Ian Wilkinson - healthy soil, diverse farms and less extractive agriculture
As the UK Government prepares to launch a widely anticipated Organic Action Plan for England, organic farmer Ian Wilkinson explains, in his own words, why soil health, diversity and low-input farming matter, and why food production and nature recovery must work together.
Soil is central
Our soil is central to what we’re doing on this farm. Every decision we make is around the soil. We want to be able to improve it, and measure that improvement.
Biodiversity in the soil brings structure, drought tolerance and nature recovery. When you’re looking at the top of the soil, it’s like looking at the top of the ocean. Underneath are trillions of living beings which are creating soil fertility and drought resistance. The whole ecosystem is connected.
We need healthy soils, which will provide healthy nature alongside the farming system. The way for the future is to integrate nature into the farming system. After all, 71% of this country is farmed, so whatever we do on it really counts.
Diversity is the engine
When I started at Cotswold Seeds 40 years ago, other farmers told me that there were key species that were really important to use on farms, especially on dry-land farms like ours. I realised that there was something in alternative species other than just monoculture ryegrass.
I started researching herbal leys, reading old books; some of them were literally 200 years old. They wrote about using deep-rooting, soil-improving, humus-building leys. I think it had always been there, and all I was really doing was relearning.
Our system is self-sufficient. It’s part of a rotational farming mixed system, and the herbal ley is the engine of that, building fertility.
The number of species in it makes the difference. It might look green from a distance, but if you look you’ll see the spiky leaves of chicory; you’ll see the pink flowers of red clover, you’ll see sanfoin, ribgrass and burnet.
Low input, self-sufficient and resilient
I really like the idea of having a self-sufficient system that the farmer’s in control of. A mixed farming system, with animals integrated into the rotation, so that the animals are very much part of the fertility-building system. If we’re going to have animals, let’s have them in a positive way. Let’s have them in a way that builds fertility and is harmonious with the natural world.
My farm is very dry. Deep rooting plants on the land can go down 20 or 30 feet, working into the subsoil and drawing moisture up from it, like a water pump. The right plant, in the right place.
The herbal ley is the engine of our fertility building, and if we don’t get that part right we would have to rely on fertilisers. It’s important that farmers are able to have some control over their costs. To me, growing forage crop in the rotation is one way of getting that control back.
We are low input. We are trying to be as self-sufficient as we can. Producing reliable food is our primary purpose here, but we’re also wanting to deliver nature restoration and, of course, sequester carbon.
Food production and nature recovery
We set out to do food production in a harmonious way alongside the natural world. We need to do that in the best way we can, and I believe the best way is sustainably.
I’m really pleased to help rebuild nature. I’m really pleased to sequester carbon. I’m really pleased to slow the water flow down on this farm. But principally, I’m here to grow food for people, and I have to do that in a way that I can afford to, because otherwise that isn’t sustainable.
Bird species on this farm have increased from 44 in 2013 to 90 species today. Most of that improvement happened in our first couple of years as a result of diversifying the farm.
We absolutely need to have diversity within our soil, which leads to diversity outside the soil. Everything that we’re doing on this farm delivers nature recovery. The two things are inextricably linked because you can’t really do one without the other
Looking ahead
When you look at the stats in terms of nature and emissions, it’s a bit depressing - but we know what to do.
We must adapt to the world that we live in now. To me, the future looks diversewith more plants in the landscape. We have no more agricultural land, so we have to use what we have to grow more efficiently, and we have to waste a lot less. We have to revalue the farmers, the food they produce and the way they do it. Otherwise it’s a race to the bottom on price, and that won’t end well.
I’m hopeful that when we make the link between nature, its importance to us, and the health of our soils as national assets, the next obvious thing is to produce food alongside that. It’s like a bank account: surely we should be reinvesting into our bank and not just taking out the whole time, behaving extractively.
About Ian Wilkinson
Ian Wilkinson is the owner of Cotswold Seeds and also the co-founder and director at FarmED.