A new approach to sustainable food production.
As the saying goes, we live in interesting times. The pandemic has impacted upon all our lives, and will shape our futures and plans.
During all the restrictions, the importance of our food supply has been highlighted and perhaps put a little more focus on home production. This is an opportunity for farming, but it arises at a time when, post brexit, farm support systems are facing major changes, with greater emphasis on environmental concerns. It is also a time when zero carbon targets have come to the fore and farming systems need to adapt to meet these. Thus there is clearly an emphasis on food production, but it must be within environmental considerations. Those farmers who are both willing and able to adapt must do so, though it is clear to many that some further restructuring of the sector is inevitable.
Within government circles, one of the key words now often spoken is integrated – the need to take an integrated approach to challenges, to produce multi-benefits through careful planning and allocation of resources. So, again, it is an opportunity, but can farming adopt integrated approaches to maintain farmers’ livelihoods and produce the multi-benefits sought?
Integrated farm management (IFM) is a whole-farm business approach that aims to deliver more sustainable farming. It seeks to combine the best of modern technology with traditional methods to help deliver viable farming that enriches the environment and engages local communities. This is fairly simple to say, but can it really work? There are many examples of its practice on a world scale, but how can it apply here in the UK?
“Taking less intensive approaches tends to be associated with lower productivity and returns”
Answering these questions is not easy. Undoubtedly, adopting such an approach to farm practice increases risk, and requires a great deal of planning and precision. It involves a holistic approach to husbandry of crops and livestock. Taking less intensive approaches tends to be associated with lower productivity and returns, but projects in the UK which have sought to implement this have shown that, through an integrated approach, this may not always be true. Integrated systems are based on proper rotations of cropping, really understanding the soil and its condition, being flexible in terms of drilling dates, adopting more preventative approaches to weeds and disease, building nutrient levels through natural processes and better combinations of livestock and cropping.
The organisation known as LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) has as its mission ‘to inspire and enable sustainable farming that is prosperous, enriches the environment and engages local communities’. As such it has been one body taking a lead in promoting integrated farming. It suggests it comprises nine components, all of which must interact and relate. A full understanding of how they do this is crucial to success if there is to be delivery of multi-benefits in terms of climate action, environmental gains, nature protection and enhancement and, importantly, community benefit. So what are these nine components?
It all starts with a need for organisation and planning and, in the first instance, this involves clear definitions of both short and long-term objectives and a real understanding of resources available, both quantity and quality. The second component identified is soil management and fertility. There can be a tendency to take soil for granted, yet it is the basis of all food production. It must be managed and conserved to ensure healthy and biologically active growing material with proper physical structure, chemical balance and fertility. Back in the late 1960s, when the author was at university, the study of soils, or pedology, was an essential component of agricultural degrees. More recently it has received less emphasis but, if we are to successfully adopt integrated farming, detailed knowledge of soil and its management is vital,
The third component relates to crop health and its protection from disease, pests and weeds. Taking an integrated approach does not have to involve not using plant protection products, but it does put emphasis on minimising their use by adopting all approaches possible to maintain healthy plants, less susceptible to problems of disease. This moves us on to the fourth component: well-organised pollution control and by-product management. This plays an important part in protecting water, energy, biodiversity and soil management. It involves making maximum use of so-called farm wastes, recyling as fertiliser or energy supply.
The fifth component focuses on animal husbandry. While meat production often comes under fire because of its efficiency and emissions, there is no doubt that well-managed mixed farming can have considerable advantages and, if done properly, can address some of these concerns. In the UK, not all land is suitable for arable and even where it is, grassland can provide a vital element in rotations. Managing that grassland and the livestock on it correctly can produce the multi-benefits sought as long as it’s managed as part of the total farm plan and objectives.
“Water management is often a neglected area, not just in farming but on a national scale”
The sixth and seventh components refer to the management of both energy and water. Energy use on farms is a key cost: again, in integrated approaches it calls for planning its use and indeed in its generation. Water management is often a neglected area, not just in farming but on a national scale, yet water resource can a really limiting factor and the impact of climate change is shifting the balance in terms of water issues. Too often society looks at issues of flooding, supply and other factors in isolation. This cannot be the case in integrated approaches. Factors such as planned tree planting, enhancing water storage and capture facilities are key components here.
The penultimate component is a focus on landscape and nature conservation. While often reference can be made to the taking up of hedges, certainly in the 70s and 80s, on balance farmers have always seen their landscape and nature as important. The new farm support systems will give a further boost to the focus in this area. Enhancing landscape does not need to impact on productivity; in fact, if done right, it can achieve the reverse.
This brings us to the ninth and final component: engaging the community. Very often problems in this area arise from a lack of communication. It is essential to communicate what and why to everybody who works on or around the farm, including the local community. Not only does it help them to better understand farming and the rural environment, but it can help address their concerns, needs and expectations of the countryside and food production.
To return to the start of this article – we live in interesting times – the pandemic has emphasised the essential role of farming and recent television programmes, including the often hilarious Clarkson’s Farm, have brought to the fore the challenges of combining viability with all the other objectives sought. Integrated farm management is one option in undoubtedly a time of major change to the industry and how it undertakes its work.
