OUT AND ABOUT WITH NIGEL AKEHURST
<< “When I married the two of those it was pretty obvious I could get the grass and fertility building phase back into our rotation. We should be able to reduce our inputs and increase our yield,” he said.
Tim wrote his final Nuffield paper entitled “Understanding and implementing sustainability”. I asked what some of his key findings were from his paper? He explained that sustainability is often broken down in terms of people, planet and profit, also referred to as the triple bottom line. “Some of the better farms I visited were proud of what they were doing and why they were doing it – getting away from commodity agriculture and producing a quality product,” said Tim. “It’s also about forming cyclical relationships with people; the tag line in our business is growing potential,” he continued. In his own farming context Tim believes that profit is vital, as you need a surplus of time and energy to do the innovation and changes needed to become more sustainable.
have very few employees and use contractors to do all our arable work,” he said. Tim is actively looking for new partners who want to be part of his exciting journey. He is looking for bright, entrepreneurial candidates. No previous farming experience is necessary. He lists some of the opportunities open to partners; established raw material growers, start-up farmers, food producers, drinks manufacturers, compost innovators, farm shop owners, veg box scheme creators, field restauranteurs, textile producers, glamping enthusiasts, the list goes on and on. Tim wants to hear from you. He already has several partners in place, running sheep, dairy, chicken and other enterprises on the estate. “We’d like to introduce outdoor organic pigs and are looking for a partner to help us get this enterprise off the ground,” he added. He is passionate about his farming partnership model, as it allows him to be less of a manager, freeing up headspace to get on and think about the next project and drive more stacked enterprises on the farm. There is more about Tim’s vision and the different partner opportunities available on the new Kingsclere Estates website.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
A NEW BEGINNING
SUSTAINABILITY
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Another concept integral to Tim’s vision is the circular economy, an economic model whose objective is to produce goods and services in a sustainable way by limiting the consumption and waste of resources (raw materials, water, energy) as well as the production of waste. Tim has seen first-hand the outcome of commodity farming; the economic, social and environmental costs. That’s why he wants Kingsclere to become a circular community farm estate.
FARMING PARTNERS NOT EMPLOYEES
“One of my big ambitions is to have fewer staff and more partners. We now
Tim returned from his Nuffield trip with a clear vision to radically regenerate his soils and do everything in his power to increase biodiversity on the estate for future generations. He began to implement changes in 2012, switching to grass and a mixed rotational farming system. To help build a strong business case, he undertook a five-year cashflow which yielded substantial savings through a large reduction in inputs. With the funds, he purchased a new tractor, planted 480 hectares of herb rich leys and went out and bought his first livestock. He has since converted nearly all the land to organic, with the final block of land going into conversion next year.
For anyone unfamiliar with Nuffield, Tim describes it as an organisation run by farmers for farmers. He explained that they look for the future leaders, innovators and early adopters of agriculture and then give them a bursary to travel around the world to find some new ideas and communicate them to the industry. JANUARY 2021 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET