TRANSITION LIVE: PARK FARM
University farm hosts first Farmers Weekly sustainability event
University of Cambridge's Park Farm hosted one of the most important new agricultural events on the UK farming calendar on Thursday 9 May.
Transition Live, in partnership with Farmers Weekly brought together hundreds of farmers, land managers and food production industry experts with policymakers - including the UK Environment Secretary - to share ideas and solutions for sustainable agriculture.
Farmers Weekly Transition Editor and Transition Live organiser Johann Tasker said farmers stand on the frontline of climate change, bearing the brunt of droughts, floods and the effects of policies and actions to combat them -- while trying to provide food security for millions of people and keeping their businesses in the black.
"The greatest challenge of all is climate change and how we adapt to it," Tasker said, under sunny skies amid the marquees and fluttering banners on the University's Park Farm.
He said Park Farm, which gets a majority of its electric power from solar panels and an anaerobic digester that creates energy from slurry, is a beacon for the farm community and a credit to Cambridge's sustainable ingenuity.
"It's great to be aligned with one of the greatest universities in the world that cares about farming and agriculture."
In a meadow, across a tidy road from Park Farm's cow sheds, farmers, land managers, advisers and policymakers all heard from UK Environment Secretary Steve Barclay.
Barclay acknowledged one of the wettest UK winters on record, discussed government policies, food security, the environment and the importance of engaging with farming leaders on the transition to create sustainable farming models that are resilient and remain profitable.
"As part of that, a huge credit to Farmers Weekly for the role that it has played both in helping inform, helping communicate the issues around the transition that we’re seeing in agriculture at the moment..."
In the three large, white marquees set up in the meadow, some 500 attendees also heard talks and took part in panel discussions under three key headings: Food Production, Environment and Business.
Headline speakers included fellow farmers on key topics such as Trees on the farm, Land use change: Managing capital, cash and tax, as well as Generating revenue from landscape-scale farmer clusters.
Experts and farming advisers from organisations like the National Farmers Union (NFU) and the Farm Carbon Toolkit also led discussions on Making renewable energy work on your farm and How to improve and reward sustainable agriculture.
In all, there were 15 panels covering topics across the spectrum for the day-long event and a plethora of exhibition stalls from across the farming industry, covering everything from agricultural machinery to farm finance.
Professor Emily Shuckburgh, Director of Cambridge Zero, the University's key climate change initiative, praised Live Transitions for creating a vital meeting point for the farm community and researchers.
"It's exactly these kinds of gatherings for farmers, land holders and food industry leaders where climate-focused parts of the University of Cambridge, like Cambridge Zero and the Centre for Landscape Regeneration, can gather vital information for the kind of research needed to make the entire food and land use model more sustainable for everyone."
Park Farm encompasses a historically important area of Capability Brown designated parkland, has more than 90 hectares of woodland and is part of the Higher Level Stewardship Scheme.
The University and the farm have their own biodiversity action plans, with works including pond restoration and new woodland creation.
The farm also has a dairy unit of 230 milking cows, producing 2 million litres of milk annually and a flock of 250 North Country Mule sheep. Some 265 hectares is farmed as part of the arable enterprise, in addition to a mix of permanent and rotational grassland.
Photo by Paul Casciato/Cambridge Zero
Photo by Paul Casciato/Cambridge Zero
Photo by Paul Casciato/Cambridge Zero
Photo by Paul Casciato/Cambridge Zero
Photo of L-R Park Farm Manager Paul Kelly, Cambridge Zero Director Professor Emily Shuckburgh, Park Farm Rural Lead Peter Wilderspin Photo Credit: Cambridge Zero
Photo of L-R Park Farm Manager Paul Kelly, Cambridge Zero Director Professor Emily Shuckburgh, Park Farm Rural Lead Peter Wilderspin Photo Credit: Cambridge Zero
Photo by Paul Casciato
Photo by Paul Casciato
“The team at Park Farm are extremely proud to host the first Transition Live event," said Park Farm Manager Paul Kelly.
He said sustainability is at the core of everything that is done at the farm, and over a period of three years Park Farm has lowered the carbon footprint of its milk production by around a third.
This has been done by focusing on the highest standards of animal welfare, increasing outputs with technology, growing silage, focusing on quality, and using renewable energy production from solar and the anaerobic digestion plant.
“Our ambitious work in these areas has been recognised by accreditation as a Demonstrator Farm from global environmental charity Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF) in 2023.”
Attendee Phil Jarvis, Land and Estates Director at Albanwise Wallace Estates, summed up the day by saying that a transition in farming is under way and that farmers and all the industries surrounding them must adapt for environmental and financial reasons.
Jarvis, whose firm has more than 10,000 hectares of land in Norfolk and Yorkshire under management, said the future of farming depended on making the right decisions about everything from increasing cover crops and organic manure to lessening soil erosion and creating better eco-systems.
"It's achieving a sweet spot...the business has got to make money."
Albanwise Wallace Land and Estates Director Phil Jarvis Photo by Paul Casciato/Cambridge Zero
Albanwise Wallace Land and Estates Director Phil Jarvis Photo by Paul Casciato/Cambridge Zero
Published 14 May 2024
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Cambridge Zero is the University of Cambridge’s ambitious climate change initiative, harnessing the power of research to tackle climate change at one of the top global research universities in the world.
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