Monitor Farm meeting: Hale Village

This meeting we are going to be looking at how we could make an extra 30K. The loss of subsidies is leading people to look into other options, whether it be entering into environmental schemes, diversification or working with the public. We are going to be hearing from Chris Seabridge who will answer our questions about ELMs and CSS.

Programme

• Environmental schemes, where do they fit? - Chris Seabridge, Chris Seabridge & Associates Ltd
  • Agri-environmental schemes (including ELMs)
  • BPS and greening
  • ELMs
  • Cross compliance
  • Environmental grant schemes (CSS)
  • CFE

• Farm Update - Bill Webb, Hale Village Monitor Farmer

• Welcome and introduction - Michelle Nuttall, AHDB

• Registration

• Lunch

• Do you diversify? - Mary Miller, Rural Futures
  • Diversification options
  • When to diversify
  • What to think about
  • Measuring success?

• What could Bill do? - All

• Close - Michelle Nuttall, AHDB

About the farm

Bill Webb farms with his son Joe at Manor Farm in Hale Village, on the Mersey estuary. They grow potatoes, spring barley, winter barley, oilseed rape and wheat at the 417 ha farm, on a range of light to medium-heavy land. All but the barley is sold to customers within 20 miles of the farm – localism and strong links with the supply chain are key philosophies of the business. Ryegrass is the primary weed challenge at Manor Farm. Bill wants to keep learning and improving his farm, as well as bringing more locally-relevant research and knowledge to the North West.