“Good for soils, good for plants, good for ecosystems, good for nature, good for animals, good for human health, good for the farmer, good for the planet . . . . . . If done correctly, the list of benefits could be endless.”
Your visit to Purusha
Purusha Retreats lives at Chestnut Tree Farm. During your visit take time to explore the field walks, enjoy the flowers, the views and nature as you stroll through a blissful countryside. And do so knowing you’re part of a landscape which is feeding humanity in a modern, successful way without costing the Earth.
Our journey to a sustainable future
10 years ago Tom took over management of the family farm from his dad, Andrew. At that time it was the norm to farm in a “high input – high output” fashion. This is how previous generations had always done it and it had been very successful. Unfortunately (unknown to them) this system was failing to consider the welfare of the land and was ignorant to the quickening downward spiral of planetary health. Inputs such as insecticides, fungicides, herbicides and synthetic fertilisers were destroying soils, biodiversity, food nutrition, the earth’s natural resources, human health and the farm’s bank balance. At this time Farmers Weekly ran an article stating that if farmers carry on like this, then there would only be 100 harvests left in our soils, that’s 100 years until it was all gone.
Time for change!
Chestnut Tree Farm decided to do things differently, striving to introduce more sustainable methods that work better with nature. We started with “no-till”. This meant that we would no longer be ploughing, or using any deep cultivations which were destroying our soil structure, below and above ground ecosystem and releasing carbon into the atmosphere. A big change in equipment was needed – we changed our seed-drill for one that could plant the seed directly into the previous crop residue. We changed our combine harvester to one that would not cause compaction in the field (mitigating the need to cultivate) and sold the plough. This is still industrial agriculture – but it’s kinder to our most precious resource – the land we farm.
A good start. We were now leaving our soils alone physically so that structure wasn’t damaged yearly and we were limiting the release of soil carbon into the air. However, after years of neglect, this process needed some help. Time to bring in “cover crops”.
Cover Crops are plants grown in-between cash crops. If chosen correctly, these can help to structure soil, encourage nutrient build-up, create wildlife habitats, capture atmospheric carbon and encourage soil-plant symbiosis. After extensive research and experimentation, the farm came up with a cover crop system that does all these things within our crop rotation. Staples include Buckwheat - to ‘scavenge’ for phosphate in the soil and make it available to the cash crop, Clover - fixes Nitrogen from the atmosphere and makes it available in the soil, it also acts as a weed suppressant, Vetch – is similar to clover, but acts slightly differently above and below ground, Radish - good for soil structure and green manure.
This started to yield results. We could actually see the benefits year on year. Research into cover crops had led to us discovering ‘permaculture’ as an agricultural process – this system seeks to “integrate human activity with natural surroundings so as to create highly efficient self-sustaining ecosystems” – Merriam-Webster). This is our mantra to build sustainable, regenerative agriculture. To work with nature and learn from it, not fighting against it with chemicals and machinery.
Farming for Good
Farming for good – good for soils, good for plants, good for ecosystems, good for nature, good for animals, good for human health, good for the farmer, good for the planet . . . . . . If done correctly, the list of benefits could be endless.
The next step
To really make this work, we needed to think outside the box. Our challenge - how can farming help nature work the way it should do on a farm scale and still produce food crops?
We were inspired by places in the world where nature works in harmony and thrives. The most obvious environment on earth is rain forests. These amazing ancient ecosystems thrive without any outside inputs.
How? Through harmonious species interaction. So we started planting wild flowers around every field and larger areas of flowers and winter cover around woodland. This encourages beneficial insects and other predators and mitigates the need for insecticides. Next up we looked at cropping and how using permaculture we could move away from monocropping. What plants would work in unison together, but would still allow a harvestable and usable crop? Could some plants smother weeds that damage or out compete cash crops and/or benefit the cash crop. Can biodiversity stop the need to use fungicides, herbicides and synthetic fertilisers?
Present day
We’re now trialling five different types of intercropping:
In winter wheat – in summer we planted a cover crop of berseem clover, red vetch and buckwheat. The winter wheat was then planted straight into this. The cover crop then died over winter, leaving the wheat to grow on. Next year we plan to put a small leafed white clover in the mix to suppress weeds and fix nitrogen throughout the full life cycle of the wheat.
Spring Oats – we planted two different varieties of oat in the same field. The idea behind this is to help the crop defend itself from disease, as each variety has its own individual traits. I.e. one variety might be more susceptible to disease than the other. This is definitely something we will take forward into our other crops alongside a species mix.
Peas and Oats – this completely moves away from monocropping. Each crop works in harmony together and will be harvested together. They can then be separated afterwards. The peas are a cash crop in their own right, but also help the oats as they fix nitrogen and next year’s crop for the same reason. The oats act as a scaffolding for the peas to climb up.
Wheat and Beans – a favourite field on the farm this year. We have not only got winter wheat and beans growing together, but the vetch from the previous cover crop has also survived within the crop. This is real permaculture at work. The beans and wheat have grown together nicely and as a consequence there have been very few inputs, with no fungicides or insecticides. The Nitrogen fixation of the bean and vetch will build-up in the soil to also help future crops.
Agroforestry – We have planted 2700 trees in strips through our fields. Under each strip is four meters of wild flowers. We have planted willow coppice to create a sustainable wood fuel sauce for Purusha Retreats. Any excess will be used for weaving, wood chip, or compost. This all adds to the internal field biodiversity and helps nature act in its natural state.
The future
Our long term aim is to act in a regenerative “farming for good” mantra. It is time for human kind to wake up and realise that we are part of nature and not against it. Fighting against nature has brought misery and destruction to ourselves, other species and our planet. The Farm will continue to work in unison with Purusha Retreats to remind people why nature is so important and help them fall in love with it again.