Royal Highland Show Scotsman Round Table: Friday Regenerative Agriculture

The Scotsman

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00:00I'm here today at the Royal Highland Show with the Scotsman which has been hosting a

00:29number of roundtable events which have had panellists from industry leaders to industry

00:34experts talking about various important topics to do with agriculture. One of those roundtable

00:40events I was at this morning was to do with regenerative agriculture. The panellists ranged

00:46from potato farmers to agroecologists to a man who has a company called Pictish Worms

00:54and they were all sharing their insights and their opinions on regenerative farming.

01:00An interesting point that came up was that the word regenerative itself can be a little

01:04bit problematic because it can sometimes separate farmers between those who are doing what they

01:10call regenerative practices and those who perhaps aren't. But the farmers were also

01:14quick to say that all farmers are doing regenerative work no matter what they want to call themselves.

01:21But anyway that's just a little insight into how the discussion went but here are some

01:24more interesting points that were raised by the individual panellists today.

01:31I think farming and nature are interconnected. Many of the processes that underpin farming

01:39are nature driven so we've got water cycles, we've got capturing the sun's energy, we've

01:45got pollination, natural pest control. So I think we need to rebuild agricultural ecosystems

01:52to strengthen the species in them so we can ensure that these systems are resilient to

01:58future change. I think it was really great to hear the farmers discuss biodiversity and

02:04climate change. They're so invested in these things. Scotland, we're in a great position.

02:11Our agricultural systems are diverse. We've got lots of semi-natural habitat. As an ecologist

02:18I'm always amazed by the wildlife I find when I'm out on farms. I think a lot of farms are

02:27family farms and because of that farmers are great stewardships of the land. They want

02:35to pass their farm on in a good condition to support the future generations.

02:43On the issue of regenerative farming, when we talk about that term to our membership

02:48which is very broad in terms of the scale they're working on and what their businesses

02:52are, it turns off us, well probably more people than it causes interest in. It is a buzz word.

02:58There's an issue there around definition and it's not defined. It is wide but I think that's

03:04probably to the benefit at the moment as it allows different growers to interact with

03:09it in different ways. In trying to nail down a single definition and make it too prescriptive,

03:14I think that will turn people off and will ultimately be counterproductive in something

03:19that is as responsive to weather and conditions as agriculture is. I think the term has perhaps

03:25created almost a veminous within industry and that is never helpful and I don't think

03:31it will move industry forward as a whole if we keep going down that particular route.

03:36I think we can possibly get around it by dropping the labels. I think if we think about soils

03:43which is the key underpinning part of the phrase regenerative agriculture, every grower,

03:49every farm manager, every land manager probably has for generations, well certainly has for

03:54generations been doing things to support their systems on the land base that they've got.

03:59They've only got one land base. So whether it's something as simple as crop rotation

04:04or making use of organic manures that you've already got on your farm, the mixed farming

04:07systems in Scotland or integration with livestock next door, however they're achieving that,

04:12are already doing a lot of the underpinning work that regenerative farming term has come

04:17to be synonymous with. Some people who badge themselves as regenerative farming I think

04:23are going, I'll use the phrase left field in their approach to it and perhaps have lost

04:29the scientific underpinning or the evidence base that most businesses need to have as

04:35they make the incremental changes to their business and improvements over time that have

04:39always, always happened. And I think a lot of existing research can be purposed to meet

04:47some of these objectives. A good example being the use of plant breeding. I mean that was

04:52part of the Green Revolution that came in 60, 70 years ago. If we can increase yields

04:57for the same level of input and the same land base or possibly even less land base, we create

05:02more room for biodiversity, we reduce the carbon footprint of the produce that we are

05:06actually generating. What I liked about the conversation was I think everyone was accepting

05:13that this is a spectrum, it's including work that's already been happening. I think we

05:19spoke about, from my side of things on the agronomy side, we spoke about integrated crop

05:25production systems, we spoke about agricultural ecology, which is a discipline that has been

05:30going for years. There's a good research base there already. Yes, there's more that can

05:35be done. Researchers love to research and we will always, always continue to do that.

