Back Issues

Justin Platt says “I was very fortunate to grow up on a farm in the beautiful Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. With no real agricultural experience to speak of, my father left the family printing business in the late 1950s and established us on 500 acres of farmland, a small fry by modern commercial standards but more than enough to build a diversified ‘mixed’ farming operation which included a diverse rotation of cash crops, pasture, sheep, beef and dairy cattle, and a small farm dairy. The KZN Midlands are blessed with excellent soils by Southern African standards, being predominantly dark and well-structured with a low PH, approximately 4% organic matter and high aluminium levels, that required the necessary calcium related remediation. My upbringing on these soils and in this environment laid the foundation for my later focus on improving soil health and regenerative agricultural practices as the keys to farm profitability and sustainability – although I didn’t quite know it at the time!”

After leaving university with a degree in botany and plant pathology, I spent my first five working years in the world of industrial agriculture corporations, where I was involved in testing and marketing new coded fungicides, herbicides and insecticides for well-known multinational chemical companies. The large skull and crossbones on each container were disturbing and the experience convinced me that there must be a better path. Unfortunately, my views were not shared by many at the time. 

Conventional South African agriculture in the early 1990s, like most agricultural industries around the world, was firmly settled onto the treadmill of excessively high inorganic fertiliser applications coupled with a scary cocktail of chemical pesticides, fungicides and herbicides. We could see the harm this approach was causing to our soils, ecosystems and especially farm viability, so with the encouragement and backing of a small group of progressive and innovative growers, we set out to explore opportunities to develop alternative products and solutions with a focus on improved soil health as the foundation for successful and sustainable crop production.

A key turning point in our journey was a 2004 visit by Graeme Sait, a prominent advocate of ‘nutrition farming’ from Australia, who delivered a four-day conference on regenerative and nutrition farming to our audience of growers, researchers and industry members. The response was phenomenal! While this conference and subsequent editions that we ran over the next fifteen years played a crucial role in driving interest for these alternative methods and products we were advocating, our immediate challenge was addressing the lack of infrastructure, expertise and readily available local raw materials required to meet the demand here in South Africa.

Taking off from there, our ongoing focus over the past decade and a half has been on building the capacity and structures required to support the groundswell of growers both in South Africa and around the world who are making the transition to regenerative agriculture. Based on the demand created by a paradigm shift towards regenerating tired and damaged soils, we launched into relatively uncharted waters to develop organic raw materials locally, that would serve to manufacture “soil food’’ products. South Africa is blessed with abundant raw materials all of which require refining and value adding to create purpose-specific products. In many cases, the raw materials we source are natural waste and effluent byproducts from other industries (sugar processing and fish processing to name two), which work beautifully as microbe food. A win for all parties.

Whilst our range of raw materials and registered products form an integral part of a regenerative management program, there are no silver bullets. These, together with the balanced use of microbial products, cover crops, minimum tillage, an animal factor, and a good dose of common sense will contribute to farming profitably and restoring our natural environments in essentially any farming context around the world.

In the end, the success of any grower will be decided by their determination to make the transition! As Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right.”

A fundamental pillar of the Regenerative Agriculture community over the past few decades has been knowledge sharing and the free flow of support and ideas. After several years of effort in building our capacity and product range here in South Africa, coupled with a supremely favourable exchange rate, we are excited about the new opportunities presented to us by other agricultural regions, especially the UK. We welcome any advice and input as we undertake this challenge! We also plan to attend Groundswell in June 2022, where we hope to meet as many of you as possible.

About the Author:

Justin Platt founded Zylem in 1990 and is the Managing Director of the business to this day. Based in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, Zylem is family-owned and operated. Justin’s wife (since 2005) and two sons (since 2021) have joined him in the running of the business. For more information or to get in touch, please see the details below:

W: www.zylemsa.co.za

E: justinp@zylemsa.co.za

L: www.linkedin.com/company/zylem-sa

Written by David Newton – Technical Manager, Timac Agro UK

The current fertiliser production and supply issues are leading to producers examining their inputs and expenditure, looking at the returns on their investment and the opportunity to enhance the effi-ciency and return from every kilo of input.

One way to help the soil regain balance is by using a soil conditioner. These are often based on the addition of calcium to soils, sometimes mistaken for liming, along with other trace elements and biological stimulants to help the soil heal itself. Liming is the addition of Calcium Carbonate to mop-up excess hydrogen ions-acidity, whereas soil conditioning, while buffering pH on a local level, also aims to improve soil structure, air and water flow, soil biological activity and, through this, nutrient availa-bility.

