Rural Hub News

Programme of webinars continues  

The Rural Hub continued its collaboration with the Arden Farm Wildlife Network when members from the two organisations attended two webinars in November. 

The first was led by Staffordshire farmer, Tim Parton, who spoke about how he is regenerating the sandy loam and clay loam on his farm by using biology and working with nature.  Despite Tim struggling with his internet connection, feedback from the webinar was excellent with many attendees commenting that they found Tim’s presentation “inspirational”.  And on 25 November we heard from Dr Chloe Maclaren, a plant ecologist from Rothamsted Research, who delivered her presentation live from New Zealand!    Chloe showed the results of a review which has drawn together all the recent developments in weed ecology and tried to use them to identify the most promising directions for weed management and weed science.   Two further webinars have been organised for December. 

Caring for an elderly person 

Caring for an elderly relative or friend who is becoming incapacitated is something that most of us will experience in our lives.     Support for the carer is vital in these circumstances.  Rural Hub Business Supporters Lodders ran a webinar on 16 October 2020 which gave information on the signs of dementia, the different forms and and how they are diagnosed, when and how to take a decision on supporting someone in their day to day living routine and the options available plus advice on signing a Lasting Power of Attorney.  After the webinar had concluded there was an opportunity to ask questions or submit a question later in the day.  A recording of the webinar will shortly be available on our Webinars page.

Webinar on agro-forestry 

On Tuesday 29 September 2020 Rural Hub members joined up with the Arden Farm Wildlife Network to take part in a webinar on the advantages and challenges of agro-forestry.   Our speaker was Tom Staton, a PhD student at the University of Reading.   Tom is running a project in partnership with the Organic Research Centre and the Woodland Trust, where data is being collected from three agroforestry farms in Cambridgeshire and Nottinghamshire over three successive years, to see whether trees in agriculture could help control pests and boost pollinators.   Tom shared the results of the project so far which showed that the addition of trees in agriculture create a more natural community with an increase in plant diversity.  Although there is a mixed effect on pests and weeds the addition of trees does benefit pollinators.  The effect on yields depends on the crop, with oats showing a negligible drop in yield.  And over a 20 year period apple agro-forestry will show a significant profit over farming without trees.   Feedback on the webinar was excellent, with one Rural Hub member commenting “I really enjoyed the webinar and learned a lot on the subject of agro-forestry”.  

Syngenta film our first You Tube video  

Our Forsyth Lapwing Trophy for 2019 was won by Thomas Maynard of Home Farm, Hatton Estate.  The award recognises the successful integration of commercial agriculture with conservation of wildlife on a Warwickshire farm.  Ordinarily the Rural Hub would have organised a farm walk on Home Farm during summer 2020 to view the conservation work, but due to the coronavirus pandemic we were unable to hold the walk.  Fortunately the sponsors of the award, Syngenta, agreed to help us film a short video of the farm and an interview with Thomas.  Their UK Sustainable Farming Manager, Belinda Bailey, acted as the interviewer and Joe Bagshaw operated the drone and shot and edited the film.  Our thanks go to Belinda, Joe and Thomas for sparing the time to make the video (8 minutes) which is available to view on our Webinars page. 

The Forsyth Lapwing Trophy has been re-branded the Rural Hub Environmental Farming Award for 2021.  To find out how to enter the award next year please visit our Environmental Farming page.  

Rural Hub commence a programme of webinars  

Following the coronavirus outbreak in March 2020 the Rural Hub put its event programme for the year on hold.  Further details on when physical events will be re-organised will be posted on the home page of our website.   But we have replaced physical events with a new programme of webinars, run in association with our business supporters and partner organisations.  Our first two Zoom events were held with the Arden Farm Wildlife Network and covered the topics of Using Ground Beetles for Pest Control and Reducing Farm Carbon Emissions.   And on 9 July we joined up with business supporter Lodders to run a webinar on the Importance of Farm Partnerships Agreements and Succession Planning.  A recording of this webinar can be viewed on a new Webinar page on our website.    We intend to upload recordings of further webinars as they are organised.  

Rural businesses show great resilience  

Forward-thinking rural businesses are showing their innovative expertise and exploring new markets during the coronavirus outbreak, a new in-depth survey has revealed.  The data was collected by the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership Growth Hub via the Warwickshire Rural Hub.  The results were included in the latest CWLEP Growth Hub SmartRegion report (June 9-22) which also gathered information from the CWLEP’s business engagements and survey data, Warwickshire County Council, Coventry City Council, the Federation of Small Businesses and the National Farmers Union.

