Innovative Farm Project Launched in South Tyne
An international project launched in the South Tyne River catchment is helping farmers asses the farmed landscape and identify opportunities to improve farm profitability, water quality and biodiversity.
Tyne Rivers Trust teamed up with 3LM Land and Livestock Management for Life, the UK hub for the Savory Network, to support three landowners located in the Wellhope Burn, a tributary of the South Tyne River. Together they have surveyed the land looking at the performance of grassland and soil health in order to gain an insight to holistic management which is a practice to support the regeneration of grasslands.
Danielle Anderson-Hire, Farms Liaison Officer for Tyne Rivers Trust said, “We have worked with the consultants from 3LM to carry out baseline surveys for the farms which enable us to gain an insight to how the land is currently performing. Farmers also gain access to mentoring services which provide the skills and knowledge needed to use land management techniques to enhance and improve the landscape and farm profitability.”
The project has culminated in a workshop which was open to all farmers, as well as farm advisory organisations, to learn about the grassland monitoring tool which gives soil a voice and can identify if land is regenerating.
The system of holistic land management tailored to fit individual farms using monitoring and data known as Ecological Outcomes Verification (EOV), was originally devised in America and has since been adopted globally.
During the workshop Jamie Murray, who runs a family farm in the South Tyne area, spoke about his experience of adopting the EOV system, “We knew there were areas of our land that had the potential to be more productive, but we didn’t know the steps to take to improve. The monitoring tool showed us the potential, and how to manage the land so that in future it will be much better for grazing and allow us to be more productive.”
Danielle continued, “Farmers are currently navigating an unprecedented change in the way the landscape is managed and they are looking for innovative ways in which to enhance profitability and biodiversity as they produce food for the nation
“Through monitoring and mentoring landowners and land managers will learn how to become more resilient and adapt to climate change, as they will gain access to support and knowledge from industry experts, as well as farmers who are currently carrying out holistic management practices.
“Those who have decided to move away from conventional farming and took the leap into regenerative agricultural are seeing benefits to not only their farm businesses, but to the livestock that graze the land and the surrounding fauna and flora of the farmed landscape.”
Funding for the project has been received from Northumbrian Water’s South Tyne Holistic Water Management Fund and it is hoped that the programme can be rolled out throughout the Tyne catchment if future funding is received.
