Richard Bramley operates Manor Farm, a 500-acre farm in Kelfield that grows a variety of crops including wheat, barley, potatoes, sugar beets, oilseed rape, and industrial hemp. The farm uses cover cropping extensively to boost biodiversity, trap nutrients, reduce pollution, increase soil organic matter, and suppress weeds. Cover cropping provides many benefits to the farmer and environment with little downside and no extra paperwork. Bramley argues that sustainable farming is important as farms form the foundation of food and the environment, and that policy should support rather than hinder farmers' progress toward sustainability through sensible, effective, and coordinated regulation.

1. Sustainable Farming at
Manor Farm, Kelfield
24th April 2015
‘Profiting from Sustainability’
Richard Bramley

2. Farm facts
• 500 acres or more depending on licenses
• 2015 -Milling wheat, malting barley (winter and spring),
potatoes (Walkers contract), Sugar beet, OSR, Industrial
Hemp, Dry Peas
• Previous years: Spring beans, linseed and fibre flax
• Mainly grade 1 warp and grade 2 loams
• Wide adoption of cover cropping
• ELS (ends Aug 2015) + extensive voluntary stewardship
• Yorkshire natural fibre production- Queens Award winning
Harrison Spinks Beds
• Eco-holiday let diversification ‘The Dovecote Barns’ 5 star,
multi-award winning non-fossil fuel business
• Flooding an increasing issue

7. Bringing farming to the world of upholstery –
improving the sustainability of the product and
altering customer perception

12. Key benefits of Cover Crops in a rotation
• Bio-diversity boost (supports CFE)- food/ cover/ insects
• Traps nutrients between crops (N&P especially)
• Reduces pollution as a result
• Increases organic matter – soil resilience to extremes/ cation
exchange sites/ microbes and earthworms/ erosion
• Soil structure/ workability
• Some offer biocidal activity
• Weed suppression (possible activity against blackgrass)
• EFA’s
• Progress to more sustainable soil management
• No paperwork!

22. Summary- cover crops
• Many benefits to grower and environment
• Cost effective
• Doesn’t affect productive output of the farm
negatively –in fact should improve output
• Currently unvalued and EFA rules poorly thought
out (changes for 2016?)
• Every farm different – explore what fits your
business
• Some negatives -experiment

23. Improved sustainability -
• Farms form the bedrock of food and the environment in the
UK – must properly value their outputs (not just products)
• Need to address waste
• Need to reduce paperwork!
• A thriving farm economy and sensible regulation benefit
sustainability in the food chain
• Committed growers value a long term approach and can
enjoy working up the chain
• Need to have sensible policy that does not hinder progress
–simple, effective, joined up
• Get farmer involvement further up the chain- change public
perception of products - the farmers is an asset