Wildlife can prosper alongside modern farming techniques

It has been said that without profitable farming the countryside will suffer. We will explore how both needs can be accomodated during the December meeting of Saltburn Monitor Farm. Marek Nowakowski, an agronomist and adviser to growers, agricultural organisations and the government will discuss habit improvment within a farming system. Soil Farmer of the Year Richard Suddes will talk best practice direct drilling and his experiences of conservation agriculture.

Speakers and topics

• Marek Nowakowski on wildlife farming 
• Richard Suddes, Soil Farmer of the Year 

Programme

• Registration and coffee
• Welcome
• Speaker one
• Coffee and biscuits
• Speaker two
• Lunch

About Saltburn Monitor Farm

John Aynsley runs a 1,302 ha mixed farm near Saltburn-by-the-Sea in the north-east of England. Covering 566 ha he grows a rotation of winter barley, oilseed rape, and wheat on light loam to heavy clay. Combinable crops are established using a min-till approach and all grain is dried and stored on farm. In addition to the arable enterprise John also manages 1,300 breeding ewes and 450 spring-calving suckler cows. The main challenge which John aims to address on the farm is soil management. John is already a member of the Darlington Benchmarking Group and has been benchmarking since it started. By participating in the Monitor Farm programme, he hopes to prepare his business to be profitable without direct payments.

About Monitor Farms

AHDB Monitor Farms bring together groups of like-minded farmers who wish to improve their businesses by sharing performance information and best practice around a nationwide network of host farms. AHDB organises and facilitates Monitor Farm meetings for farmers, who own and operate the scheme – by farmers, for farmers. Monitor Farms are part of the AHDB Farm Excellence Programme. Each Monitor Farm project runs for three years.