Two such products are Physiolith and Humistart, both based on a marine calcium base “Calcimer”; a highly reactive source of soluble calcium carbonate rich in essential trace elements that rapidly buff-ers any surface acidity, binds clay and humus to strengthen structure and regulate water flow, pro-vides a safe haven for soil microbes and can counter excess Mg & potash effects. Add into this a sea-weed-based rooting cytokinin and you have Physiolith; a great stimulator to improve crop establish-ment and rooting. The biostimulant in Physiolith also opens up nutrient uptake pathways generating more vigorous growth and healthier plants to strengthen establishment and return value for money.

In more established crops, or situations with potential for utilising OM, (min/no till, manure/compost additions, long-term grassland) Humistart may be more applicable. In this product the biostimulant is aimed at feeding soil life and stimulating fungal growth. The Minactiv biostimulant, again seaweed derived, targets the mineralisation of organic nutrition, especially where any tough, lignified material is involved. So breaking down cover crop, straw-based manure, wood-chip or high C-N ratio compost at temperatures down to 2oC to release “free” nutrition.

“In these times when we are examining every input, a soil conditioner can complement a lower input regime to reduce compaction, stimulate soil health, buffer pH and generate good returns” says David. “But I have a calcareous soil! Why would I add more Ca when it is locking up nutrition?”

It is all down to reactivity and roots! The highly reactive Ca in Calcimer works to produce stable aggre-gates even in calcareous soils, improving structure and reducing salt build-up. “at Timac we have done research into the effect of root density on local pH” says David: “Root exudates are mildly acidic, so it follows that if you increase root density you increase the concentration of exudates reducing the pH of the rhizosphere, this can be up to 1 pH point, so releasing locked up nutrition such as phosphate, so stimulating root growth not only finds more nutrition, it releases more from the soil”

“Soils have taken a battering, much like the agricultural industry for many years now, it isn’t the farmer’s fault, they have just been following the best advice of the time” says David, “however awareness of soil biology and interactions has improved so we need to farm differently now, the fertiliser price increases have forced growers to look at their input and consider their practices, hence the growth of regenerative farming, min/notill practices and soil conditioning”

What is the current situation?

The commonly used fertiliser materials that, in recent years, have been in plentiful supply and relatively cheap: Ammonium Nitrate, DAP, TSP, MOP work on a principle akin to the “carpet bombing” approach of the 1940s, 50s, 60s and 70s warfare; i.e. throw enough nutrient into the system and some of it will hit the target species. Unfortunately, as with Carpet bombing there is “collateral damage” of soil health, plant health, weed growth and reduced fertility that have led to a dependency on further chemical solutions. To mix metaphors, nitrate fertiliser is the “gateway drug” to dependence on the fungicides, herbicides and growth regulators that have been profitable for the Agronomy industry over the last 40 years. The focus on sustainable productivity, Carbon footprint reduction and the rise in input prices lead us to question this approach and look at ways to a more “precision strike” method of nutrition. 

Is it time to try something different?

Fertiliser formulation has moved on from the simple commodities to include extra technology to en-hance nutrient uptake efficiency, plant physiology, the delivery of the nutrients involved and enhance soil health to add sustainability into the nutrition system. For the last 40 years Timac Agro have been at the forefront of this enhanced fertiliser offering, developing soil conditioning phosphate and nitro-gen solutions that protect and improve (rather than disrupt) soil health with their soil conditioners, Physalg, N-process and a totally new phosphate, Top-phos ranges. These products utilise natural seaweed and humate technology to package nutrition in ways that pro-tect it from pH lock-up, leaching and volatilisation, working with the natural nutrient uptake processes of roots to deliver nutrition to plants in ways that promote both plant and soil health.

