Regenerative Farming | Modern Farming Norfolk | TH Scott & Son

Regenerative Farming

No two farms are the same, nor any farming system. We see regenerative farming as a direction of travel rather than a set-in-stone system of farming.

About

To us, regenerative farming is considering and improving the natural environment for future generations, whilst producing food and fibre for the present.

The regenerative farming label takes many forms on different farms, but more often than not five principles are followed:

Minimise soil disturbance

Protect the soil surface

Keep living roots in the soil

Grow a diverse range of crops

Livestock Integration

Without realising it we have been on this regenerative path for a while, albeit travelling at a very slow pace. Successive wet winters in 2019 and 2020, a better understanding of climate change and carbon capture, and escalating production costs have sped up our pursuit of change.

The introduction of over winter cover crops to improve soils

Free-range turkeys introduced to secure additional organic matter

Area of rotational grass leys doubled

Attended our first regenerative farming event with like-minded farmers

Vining peas were introduced to increase legumes in our rotation

First purchase of store lambs, re-introducing sheep to our farm

Joined Base UK for farmer-led knowledge exchange

Crop spraying trials:

Began trying bio-stimulants in place of synthetic sprays

Experimented with fungicide reductions and removal at T1 timing

Cover crop termination trials (glyphosate vs grazing)

Large scale lamb grazing of cover crops and grass leys, purchase of direct drills, and over-winter grazing of cereal crops with livestock

CTF system implemented with the addition of a 12m combine header to fit 12m drill and 36 sprayer system. 70% of winter crops no-till drilled, 500ha of cover crops established and nitrogen reduced by 20% in wheat crops

We introduced a living clover mulch to a field of oilseed rape and conducted seed rate trials suited to a 25cm drill row spacing.

We introduced humic and fulvic acid to all applications to boost microbial activity. We also trialled our first wheat seed blend and went insecticide free on our cereal crops!

The Future

We have signed up to grow some pesticide free wheat fields for “WildFarmed” and continue to fine tune our cover crop establishment with a new shallow cultivator and seeder unit. We are also growing sun flowers in an effort to reduce inputs and risk when growing break crops. Our home-bred New Zealand Romney flock also continued to grow as we begin to look at the Government’s Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI).

If you would like to discuss a more regenerative approach on your farm, how we may help or even just look at what we are changing on our farm please get in touch

Contract Farming

Livestock Rearing

Hedge Cutting

Life on the farm

We're hiring: TH Scott & Son are looking for an assistant manager - Click to find out more

We're hiring: TH Scott & Son are looking for an assistant manager - Click to find out more