Our Land
The Fens – a unique and productive landscape
The Norfolk and Cambridgeshire Fens are an important part of the ‘breadbasket’ in East Anglia, and where wildfowl and nesting birds abound.
The Fens’ patchwork of waterways are fed by inland rivers, finding their way to the North Sea 25 miles away. Over thousands of years, these rivers have deposited silt particles in the area that, combined with peat and loam soils, produce some of the best farmland in Europe. Looking after our soils for the long term is a critical element of sustainable farming in this area.
Regenerative Agriculture
Adopting regenerative agriculture practices
Waldersey Farms is committed to improving soil and environmental health through regenerative agriculture. Traditional ploughing has degraded soil, released carbon, and reduced yields, requiring fallow periods for recovery. Poor practices globally have led to soil erosion, as seen in the desertification of North Africa and recent American dust storms. Regenerative agriculture restores soil health by fostering ecosystems rich in microorganisms. For example, fungi form symbiotic relationships with crops like wheat, helping them during stress. There is significant potential for soil improvement in the UK, as arable land lags behind undisturbed pasture in quality and biodiversity.
In the past, soil degradation was considered an unavoidable consequence of farming. However, we now know that this is not the case. By better understanding the soil microbiome, we can begin to reverse soil degradation. This approach is guided by five principles:
1. Minimise Soil Disturbance
2. Maintain Soil Cover
3. Keep Living Roots in the Soil
4. Promote Crop Diversity
5. Capture Sunlight and Carbon
Ensuring healthy soil
Healthy soils are the basis of a fully functioning ecosystem
Our farmland is used for growing a wide range of vegetable crops because it is fertile, free draining, moisture retentive and stone free.
All the resources we use – including water, fertiliser and soil organic matter – are carefully analysed and quantified using specialist equipment with GPS that enables us to understand the variation in physical and chemical properties of the soil across each field.
Our technical team and advisers continually review our techniques, technical developments and ways to improve and protect our most important resources.
The flywheel of our food chains
Soil organic matter is an important indicator of long-term soil health
Healthy soils are the basis of successful 360-degree food chains. Soil organic matter is an important indicator of long-term soil health. Our focus is on:
- Maintaining soil organic matter levels. This is vital to maintain structure, provide water retention properties, ensure resilience and store carbon.
- Reducing tillage passes and depth: Arable farming is already taking big steps to retain organic matter, the move to low tillage methods and even direct drilling of seeds being a prime example. If we are to experience the predicted rise in temperatures, moisture retention will be central to providing our arable land with the resilience to continue delivering high yields of our crops. It has been estimated that 1% of organic matter can store up to 20,000 gallons of water per acre.
- Adopting a “no bare land” approach does limit the area of overwintered stubbles we leave each year, which can be useful for some wildfowl and ground nesting species; however, it can be argued that green cover is preferable to overwintered stubbles from both the soil protection and biodiversity viewpoints. Stubbles can be a sterile environment with poor foraging opportunities.
- Carefully assessing the soil structure of each field after cropping to determine any remedial action. Healthy soils are the basis of successful 360-degree food chains.