Case Study
Lockerley Estate
Farm facts
Location: Stockbridge (Lockerley) and Basingstoke (Preston Farms), Hampshire Farm size: 1,300ha arable cropping, 650ha grass, stewardship and woodland.
Enterprise mix:
Combinable crops, including cover crops, oats and beans; pasture, managed woodland, miscanthus, solar; Veg Shed including venison and home-grown flour sold locally; two sites of special scientific interest, a special area of conservation and a rewilding project; Higher Tier Countryside Stewardship; LEAF Demonstration Farm, Beacon of Excellence and LEAF Marque accredited.
Soils:
11 different types from Upton chalk to Givendale clay
VUCA challenges and opportunities
The biggest recent change has been bringing two businesses together, to be run as one, and implementing regenerative farming principles across both. We’ve made great strides entering into a higher-level stewardship agreement to provide stable income and developing our natural capital opportunities. But we now face a chessboard of priorities with the war in Ukraine putting domestic food security back as a priority, and unprecedented volatility into commodity markets and input prices. In the longer term, water availability is a big concern.
The move into regenerative agriculture has put the business into a stronger position over the past seven years to make the most of any opportunities, however. The progress with our biodiversity has given us the impetus to do better.
We now have all the data in one place – you experience the benefits of the improvements when you walk the land, dig up the life in the soil and see all manner of life we’ve reintroduced above and below ground. Now we can measure it.
Adaptive capacity
1. Business bravery – The business is benchmarked across three groups and performs very well on all of them. There’s always been good data on which to base decisions, and that’s helped enormously when bringing the two businesses together and in paving the way to profitability in the absence of the Basic Payment.
2. Smart trust – We work with selected professionals who share our values and have learnt not to listen to those who want to put on the handbrake. That’s not to say we only consult nodding dogs – we surround ourselves with critical friends. But that’s little more than you’d expect from any farming business.
3. Learning – This is engrained in the business, from the partners who have a huge passion and interest in the way we farm, to all members of staff, whether that’s BASIS training, LEAF Speak Out course or soil food web school. Lockerley has a culture that inspires you to learn more, but there’s always room to be more ambitious.
4. Adaptive prowess – Like the business performance, this is data-driven, and we link key metrics with mission values and objectives. While the initial emphasis is to improve margins, we’re farming for the longer term, and this gives the business the ability to withstand short-term knocks. We hope Sandy will help us clarify and measure progress as we go forward to improve our resilience.
5. Effective networking – We are selective but proactive with whom we share our business experiences and the forums or platforms we use. So, this is a LEAF Demonstration Farm, and we draw a lot of value from the proper, open conversations with like-minded businesses this brings. But we find Twitter is not the right environment to share business experiences.
Lessons learned and outlook
This is very much a data-driven business and has grown and improved as a result. But the new system of farming does require refined skills such as holistic thinking, patience and observation. We have more data now than we’ve ever had and ironically been slower to make some decisions – perfection can be the enemy of progress.
Sandy will replace numerous other platforms that hold data but don’t add value to our decision making and link with many other data sources which will enhance the value back on farm. Taking account of carbon and biodiversity as an outcome of our changing farming behaviour has always been part of our mission and objectives, and we’re looking forward to using the scenario planner to bring more clarity to our decision making.
A seminal moment was reading the book Dirt to Soil by Gabe Brown, while A Soil Owner’s Manual by Jon Stika is always close to hand. What you learn about the soil provides the inspiration to make positive change, and these books set the f ire alight on an addiction to do better. It dawns on you that everything is linked to the soil, and the journey we’ve been on since has been a progressive and rewarding revelation.