Farmer Focus: Regen – it’s not the cow, it’s the how

Harvest has been happening at a pace. We are 10 days early with no detriment to yields. Grains are big and bold – ideal for milling into livestock feed.

The falling grain price is a bit disconcerting, although it depends on which hat I’m wearing. It’s better for livestock, but alarming for arable operations with the added costs going into the 2022-23 growing season.

The grain price has been falling so long it’s like gravity has gone. Ultimately, the fundamentals of the market haven’t changed, and a stalemate in the Donbas region would merely set up the next fight, which could be more threatening than today’s.

See also: A regenerative farmer’s reservations on carbon trading

About the author

Doug Dear

Doug Dear farms 566ha (1,400 acres) of arable crops and runs a custom feedyard, contract-finishing about 2,400 cattle a year near Selby, North Yorkshire. Most cattle are finished over 90-120 days for nine deadweight outlets, as well as Selby and Thirsk markets.

Read more articles by Doug Dear

I’m finding it infuriating that big corporates think they are helping us to sequester carbon with their new schemes.

Don’t kid yourself – they need us more than we need them. It’s just a cheap way of them offshoring their carbon on to a third party.

Figures show 21% of the world’s carbon emissions in 2021 were covered by some form of carbon pricing. Our ability as an industry to sequester carbon is now a tradeable asset, not to be given away on the cheap to big corporates, unless they want to incentivise us to do so.

I think our Dutch cousins have shown that as an industry we are sick and tired of being pushed around, and it’s not that difficult to take direct action.

I’m not against the concept of regenerative farming – probably, by default, we as a business already meet the five criteria of regen ag (search online). But am I missing something – isn’t it just proper mixed farming?

Now I see Defra has swallowed the book on the concept – grasses, cover crops, mob-grazing and so on.

The problem with some of the hardcore arable “regeners” is they want the benefit of livestock but won’t put their money where their mouth is.

They expect someone else to finance it and have the commitment to look after the livestock. It’s not the cow, it’s the how.

The start of harvest going into the drilling campaign marks a new season for us, and we have set out four goals to improve operations: more horsepower, younger cattle, older whisky and more money.