Deepdale Farm: Challenging year is catalyst for change

Having been working with Deepdale Farm for the past 6 months, we are really proud to be a part of their ambitious journey, in which they are gathering expertise from various sources to inform the development of their long-term plans – aimed at building resilience in light of the changing, and increasingly unpredictable, climate.

Some of the measures employed thus far focus on keeping soil and water on the farm by:

• Installing silt traps across a sloping farm field (these have been planted with native hedging plants), as well as beetle banks;
• Creating a large pond at the bottom of a sloping field for water storage and capture; and
• Improving soil health through increasing organic matter content with the planting of cover crops, implementing a diverse cropping programme and creating buffer strips.

Read the full story in September’s issue of Anglia Farmer (pages 34-36)

Pond creation at bottom of field to protect property

Cover crops at Deepdale Farm © Nathan Nelson, Deepdale Farm Estate Manager