By including marine Calcium (from seashells), Sulphur and magnesium, elements demonstrated to have a synergy with nitrogen uptake, bound with the N-sources at a molecular level in their N-process molecule, Ti-mac nitrogens provide an ideal early-season application in all commercial crops to get the season off to a healthy start. The company is unusual in that it recommends rival products such as CAN for subse-quent applications due to the (usually) high price point of their inputs. This year is the exception as explained by James Hay, Deputy Manager of Timac Agro UK:

“Due to the nature of our manufacture process we are less subject to the fluctuations of the com-modity market and, although we have also experienced price pressure, our rises are considerably less than those experienced by the commodities such as Urea and AN, bringing us into line with and in-deed cheaper than some of the prices being circulated currently”

David Newton, Timac Agro UK product manager explains how they can help with the current price storm:

“by including soil conditioning technology in your fertiliser program this year and in years to come you will increase overall efficiency in nutrient uptake, a healthy soil, balanced for pH, will respond in a far superior way to all inputs, be they from manure or chemical sources, the future of nutrition must listen to the needs of the plant and soil to give sustainable, intensive agriculture. For example, one of our customers, utilising soil conditioning and N-pro in their program, have brought the N-input down from 250kg/ha to 180kg/ha over the course of three years with now yield penalty. With the current fertiliser market you can’t afford to ignore these opportunities” 

“We have been talking soil health and input efficiency for many years now, the current changes to payments, fertiliser market and emphasis on soil health and productivity means that our message is more relevant than ever”

Another approach to getting the best from your soils is to make sure they are in peak condition. Nu-trient availability drops off considerably in adverse conditions, readers of Direct Driller are all too aware of the issues caused by: 

• Low or High pH

• Compaction

• Low OM

• Poor water flow (too fast/slow)

• Imbalance of elements, excesses of one nutrient can severely affect the availability of others.

• Over tillage

All of these conditions above will affect the chemistry and biology of your soils, and, for optimal plant growth the soil needs to be balanced to allow the science to work. “At Timac we work with farmers to examine their particular situation, dig and test soils, look at crop-ping and establishment to see if there is anything inhibiting optimal growth. We focus on long term improvements, not just instant, short-term fixes to deliver sustainable growth in so many ways”

Written by Tom Allen-Stevens from Trinity Agtech

New markets have opened up for carbon and biodiversity. When underpinned by digital software, international protocols and a just legal framework, they allow those who manage the land control over their natural capital and the income stream that’s opened up. Louisa Knocker from Trinity Natural Capital Markets addresses the queries.

Winter is a time of year when the differences are laid bare – quite literally in some respects. For those following regenerative agriculture, your fields are green, with a gratifying cover of biomass you’ve been careful to establish and cultivate. The ground walks firm – you can almost feel the thriving network of roots and the life they support beneath your feet. Your streams run clear, despite the heavy downpours that cause your neighbours so much grief and wash clouds of their soil and nutrients into the rivers and tributaries beyond your boundary. 

But do you see this difference as a tradable asset, and are you adequately rewarded for the care you take with the resources you so skilfully manage?

Carbon credits, with or without biodiversity and water protection cobenefits and biodiversity tokens are now clear and credible opportunities for farmers. The Environment Act has set legislation around the Government’s 25- year plan to leave the environment in a better state than they found it. This paves the way for a renaissance in the fortunes of the rural economy based not only on what the land produces, but how it’s managed.

Trading in the voluntary carbon market alone is predicted to be worth £40bn by 2030. But it’s a young, nascent market, open to inefficient and unfair trading. As such it can be difficult to know which deals will truly be in the best interests of those who care for their soils, and which will result in a corporate land grab, with good farming land covered in trees or left to rewild. There are also genuine concerns for the commitments these trades will bind the land to – whether these will result in farmers losing control of the way they manage their soils, and how tenants and contractors can be fairly rewarded for the work they collaboratively undertake with landowners.

Farmers who manage their natural assets through credible decision-support assistants will be the ones who retain control. Those who work through a rigorous and efficient digital market will reap the rewards. This will have the templates, model contracts and legal framework expected of any financial market for a fair and virtuous outcome for everyone’s collective gain. It’s the route that will ensure the best interests of the soil are a key outcome of current changes and will contribute to lasting, positive change for farming.

What is the opportunity?

The natural capital markets are driven firstly by the need to reduce emissions and keep global warming below 1.5°C. Coupled with this, the need to halt the loss of biodiversity has been enshrined into policy. While it’s incumbent on everyone to reduce emissions, there are some aspects of society and the activities we undertake, such as air travel and building houses, that will always carry a carbon or biodiversity cost. That makes natural climate solutions tradable commodities.

