Sustainable Farming at
Manor Farm, Kelfield
24th April 2015
‘Profiting from Sustainability’
Richard Bramley

Farm facts
• 500 acres or more depending on licenses
• 2015 -Milling wheat, malting barley (winter and spring),
potatoes (Walkers contract), Sugar beet, OSR, Industrial
Hemp, Dry Peas
• Previous years: Spring beans, linseed and fibre flax
• Mainly grade 1 warp and grade 2 loams
• Wide adoption of cover cropping
• ELS (ends Aug 2015) + extensive voluntary stewardship
• Yorkshire natural fibre production- Queens Award winning
Harrison Spinks Beds
• Eco-holiday let diversification ‘The Dovecote Barns’ 5 star,
multi-award winning non-fossil fuel business
• Flooding an increasing issue

Bringing farming to the world of upholstery –
improving the sustainability of the product and
altering customer perception

Key benefits of Cover Crops in a rotation
• Bio-diversity boost (supports CFE)- food/ cover/ insects
• Traps nutrients between crops (N&P especially)
• Reduces pollution as a result
• Increases organic matter – soil resilience to extremes/ cation
exchange sites/ microbes and earthworms/ erosion
• Soil structure/ workability
• Some offer biocidal activity
• Weed suppression (possible activity against blackgrass)
• EFA’s
• Progress to more sustainable soil management
• No paperwork!

Summary- cover crops
• Many benefits to grower and environment
• Cost effective
• Doesn’t affect productive output of the farm
negatively –in fact should improve output
• Currently unvalued and EFA rules poorly thought
out (changes for 2016?)
• Every farm different – explore what fits your
business
• Some negatives -experiment

Improved sustainability -
• Farms form the bedrock of food and the environment in the
UK – must properly value their outputs (not just products)
• Need to address waste
• Need to reduce paperwork!
• A thriving farm economy and sensible regulation benefit
sustainability in the food chain
• Committed growers value a long term approach and can
enjoy working up the chain
• Need to have sensible policy that does not hinder progress
–simple, effective, joined up
• Get farmer involvement further up the chain- change public
perception of products - the farmers is an asset