Event
Soil Farmer of the Year Farm Walk – Runner Up, Ed Horton
Part of Farm Carbon Toolkit’s 2024 Soil Farmer of the Year farm walks series, and also part of Countryside COP, bringing together the rural community and businesses to showcase and inspire activity ahead of COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 11 – 22 November 2024.
Runner up in this year’s Soil Farmer of the Year competition is Ed Horton. Ed’s business encompasses a diverse mixed system across a range of soil types and geographies, where reducing overheads has been central to profitability.
Sustainability on the farm has been shaped by agroecological principles, blending conventional and innovative approaches to create resilience in harmony with nature. Ed has created a system focused on profit rather than yield, integrating the livestock systems into the arable and working with local buyers to create direct supply chains with specialist crops. With a move to more spring cropping to meet market demand, the grazing of arable crops has become a key component of this system. Livestock provides huge benefits for soil management, through increased cover cropping and also through reducing the requirement for inputs such as herbicides, insecticides and fungicides as winter material is grazed leaving crops healthier in the spring.
The farm walk will begin at 9:30 and will provide an opportunity to further hear and see how Ed’s management strategy has benefitted his business, leading him to be awarded Second Place in this year’s SFOTY competition
Now in its fourth year, Countryside COP provides a platform for anyone interested in the countryside to hear how the UK’s rural economy and agriculture can help tackle climate change and improve sustainability.
The Countryside COP allows the rural community and UK agriculture to set the agenda and will serve to amplify policy asks and other messaging through many voices.
For more information on Countryside COP 2024 events, go to https://agricology.co.uk/research-projects/countryside-cop4-04-08-november-2024/