Meanwhile in the investment world, carbon markets are rapidly emerging as a very relevant and viable asset class for institutional and other major investors. More than 50% of global GDP depends on nature – an estimated £33 trillion – and 90% of natural capital is lost due to human behaviour. Already 25% of the world’s 500 largest companies have made carbon commitments by 2030, creating a voluntary market for natural climate solutions in the UK set to far outstrip the value of the wheat market.

But currently it’s still fragmented, insufficiently small and lacking in standard transaction processes, pricing mechanisms and transparency. Investors need authenticity and confidence in where to put their clients’ money. As a result, a major piece of work is being done by the Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets (VCM) to grow the market, bringing trade that’s verifiable and environmentally robust. To ensure sellers can market their credits on a platform they trust, and buyers can find genuine, verified carbon credits, Trinity Natural Capital Markets (NCM) has been created. This new platform is aligned with the principles of the VCM taskforce’s recommendations and embodies the traits essential for fair, efficient and ethical transactions.

Do you have to reach net zero to trade? Unlike other industries, agriculture is unique in that it can sequester carbon and boost biodiversity. But there needs to be an economic rationale for the sector to reduce emissions and reach net zero to start to make this positive contribution. Certain companies are voluntarily willing to reward farmers to both reduce emissions and remove carbon. This may be those that deal direct with farmers and wish to contribute to tackle the climate crisis, beyond reducing first their own business emissions. Trinity NCM makes a distinction between reduction and removal credits, rewarding farmers for both. Reduction credits are for lowering emissions, such as through reducing use of synthetic fertilisers. Removal is for permanently sequestering carbon, such as through agroforestry or reducing tillage. You have to be reducing your overall carbon footprint to claim the credits, but can start to do so before you reach net zero.

For many direct drillers, however, net zero is a target they have already accomplished. Trinity NCM recognises this and also makes provision for the added societal benefit those growers bring through maintaining their carbon stock. Not only that, there are extra rewards for those who continue the good work towards a natural equilibrium in their soils. 

How does it work?

When managing the aspirations of large corporate investors, it’s important to attractively package up what you have to sell. In this case that’s your natural assets – not just carbon, but biodiversity and water quality, too. This means investing in a decision-support system that helps you with designing your sustainability path and scientifically calculates your carbon credits with or without biodiversity. This then allows you to articulate what you have to sell on the open market.

Sandy by Trinity AgTech has been designed to do exactly that. It’s a piece of software – a digital assistant – that puts you in control of your natural assets, quantifying what you have in your care in the same way your profit and loss account and balance sheet assess your financial assets. Importantly, it frames your natural assets in a way investors can relate to. Sandy leverages the credits, and the credibility, to be a trusted partner of institutional investors and asset managers. Then through a well-aligned and rigorous marketplace – Trinity NCM – you can trade transparently and on your own terms. We’ve developed a process to help farmers through this journey, known as Trinity’s 7 steps. A key aspect is to establish your farm’s baseline, and Sandy does this by drawing in data from your farm management software on how you manage your soils. This means the very first step is to learn to love your data – the natural capital market is entirely digital, so the more digitally aligned your business, the easier it will be for your achievements to be recognised and rewarded.

That doesn’t mean relinquishing control of the data, though – it’s your data and will always remain so. Trinity AgTech and Trinity NCM are governed by a robust data ethics framework that allows complete control over whom the data is shared with. We’re also independent, designed with the interests of farmers and have no corporate backers, affiliations or shareholder interests that could distort our values nor our mission.

How are the credits assessed?

Just how natural capital should be evaluated is a topic of much debate. A Scientific Board of 35 of the country’s leading experts in this field oversee and review the criteria Sandy uses to determine this. For carbon, the methodology is a compilation of IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) models coupled with peerreviewed emission-factor databases. It’s compiled and harmonised by the board with reference to their experience of modelling agricultural emissions, and to ISO standards.

For biodiversity, the methodology and its compilation are carried out by 17 of the foremost experts in the country. Both the evidence-based studies used and the modelling undergo peer review by the scientific board to ensure valid results, whatever land-use type. So the baseline assessment, which determines your carbon credits and biodiversity tokens, is established from farm and field management data, drawn from your records. This has been found to give a far more accurate picture of a farm’s biodiversity counts, water status and carbon levels than spot surveys. The assessment can be refined by adding in actual data gathered, although the caveat here is that poor data can skew the results.

How do you combat Greenwash?

