Thursday 27 January 2011

Welcome to Organic Farming - Suffolk Stockless Style


As this is my first blog for the NFU I thought it only fair to tell you a little bit about myself so that you can qualify any outlandish statements that might come from my two itchy typing fingers over the next 12 months. 
For example, any comments I might make about livestock farming can be taken with a pinch of salt, because I haven’t got any animals. “No Livestock on an organic farm?” I hear you cry, “surely with no muck, your whole system has to be based on mystery”. On many of the farm walks we have held, some might have arrived with that misconception, but hopefully by the time they have left the farm, they will have seen that we tackle stockless organics with a comparatively conventional and straightforward approach. 
As I no longer follow the traditional ‘East Anglian Cereal Barron’ three course rotation of winter wheat, winter wheat, winter cruise, any claims on my part about being able to compete with the likes of our own Barley Barron NFU President on his latest holiday on Queen Mary 2 amongst the Caribbean Islands, should be treated as unlikely as continuous cereal cropping on this farm. I favour a fertility building rotation which includes clovers, green manures, compost spreading and other nutrient building activities that you’ll all be doing when the oil runs out.
However, the reality is that like you, I am trying to make a living out of the business of farming, listening to my customers needs and providing them with a product that meets their requirements within the realms of good agricultural husbandry. I believe that conventional and organic (or should that be unconventional) farmers have a huge amount in common and an awful lot to learn from each other. There is no “I’m right and you’re wrong”. 
And the little bit about myself? I farm 700 hectares in Suffolk with a further 300 hectares under farm management contracts, all farmed organically, with 2 full time staff and 3 tractors. I’m married with 3 children, balding and play the bass guitar badly.

Blog for for the National Farmers Union - Originally published on 22nd November 2010

6 comments:

  1. Hello I am looking for samples of brown bean for my client from Middle East. Customer loooking for category A and you will need to have previous experience with selling to Middle East countries. My customer want to start with brown bean around 50 to 100 tons. If he is happy with quality than he will be looking also for rice and corn please can you contact me my email mateuszhajto7@gmail.com

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    1. I hope that Andrew Trump from Organic Arable has contacted you. I do hope that there is something that we can do to help! Best wishes. John

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  2. Hi again yes he did but Im not sure who i need to contact to get list of beans category A produce in UK my customer want see all product as I didn't find same as he want so he want a replacement. And I need this information quite fast.

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  3. I think that the problem is that we don't have a classification for your "category A" product. I think that if you get the specification Andrew might be able to help you.

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  4. You might find the following video interesting on you tube:
    Managing for Soil Health on an Organic Farm - A Farmer's Perspective
    Enjoy your videos by the way.
    Jason Wilson
    www.wilsonsofwestray.co.uk

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    1. Thank you Jason. I have had a look at your site and it looks as if we are trying to do lots of similar things! So much to learn, so little time!

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