological and aesthetic value. But an enormous amount of a once extensive hedgerow network has been lost. To address this, in its Environmental Improvement Plan (2023) the Government has set the target to create or restore 30,000 miles of hedgerow by 2037 and 45,000 miles by 2050. We will discuss what it will take to meet this target, and why it is important to do so. The opportunity will be created for farmers and others to share their ideas on the importance of this agenda and what has worked or not worked from their perspective. See Hedgerow report.
With Matt Smee and Matt England. Join this session for a deep dive into how to effectively use living mulches (permanent legume covers) in arable rotations. Hear how farmers are tackling the challenges of setting up living mulch systems on their farms, learn about the elements you’ll need to consider to establish living mulches and find out what on-farm research is telling us about the impacts these systems on soil health, weed populations, yield and beneficial insect populations.
With Lindsay Whistance, James Robinson, Claire Whittle and Peter Leeson. How are dairy farms currently coping with extreme weather events? From heat stress in livestock, to drought and flooding, what can we do to improve farm resilience in a future where extremes become the new normal? This session demonstrates how designing farmed landscapes can help deliver for livestock, their health and welfare, the wider environment and the farm’s bottom line. The panel will discuss current research, knowledge gaps and importantly – how you can plan and implement some of these changes on your own farm now. There will be case studies from farmers who have begun to make adaptations and we will be time travelling to take a look at what their farms could look like in 2050.
With Will Simonson, David Wolfe, Josiah Meldrum and Henrietta Inman. In March 1994 the first trees of Wakelyns Agroforestry were planted to begin fulfilling the vision of Professor Martin Wolfe and his wife Ann for a sustainable and adaptable farming model based on agroforestry to challenge the status quo of prevailing intensive monoculture. Designed to be a demonstration of different types of agroforestry, which was highly novel in Britain at the time, Wakelyns has fulfilled that objective in spectacular ways over the subsequent 30 years. In an informal social event to celebrate the vision, achievement and ongoing innovation of Wakelyns, David Wolfe and wife Amanda, and some of the Wakelyns team will provide recollections on the past and plans for the future. See: New updated version – Wakelyns Agroforestry: Resilience through diversity.
With Julia Cooper, Prof Tom MacMillan and Elizabeth Stockdale. Where would the research effort and investment best help regenerative farming? Hear the findings from two recent reviews – a stocktake of farmers’ top priorities from across all sectors gathered by the NFU and Centre for Effective Innovation in Agriculture, and an independent assessment of the evidence on regen ag by ORC, NIAB and Agritech-E. What did they find? What are your own priorities?
With Julia Cooper, Matt Smee and Tom Knowles. Composted organic waste is a key input to provide food to soil organisms and build soil health and fertility in farming systems. Join us for this session to hear practical advice into how Johnson-Su, hot composting and vermicomposting techniques can be adopted and to find out what science and research is telling us about the effects that different composting systems can have on soil health.
Visit the Agroforestry Tent for free bespoke advice on making your planting project successful.
Share your ideas and questions with specialists from the Woodland Trust, Soil Association, Organic Research Centre, Forestry Commission, Natural England and commercial advisers.
Bring along a map of your farm or agroforestry design and book an on the day appointment for expert insight and top tips to get your project up and running. If relevant, we’ll connect you with tree nurseries, equipment suppliers, funders and researchers at Groundswell too, so that you can walk away from the event ready to get started.
We’ll also be running discussion sessions on agroforestry and displaying findings from our latest research.
Sign up for a bespoke design clinic session and see the discussion timetable at the Agroforestry Tent at Groundswell. Find us in the centre of the Pasture Field.
For full programme: https://groundswellag.com/sessions/
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