Once you’ve assessed your baseline, Sandy helps you generate a plan to reduce emissions, sequester carbon and boost biodiversity, so you can trade the credits and tokens you’ll generate. But you may not want to go to the effort if the credits generated are wasted on emissions from third parties that you feel shouldn’t have been made in the first place.

Options available through Trinity NCM put you in control of who receives your credits: 

1. Sell on the open NCM marketplace by setting a minimum price and wait for suitable bids to come in.

2. Sell to corporate investors, a prequalified buyer, whose price and criteria you agree with.

3. Use the credits to sell or barter with businesses you already have a relationship with such as processors, retailers or other land managers.

What are the legal implications?

It’s necessary to address first of all who owns the natural capital and has the right to trade the assets. Trinity NCM model contracts have been carefully put together to provide flexibility and transparency. This ensures harmonious legal and contractual underpinnings between landlords, tenants and contractors, as well as fair governance and delineation of the different activities that may be undertaken.

Carbon credits and biodiversity tokens are traded on the basis that you undertake to reduce and/or sequester carbon. This commits you to a contract that can go for one year up to 20 years, but again there’s flexibility and protection built in. You can’t sell carbon credits until the carbon has been removed from the atmosphere, in the case of removal credits, or you can show that it hasn’t been emitted, for reduction credits. While reduction can’t be reversed in the year it occurred, removal can, through cutting down trees or ploughing land, for example. 

If the reversal is intentional, such as ploughing up land following a change in farm policy, the whole contract is cancelled and any unsold credits are not marketable. The seller will be liable to release funds held in an escrow account. A reversal can also happen through an unintentional event. For these circumstances, a buffer pool of your credits is retained in your Registry, which accounts for a proportion of the removal credits identified by Sandy. This pool of untraded credits is drawn down should there be unforeseen weather events, for instance, that cause a change in farm practice – quite literally your rainy-day fund.

The Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust announced their newest cohort of Scholars in October, many of whom will study topics related to soil management, sustainability, and regenerative farming practices.

“This year’s intake represents a significant change in direction that British agriculture is and must take to ensure a sustainable farming future,” says Mike Vacher, Nuffield Farming Director. “Many of our 2022 scholar’s topics are centred around reducing inputs, regenerative principles, improving efficiency, and mitigating climate change in order to help achieve Net Zero.” “The future of agriculture needs forward-thinking and innovative leaders. This year’s scholars have been selected for demonstrating these traits and the clear passion they possess for their chosen topic.”

Six of the 2022 Nuffield Farming Scholars share their backgrounds with Direct Driller and elaborate on their plans for their scholarship journeys…

Arable Farmer, H Sutton & Son North Yorkshire

I am a third-generation farmer working on the family farm near Filey, North Yorkshire. We grow a diverse range of cash crops over an area of around 450ha, with 200ha of this being potatoes on largely rented land. Since returning home to the farm, I have been interested in regenerative agriculture. We are currently transitioning from a min-till to a no-till, regenerative combinable system, however doing so with potatoes poses a very unique challenge. During the past season, we have seen increased yields in our reduced cultivations trial, as well as decreasing the frequency of passes to apply fungicide through a focus on nutrition. All positive signs, but we have a long way to go…

My Nuffield Farming Scholarship, sponsored by the Alan & Anne Beckett Award, will focus on exploring how maincrop potatoes can be grown in a regenerative system. I believe this is an incredibly pressing question in a world which has a growing demand for both potatoes and crops being grown in a manner less detrimental to both soil health and the wider environment.

To investigate this, I plan to travel extensively throughout North America, Europe and the UK visiting potato growers, past Nuffield scholars and pioneers of the regen ag world. By visiting these countries, I aim to learn about different establishment methods and the cultivations (or lack of) that were used. This could go a long way toward removing the deep tillage that is widely used in the sector, yet detrimental to soil structure.

We have found that by acting as an armour over the winter, cover crops enable us to cultivate less and reduce the amount of compaction faced in Spring. I believe there is huge potential in using cover crops before, or perhaps alongside, potatoes and would like to better understand how they can mitigate the damage done by the establishment and harvesting process. I will also be looking to gain a deeper understanding of how farmers are reducing reliance on artificial fertilisers and pesticides with a nutrition-first policy. I look forward to sharing my future findings with you!

Commercial Development Manager, Future Biogas Ltd Yorkshire

Bioenergy crops divide opinions especially within the agricultural community, however, is this stopping businesses from looking at the potential opportunity for their farm business? I plan to address this in my Nuffield Farming Scholarship ‘Bioenergy crops: An opportunity to address the Triple Bottom Line’, which is sponsored by the John Oldacre Foundation.  