05:39But I don't think there's a need for the industry to go on a flyer, if you like, for want of

05:49a better word. This can be done in a progressive manner, this can be done with underpinning

05:54science, the underpinning economics of the whole job, which ultimately sustainability,

05:59the economics of it has to be part of that. I don't think it necessarily needs to be as

06:04ideologically driven as some people are afraid that it is. It doesn't have to go that way.

06:10I think we can deliver within existing systems in quite an effective way.

06:16So regenerative farming for me is something which I don't necessarily consider as new,

06:24but certainly want to try and encourage people to think, particularly farmers, about what

06:30resources are available to them on their farms that they may consider as problematic or as

06:37a waste that can actually be reprocessed and put back into the soil for the benefit of

06:43the soil and for growing and biodiversity. And I think farmers are starting to realise

06:50the potential of that resource on their farms. I'm working with a number of farmers in the

06:56North East to look at, again, what would be considered as wastes that were problematic

07:01to them, but actually turning them into something of value. An example would be waste hemp.

07:09What we've done is we've taken the hemp and we've reprocessed it through vermicomposting

07:14the worms, basically consuming that and excreting worm cast, which has recycled all the nutrients

07:23within the waste hemp, and we're adding that back into the growing cycle. The trial that

07:29we have currently with the Rowett Institute, we've introduced that back into strawberry

07:35growing, and it's a farmer who grows both hemp and is one of the largest soft fruit

07:40producers in the country. And what we've seen, certainly the visual trials, has been pretty

07:46outstanding. And that's hopefully with the view of replacing the current growing medium,

07:53which is imported, which is cocoa coir, which perhaps is not necessarily the best for the

08:02climate, and if we can reduce that footprint by using locally available resources like

08:08waste hemp and perhaps willow, broom, gorse, and put that back into the growing cycle,

08:14then I think reducing the inputs and increasing the outputs is a no-brainer, really.

08:21For me, today's opportunity to have that discussion with people who actually know

08:27what they're talking about, who've experienced it from generations in some cases on their farms

08:35and the experience they've had with other farmers, the dialogue that they've had with other farmers,

08:40the opportunity to share that knowledge, have that discussion, share each other's issues,

08:46and to be able to, I suppose, share good practice about what has happened in the past,

08:53to reassure each other that what they're doing is nothing new to the expectations from our

09:00politicians perhaps and from our social policies about what's expected. To have that discussion

09:06and be able to rationalise that, I think we need that between academia, we need that between

09:12farmers, we need that between forestry, in terms of our land use and how we use that.

09:20Well, within the agricultural industry now, we hear a lot about regenerative farming

09:24and I'm a little bit, you know, I hate all these euphemisms and, you know, I think actually

09:32society in general is becoming very cliquey and tribal and you're either in one or the other,

09:39but the reality is that agriculture in general has a lot more in common than it does apart

09:44and we're all practising regenerative agriculture, even if we're not labelling it and

09:50marketing it in that way and I think that there are different approaches to regenerative agriculture

09:55and it's been an interesting debate this morning, but I think that there's a common theme has been

10:03flexibility and it's been about, you know, multiple approaches can all deliver that same

10:10goal, you know, improve diversity and improve soil health. The regenerative movement is focused

10:15very heavily on soils and I think as an industry, the wider industry has moved in that direction as

10:22well and I think that we made the comments earlier about biodiversity and 30 years ago,

10:28people didn't talk about biodiversity and now everybody talks about it and I think

10:32the same, you know, the regen movement has focused people's attention and that's really positive.

10:39But actually, the wider industry is doing quite a lot of the things they're talking about,

10:43but it's not really overly identified and certainly not marketed in a positive manner.

10:49I think it's really good for businesses to talk and I think what we need to do is look

10:53what our customers want and then produce those goods in a sustainable and using some of the

11:01regenerative models really, but for us, we talk about sustainable intensification, so we produce

11:07the crops on one part and then focus our regen side on almost rewilding and on more natural habitats.

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