Of the people who responded to the Warwickshire Rural Hub survey 53% of responders were sole traders, 37% were micro businesses and10% were small or medium businesses

95% of respondents said that their business had been adversely impacted by Covid-19 with 53% seeing their business temporarily cease trading.   To cope with the impact of Covid-19 businesses had:

• furloughed staff
• temporarily changed their products
• sought new supply chains
• changed staff working patterns

But there is positive news too, which shows the resilience of our rural business community:

69% of businesses were undertaking innovation
37% of respondents were investing in their business
53% of businesses were looking to diversify
42% were exploring new markets

And a fast Broadband connection was felt to be the single most important issue for rural business development.  The Rural Hub is now working with the CW Growth Hub to analyse the results and pass on intelligence to contacts in local government to influence future support for the rural sector.

Reducing farm carbon emissions 

Our second Zoom event with the Arden Farm Wildlife Network took place on 30 June when we watched a demonstration of the Farm Carbon Cutting Toolkit by Becky Willson of the Soil Carbon Project.   Becky firstly explained that the aim of the toolkit was to encourage and support farmers and growers to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, increase their farm energy resilience and in doing so improve their farm business in the future.  Identifying the C footprint of a business is the first vital step in being able to quantify the contribution that the farm is making to climate change and the Farm Carbon Cutting Toolkit was developed by farmers, for farmers, and is free to use.   After reviewing where emissions come from on arable and livestock farms Becky then talked about key actions for reducing them and carbon sequestration options.   One of the take home messages is that the time to act is NOW!    Becky can be contacted at becky.willson@farmcarbontoolkit.org.uk

Using ground beetles 

Following the restrictions on social interaction all Rural Hub events for 2020 were cancelled in mid-March.  But on 17 June we joined up with the Arden Farm Wildlife Network to hold our first virtual Zoom event.  Twenty three participants logged on to hear from PhD student Kelly Jowett from Rothamsted who is investigating how to improve farm habitat management towards boosting the populations of carabid beetles – which in turn will improve natural enemy pest control in crops and pastures. A vital part of Kelly’s research is gathering information and opinions of farmers to feed into making applicable research outputs.  Kelly played us her YouTube video which shows why and how carabid beetles should be encouraged to farms and also showed us how to set up pitfall trapping and carabid monitoring on farms.  We also learned that most beetles forage within 5m of field margins but establishing a beetle bank will encourage them to visit the centre of the crop.   But unlike other beneficial insects, it is not possible to buy carabids online and introduce them to your crop as it is very difficult to breed them under laboratory conditions.

Feedback on this first Zoom event was very positive so we would like to thank the Arden Farm Wildlife Network for setting up the presentation and Kelly Jowett for sparing the time to speak to us.    If you would like to complete Kelly’s survey on carabids on farm to assist her research this can be accessed on this page.

How to pitfall trap on your farm

Soil biology

Rural Hub members joined up with the Arden Farm Wildlife Project on Tuesday 25 February 2020 at a event about soil health and plant biology.  The first speaker was Mike Harrington of Edaphos, who spoke about creating the solutions necessary to facilitate the best of farm systems, from organic agriculture and biodynamics to agroecology.  His philosophy is to improve soil and plant health, whilst harnessing the soils stored resources to their full potential to achieve a healthy, well balanced system.  Dr Felicity Crotty, a lecturer in soil science and ecology at the Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester who specialises in healthy soils and soil biology in both grassland and arable systems was the second speaker.   One fascinating fact from the event was that the weight of creatures living in healthy soil is heavier than the livestock in the field.  That’s a lot of worms!  Thank you to Zoe Bell for organising the event and Squab Hall for acting as host.  

Massage therapist helps to reduce tension

We held our second Health and Wellbeing event at Rugby Farmers’ Market café on Monday 17 February 2020.  The room was buzzing with farmers who had come to buy and sell livestock and we used the occasion to offer them a free stress-busting massage with Maya, our massage therapist.  Maya had a steady stream of visitors who gave great feedback on the benefits of her massage, which can include reduced muscle tension, improved circulation, reduction of stress hormones and increase in joint mobility and flexibility.  Farming Community Network distributed free copies of their publication “Fit for Farming” and had several meaningful conversations with visitors to their stand.  

Cover crops and green manures 

Over thirty farmers and members of the Rural Hub and Arden Farm Wildlife Project visited Pleasance Farm in Kenilworth on 28 January 2020 to hear all about cover crops for wildlife and green manures. Richard Barnes from Kings Crops explained how winter cover crops can be tailored to provide habitat for wildlife, as well as improving soils. He also gave us some ideas of which crops can be used as summer cover/green manures for fields which are left unplanted in the spring.

Thanks must go to Henry Lucas for acting as host and Zoe Bell of the Arden Farm Wildlife Project for organising the event.

Workshop on RDPE Growth Programme funding  

In previous rounds, businesses in rural Warwickshire have been allocated £2.6 million in financial support. Farm diversification and food & drink are two of the priorities for the business development grants in 2020 (as well as there being separate grants for food processing and rural tourism).  To find out more about the grant programme please visit this page.  

Helping hedgehogs to thrive on farmland

Achieve your goals with less stress

Using social media to promote your business

Making the most of your rural property assets

Biodiversity offsetting

Thomas Maynard of Hatton Farms Ltd