My career so far has focused on the agricultural industry, primarily in the arable, environmental, and renewable energy sectors. I have always aimed to help farmers build resilience during change by providing them with new opportunities, including reducing dependence on subsidies early on.

After many years working closely with farm businesses, I have realised that assessment of these projects can vary widely. In my experience, those who look at the wider benefits, including the Triple Bottom Line of ‘people, planet and profit’, tend to be more successful. By removing the pure profit driver and assessing projects as a whole, famers can move their businesses in directions they didn’t expect. Since starting at Future Biogas more than two years ago, I have seen the benefits of well-integrated, well-managed anaerobic digestion plants, and also experienced the common queries which occur from those outside the AD sector. This led me to look at why there is a perceived resistance to bioenergy crops in the UK and whether there is an opportunity being missed by arable businesses due to misconceptions.

When AD can offer non-commodity-linked and longterm contracts, inorganic fertiliser in livestock free areas, carbon sequestration in the soil, as well as permanent CO2 sequestration under the North Sea why is there still such a strong resistance to this cropping diversification? As part of my scholarship, I will visit countries at different stages of their renewable gas journeys to understand the views and experiences of farmers, local people, and the effect of policy decisions on the AD sector. It is important to understand how farmers in different countries have integrated energy crops, although accepting that climatic differences can play a significant role in those choices. Visiting world-leading Research and Development institutes and Universities to discuss new varieties and potential new energy crops will provide a fascinating insight into future developments.

Agronomist, Agrii Monmouthshire

Having not come from a family farm, I came into the industry open-minded and keen to further my knowledge. This led to me to attend Harper Adams University College to study Agriculture, with my placement year spent in Australia. It was here where my passion for soil health and controlled traffic farming was founded, and I went on to write my dissertation on the effects of controlled traffic farming and direct drilling on soil health. After graduating from Agriculture at Harper Adams, I was selected for the Co-operative Farms Management Trainee Scheme, which gave me a great insight into large scale arable farming. Since 2014, I have been working as an Agronomist in South Wales, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire. During this time, I have completed the BASIS Diploma in Agronomy with Environmental Management to ensure my knowledge is relevant and industry leading.

A Nuffield Farming Scholarship has been a long-term aspiration of mine and my study topic is “Do regenerative farming practices pave the way for UK farmers to meet Net Zero?”, sponsored by McDonald’s UK & Ireland. From my Scholarship, I want to understand if UK Agriculture can become more resilient, sustainable and environmentally sensitive – whilst also remaining profitable – by adopting regenerative farming practices.

My studies will focus on the major contributors to carbon emissions and address how we can change practices to mitigate these factors. I plan to travel to the USA, Canada, Australia, UK, France, Germany and Denmark, and I want speak to farmers (organic and conventional), agronomists, researchers and academics to ensure a thorough and broadminded approach to this issue. The main areas of focus will be surrounding nutrient management, rotation, cultivation strategy, cover cropping and livestock integration. I want to better understand how these influence and impact carbon footprints within agriculture and how we can use them to our advantage to meet the Net Zero requirements in the future.

Catchment Source Manager, Wessex Water Dorset

I’m an excited 2022 Nuffield Scholar and my topic is no doubt going to generate a lot of healthy debate and differing views: ‘How to create a local soil carbon market between farmers and utility companies’, generously sponsored by the John Oldacre Foundation. Always rooted in agriculture, I grew up in South Dorset milking cows, carting grain, etc. After studying a business degree, I trained as an agronomist and took up various technical and commercial roles within agriculture. Always passionate about the environmental side of agronomy, I now work alongside farmers informing, advising and incentivising them to create positive change to improve drinking water quality across Dorset, Wiltshire and Somerset.

At the moment, the soil carbon market feels like the Wild West, with both farmers and buyers cautious about getting involved – rightly so I think! It’s also moving at a pace that can be difficult to keep up with, and there are many difficult-to-answer questions pending. These will need to be answered for soil carbon markets to become better understood and less ‘greenwashed’.

