Paul Temple, Wold Farm, East Yorkshire

Yorkshire farmer Paul Temple describes himself as not only a mixed beef and arable farmer but also a soil scientist in the making.

His impressive drive to improve soil biology across his medium clay loam land, while cutting back on inputs and notable business management has earned him the title of this year’s Farmers Weekly Mixed Farmer of the Year.

With a six-year rotation in place at the tenanted farm, crops benefit from organic manure applications from the 550-head beef herd, requiring no bought-in P and K fertiliser.

With subsides shrinking, Mr Temple decided that his farming ways had to change, prompting him to double cattle numbers and begin the quest of conservation agriculture to get his soils working for him.

He decided to go down the no-till establishment route, which has had many positive impacts, with both machinery and labour costs cut by one-third and overall N applications on track to be reduced by 25%.

In fact, winter wheat crops receive just 160kg N/ha and still yield an impressive 10t/ha.

Reduced inputs

Insecticides are being phased out and fungicides are used sparingly as Mr Temple looks to make the most out of soil biology, where organic matters have risen to 7-8%.

“We have not used a T0 spray for four years and just apply two main fungicides at late T1 and T2.5,” he says.

Always producing to a marketing plan, crops are never established purely on speculation. Wheat is grown for seed on contract, barley for home consumption and vining peas are grown for Swaythorpe Peas.

All crops are established with a Weaving direct-drill, which replaced the plough, power harrow and Vaderstad drill five years ago.

“One challenge we face is making vining peas work consistently under no-till establishment,” he says.

Beef herd

Much like the arable enterprise, beef cattle are produced to a specific store market.

“For our livestock marketing, we have used a variety of direct marketing platforms, with repeat buyers for our store stock.”

Stabilisers have been the breed of choice at Wold Farm for many years due to their low cost, good fertility and maternal traits.

Improving cattle infrastructure to optimise efficiency, safety and animal health was a priority when the suckler herd was doubled to 240.

The farm now sets its sights on 300 sucklers managed with the same level of labour, with the ultimate aim of fattening on-farm and working with the local abattoir.

Cows calve from February to mid-April, when the arable enterprise is quieter. Cows with calves at foot then graze rented permanent pasture grassland a maximum of 10 miles from home, where Mr Temple has designed easy-to-use handling facilities on off-ground.

Calves are weaned at 300-340kg and fed a total mixed ration, with daily liveweight gains of 800g.

The 40 best-performing heifers are kept as replacements to ensure good herd performance, accounting for growth rate, dam performance and temperament.

Community

Mr Temple has an impressive awareness of costs and believes the mixed-farm approach offers a great working experience.

The farm is currently in Higher Level Stewardship with educational access for schools and colleges, where he takes pride in offering young people their first opportunity of work and responsibility.

He has also been actively involved with the NFU, AHDB, EU Cereals, Oilseeds & Proteins Group and Global Farmer Network.

Our other finalists were:

• The Carlisle family,  Rowles Farm, West Berkshire
• Huw and Meinir Jones, Bryn Farm, Ceredigion

Read about the other finalists