Two top farmers scoop Suffolk FWAG environmental awards

An organic farm and a farm machinery maker were both honoured at the Suffolk Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG) awards night at Trinity Park, Ipswich.

The night was a fitting tribute to its late chairman, Chris Knock, who died in January.

He was very much looking forward to presiding at the event when he was struck down with a fatal illness just a few weeks before it.

Former chairman Glenn Buckingham - who stood in for him - described him as "a super chap". "It's very sad we have lost him," he said. 

Chief executive Anna Beames paid tribute to her "wonderful chairman" who practised what he preached on his own farm at Battisford, near Stowmarket.

Glenn and Anna suggested Chris's legacy lived on at Suffolk FWAG, the awards night - and through the trees which by chance were collected for planting from his farm on the day of his death.

"Tonight is all about nature-based solutions, natural capital and the capacity to change the farming approach to reverse global warming - and this is exactly where you'll find Chris Knock," said Anna.

The evening celebrated two "exceptional" farms, she said - Maple Farm - an organic farm at Kelsale, near Saxmundham - which took the Tim Sloane Award and Claydon Drills at Wickhambrook, near Newmarket, which scooped the Peewit Award. 

There to pick up the coveted trophies were Maple Farm co-owner William Kendall and his farm manager Mike Mallett and Jeff Claydon - inventor of the Claydon Drill which is designed to plant seeds without ploughing up the soil - and his sons Oliver and Spencer.

Chris Knock's family were not at the event but did send a message to delegates thanking those who had supported them in their grief. They said he was "delighted and proud" when he was to be appointed chairman of Suffolk FWAG.

Trees had always been a part of his farm - a legacy he carried on from his parents John and Pat Knock, the family added.

"Chris was a forward thinker, an ideas person.   He always looked for solutions in a joined up way and brought people together," the family said. 

"He recognised and thought about the challenges both farming and the environment have and was keen to find practical solutions that work for all, looking for win-win outcomes.  

"He practised regenerative agriculture on his own small farm but also understood there is not a single solution for every farm and farmer." 

Award-winner Mike Mallett explained how 350-acre Maple Farm combined organic 1800 layer hens, agroforestry, a fruit and vegetable operation and the growing of traditional or "heritage" wheats - particularly for high quality bread-making.

"Customers wanted to make bread and it was kind of customer-driven," he explained.

On a trip to Sweden he gathered landrace grains and picked up more heritage long straw thatching varieties from a farm in Wiltshire.

In 2019, the farm was conducting Liveseed trials and growing modern and heritage varieties at the same time, he explained.

Two or three varieties attracted noticeably fewer weeds than others. He rejected the modern varieties which did not grow so well for them in their organic system.

The seeds are drilled in the autumn then they walk away, he said, leaving the fields to nesting birds "and whatever wants to be there".

He has found that certain carpeting "weeds" grow around the crop. "I don't want to call them weeds - I want to call them arable companion plants", he said. "They don't compete with the wheat at all." He was "passionate" about the insects the flowering plants attract, he said.

He also "absolutely loved" bi-cropping - pairing up beans and wheat, peas and barley and clover with sown cereal.

He averaged around 3t/ha wheat yields with the best yield around 4.1t/ha - considerably below what non-organic conventional farmers might achieve.

He was not a fan of the current quest for "super" varieties. He liked vetch as a cover crop and drilled this in the autumn. When the soils needed more nutrients Benacre grazier Tim Crick brought in a flock of sheep, he said.

"For me the future is going to be about biological farming," he said. "I think we are going to see mixtures - just combine them."

Jeff Claydon took delegates on a trip down memory lane as he recalled the 1970s and the days when Bury market was a hive of interest and economic activity - as well as a vital meeting place for farmers.

"There was much more cohesion and much more village life. Today, sadly, my village is fast-approaching a dormitory," he said. The market in its heyday was "better than ebay" for the deals done and bargains found.

He recalled stubble burning - a practice later outlawed - and the use of chemicals to control weed outbreaks and help crops grow. In the late 1960s, yields of 2t/has were considered good, he recalled, but that changed dramatically with technical and chemical advances.

He first put his engineering skills to good use on the farm by designing a Yield O Meter to measure yield as the crops were harvested. That took off and he went into production.

In 1974 he sold the last pigs on what is now a 360ha arable operation. But as the farm pivoted completely to growing cereal crops he began to see problems.

The stubble burning killed off worms - which he saw as vital to soil health - and the soil he was working with became like concrete.

He looked for answers - eventually finding them in his own low-till and no-till Claydon drills which were made on-farm.

Today the on-farm manufacturing operation employs more than 70 staff and machinery sales continue to soar.

Among the range are Claydon Evolution and Hybrid drills, straw harrows, TerraStar light cultivators and TerraBlade inter-row hoes - all designed and built in-house. These do away with the need to plough the fields - saving time and money.

The company has become a European market leader in direct seeding technology and has seen demand for its products grow ten-fold since 2010.

"It has changed the way people farm in 32 countries," said Jeff. "It's about reducing the cost as much as you can but maintaining that yield."

He was "delighted" to receive the award “at a time when farming is under increasing environmental and economic pressures", he said.

Anna described Jeff Claydon as "a deserving winner".

“Soils are the farming industry’s greatest asset, yet many have been degraded to a point where now they merely provide a growing medium which depends on high levels of artificial inputs to maintain productivity."

Jeff's holistic approach to crop establishment which delivers consistent, high-yielding crops at low cost for maximum profitability - and enabled farmers to become more ecologically sustainable, she said.

“During our visit to the Claydon farm we were able to see the massive improvements which this approach has brought about over the last 22 years, including high numbers of worms and staggering levels of soil organic matter.

"Worms may not be sexy, but they are the unsung heroes of the farming world and instrumental in changing soils for the better."

The evening ended with an online link to American biologists and geologists David Montgomery and Anne Biklé, co-authors of What your Food Ate, which aims to show how human health is linked to healthy soils.

They believe that regenerative farming practices hold the key to healing sick soils - and could help reverse a trend towards diet-related diseases.