http://www.catchtalk.tv/events/agro-mechanics2014/videos/head-of-sustainable-land-usebicton-college

1. KEVIN
FREDIANI
HEAD
OF
SUSTANABLE
LAND
USE
BICTON
COLLEGE

2. F3
Fossil Fuel Free Farming
Kevin Frediani
Head of Sustainable Land Use

3. Overview of talk
• Rationale for progressing a new approach
– Background drivers of global change
– Objectives (how we set out to achieve!)
• Introduce aim of F3 project
• What will be different?

4. The global commons – resulted in the unsustainable
harvest of the worlds natural resources!
Disconnect =
Unsustainable growth
Why have need to experiment and question!

5. Challenge: Uncoupling food from
oil!
http://oilprice.com/Energy/Oil-Prices/How-Oil-Prices-Affect-The-Price-Of-Food.html

6. Food issues in the modern
world…
• Food security
• Food control
• Food quality
• Food quantity
• Food costs
• Food miles
• Food sustainability
• Food ethics

7. Making sense of agriculture
Hunter-gathering
or
foraging
economies
12000
BP -
1650-1850
1950-
• Sustainable Sourcing
• Improve Land and
Water Management
• Improve Nutrition
• Improve Food Security
• Sustainable Agriculture
• Reducing Commodity
Price Volatility
UK been importer food
1000 yrs+. During the
industrial revolution,
we lost self-sufficiency
in basic foodstuffs and
have never regained it.

8. Making sense of food
International
National
Local
(regional)
Urban
Food loss and
waste.
http://www.foodsecurity.ac.uk/blog/index.php/2010/01/why-should-the-uk-grow-food/
Consumption
driven
production
through
population
increase &
emerging
wealth.
Sustainable land
management
required for
ecosystem service
benefits
Reduced resource
= increased market
volatility & £ (need
to make most of
our land)

9. Project Aim: Fuel, Fibre & Food
• Decouple production from effects of higher oil
prices
– To do so without relying on soil based
biofuel production
• Build resilience against climate change and
extreme weather events
• Conserve local resources and reduce need for
degrading basic natural resources
• To learn by experimentation and practice
• To share the results and build a community of
fossil free farming practice

10. Key Objectives of Farm System
• ECONOMICS-Commercially
Viable, productive and scalable.
• ENVIRONMENT-To
conserve natural resources and to protect the wider
environment (e.g., land, water, forests, biodiversity & prevent
air and water pollution, manage wastes into resources).
• EXPERIMENT-Provide
physical resource for research partners, and to develop
F3 systems approach and technologies.
• EDUCATION –
Provide a physical resource for all levels of Education and social
groups

11. THE FARMING SYSTEM
System Based integrated model
Potential base Enterprises:
Dairy. 70 Cross bred cows on Once-a-day system
Sheep. 500 ewes for meat/fibre
Cropping. To provide all required animal feeds, optimise and
capture naturally available nutrients.
Agroforestry. Symbiotic relationship between food production, soils and habitat.
Hydroponic and Aquaponics Systems. Vertical and Urban growing.
Pigs. Increase utilisation of woodlands and conventionally
Poultry. unproductive land
Adding Value. Development of local markets and processing

12. Inputs
Outputs
Flows of materials and energy in a farm system
after Lewis et. al. 2010 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/agriculture/pdf/Final_Report_041010.pdf

13. Baseline Data and On-going Monitoring of
system and sub-projects
• Soils
• Energy Usage
• Diseases and Pests
• Carbon Foot printing
• Water Usage
• Habitats
• Flora
• Fauna
• Physical Outputs
• Financial
• Waste Products
• Social, Community and Externality Values

14. Renewable energy

15. High Density Vertical Growing?

16. Integrate best of modern technology?

17. Overview of F3 project
Energy
-­‐
Anaerobic
diges>on
→
Heat,
energy,
fer>liser
Photo
voltaic
→
Energy
Solar
transfer
→
Heat
Biofuel
(biomass,
biodiesel,
ethanol,
biogas)
Physical
-­‐
Fer>lisers,
nutrients,
gene>cs,
water,
land,
space,
labour
(replace,
reuse,
op>mise)
Resources
F3
Food,
Fibre,
Fuel
Markets,
communi>es,
supply
chains
(local
over
global)
Environmental
-­‐
Soil,
water,
air,
biological,
health
&
wellbeing,
community
resilience
Benefits
Finance/
Economics
Profitable
Social
Measures
of
success
-­‐
Direct
profitability
Environmental
Stewardship
Environmental Financial
Inputs Benefits

18. Final thoughts…
Targets and Benchmarking Systems
• Should we set realistic targets?
• Or extend those targets to currently
unrealistic and innovate to achieve them.
• Can it be done?
• We won’t know until we try

19. Parsonage Farm
Walking with awareness!