Meet our members: Tom Warde-Aldam and Chris Dawson
Farmer Chris Dawson is working with Regenerate Outcomes and landowners Jamie and Tom Warde-Aldam to improve soil health and productivity on the Healey Estate in Northumberland.
"I was very interested in going down the regenerative route to try and improve the soil quality and Tom wanted to change the way we were working and take more control,” says Chris.
"We're in very early days. We are still ploughing. We are still using high inputs. We're still conventional farmers mostly and we’re at the beginning of that process of change.
“Recently it has been incredibly challenging with the huge inflation of inputs and market volatility together with non-stop rain.
“It won’t be an easy transition, so it’s very helpful to get advice and support from Regenerate Outcomes along the way.”
“You’ve got to be smart about what you're doing and try to use everything that's available to you to achieve your goals.
“It won't be an easy transition, so it’s very helpful to get advice and support from Regenerate Outcomes along the way.
Chris Dawson and Tom Warde-Aldam
“It’s made easier by the availability of the Countryside Stewardship and Sustainable Farm Incentive Schemes.
“Prescriptions like the two-year legume fallow and the herbal ley mix all help to build soil fertility.
Using SFI to build soil fertility
“The soil here is very hungry and all the results on the indices are either low or very low. There’s not the money in farming to just throw money at it and get it back up to where it needs to be for sustainable production.
“We want to try and use the schemes to try and build the fertility without breaking the bank. Hopefully, improving the soil health by using the schemes will mean we can be productive without having massive input costs.
"What we're doing is using the two-year legume fallow scheme as a reset as part of a four-year rotation.
“So this would be fallow followed by first wheat then second wheat and back to legume fallow or first wheat and maybe oats and back to legume fallow.
“If in time the soil health improves and the figures stack up we could revert back to an arable only crop rotation.
“We also aim to stop ploughing and direct drill instead. We could plough those legume fallows out and grow a great crop of wheat, but you would release all that carbon and you’d also be starting from scratch again with your soil.
“With the dairy farm on the Estate we have the muck to use that we can put on for the P and K. We then hopefully use the legume fallow to help with the nitrogen fixing to create good, productive soil so we reap the rewards.”
Transitioning away from conventional methods
“For a long time we were farming in a very conventional way,” says Tom.
“It was ploughing and chemicals, with quite reasonable slopes and heavy land with a lot of runoff.
“The arable has always been a bit of a poor relation. We were not making much money out of it. They’re not big fields and we weren’t growing very good quality crops.
Cattle grazing on the Healey Estate
“I started thinking about going down the regenerative route five or six years ago after visiting Groundswell, but we were not quite sure how to do it.
“Working with Regenerate Outcomes has been massively helpful and we’ve taken the view that if we can get the mentorship to help us and get some money for the carbon at the same time then why not?
“Regenerate Outcomes are actually helping give us the confidence to try new methods.
“The soil testing and the core samples for baselining and monitoring carbon are expensive and it would have been quite a big leap of faith to pay for it up front.
“Working with Regenerate Outcomes has been massively helpful and we’ve taken the view that if we can get the mentorship to help us and get some money for the carbon at the same time then why not?”
“One of the major catalysts has been working with Chris, who is up for going down this route and understanding and grasping it.
“I see in Chris a new generation of farmers who are learning to live without subsidies and who are bright and really hard working.
“I think the transition will give us more control of what we’re doing and we will be able to derive a steady income out of it at the same time as well.
“If the weather is going to continue going the way it’s going, then we might be in a much better position to produce a lot more food than we would be otherwise.
"We want to have a productive farm and to work in a more regenerative way. We need to make a profit to survive but we can also do something that is much better for the planet.”
Interested in working with Regenerate Outcomes?
At Regenerate Outcomes we provide bespoke, expert mentoring to support you to improve soil health and grow farm profits.
We also work with you to baseline and measure soil carbon and other environmental outcomes to generate additional farm income.
All of our services are provided at no-upfront cost.
Get in touch to find out more.