My aim is to help the UK Agriculture and the utilities sectors best understand how they can work together to deliver their Net Zero commitments, while also leaving a legacy of improved farm business resilience to climate change and improved water quality. I’d also like to explore the challenges and barriers of transitioning to regenerative farming systems and how they have been overcome. Travel plans at the moment (subject to COVID!) include the United States, Australia, India, Europe and, of course, the UK. During my travels, I will do a global assessment of soil carbon markets, which means meeting with key stakeholders – including soil carbon buyers, sellers, brokers, investors, experts, accreditors, advocates, sceptics and farmers that have or are transitioning to regenerative systems. If you are one of these people or know one of these people, I’d like to hear from you – you’ll be added to my ‘MOST WANTED’ list of people I’d like to engage with!

I could easily write 10,000 words on this subject, but for now if you want to learn with me as I go, follow me on LinkedIn or Twitter at @soilcarBEN, where I’ll be gradually introducing my topic and updating on my experiences as I go.

Environment Systems Manager, STRI Group Cambridgeshire

I originally studied Ecology at The University of Sheffield and went on to study for an applied research PhD in Green Roof design and technology. For the last 7 years I have worked for STRI, a multi-disciplinary research consultancy specialising in the amenity and sports turf sector. My job roles at STRI have ranged from managing client research trials, developing new technology and most recently acting as an environmental consultant specialising in water management and security

Water is key to most of my work and something I am very passionate about. I am building to become an established cross disciplinary scientist and consultant, specialising in sustainable land practices, with water management at the core of this. To truly have an impact on a wide scale, I believe that it is important to become known and knowledgeable in different industries, specifically large-scale land and resources users like agriculture, horticulture and amenity. To this end, my chosen Nuffield Scholarship topic is “Sustainable water use: opportunities for agriculture based on cross disciplinary knowledge sharing”, and I have the privilege of being sponsored by The Worshipful Company of Gardeners.

I aim to study how similar industries in other countries are dealing with water security issues through a combination of technology, sustainable management practices, water reduction, and alternative water sourcing. For me, the integration of solving issues caused by too much water (drainage) and too little water (drought) is key to providing long term sustainable solutions, and something I will be looking at in detail during my travels. I am particularly interested in how water issues can be solved through a combination of low and high-tec solutions. An overarching theme of my work is the effect of climate change – and how all industries need to future proof their water supplies and management – in order to be remain viable in a changing world.

If you are interested in finding out more information about my work or study topic, I can be found on Twitter at @striturf_tomy or Tom.young@strigroup.com.

Arable Farmer, J. H. Simpson & Son Cambridgeshire

I returned to our family arable farm in 2015 after a short stint in the British Army. I was very fortunate that my father has been focused on soil health for the last 20 years and as a result we were in a great position to move from scratch till to full no-till a few years after I returned. In Cambridgeshire, we farm mainly on clay or clay loam soils with some fen peatland, and this provided a variety of the usual challenges when it came to direct drilling. I quickly realised that the establishment method was only a small part of a much larger system and that success would depend on fully adopting regenerative principles. 

I started trialling over winter cover crops, a simple oat and oil radish mix. The following spring barley crop fared well where I terminated the cover early however, where I left some strips to drill on the green in the spring there was a clear yield penalty. The following OSR crop also suffered much more slug pressure where the cover crop had been. It became apparent I had a lot to learn about cover crop selection and timings. But there was definitely something in it because in that same wet autumn of 2019 we also tried drilling winter wheat into OSR volunteers. Not only did drilling on the green allow us to travel in the wet, but the huge slug population focused solely on eating the OSR volunteers and left the wheat alone.

This led me to apply for a Nuffield Farming Scholarship to study my topic ‘Cover and catch cropping opportunities in UK arable agriculture’, which has been generously sponsored by McDonald’s UK & Ireland. To better understand successfully growing cover crops in an arable system, I am hoping to travel to North America, Northern Europe, Scandinavia and closer to home in the UK. I want to get to grips with how and when to establish (or when not to), what mixes to use in different situations and how and when to terminate a cover. I will also look for other opportunities that the use of cover crops can create, such as allowing a new entrant access to a cluster of land to graze the cover crops – hopefully benefiting the soil and the bank balance of all parties involved. Additionally, I have noticed sunflower trails have proven popular with members of the public and on social media, giving a farmer the opportunity to positively engage with the local community while adding diversity into a rotation or perhaps filling a gap in a failed OSR crop. 

I am very much looking forward to sharing my Nuffield journey over the next few years. If you would like to follow along, you can do so on Twitter at @tjcsimpson.