KindHarvest summary: Cambridgeshire grower David White reported substantial reductions in fuel and fertiliser after moving his 161-hectare arable farm to no-till and adopting a more diverse rotation with continuous soil cover.
What changed on the farm
White stopped cultivation in 2015 and combined direct drilling with cover crops, companion crops, crop blends and flowering strips. Six years into the transition, the farm reported rising soil organic matter, fuel use of about 38 litres per hectare and two machine hours per hectare from stubble to stubble.
The business had capped nitrogen use, removed routine phosphorus and potassium fertiliser, reduced seed treatments and insecticides where possible, and used home-saved seed. A wheat blend received about 120 kilograms of nitrogen per hectare, roughly half the farm’s previous conventional rate.
Economics and limits
A bean-and-oat bicrop produced a land-equivalent ratio of 1.3 in the example discussed, meaning the combined intercrop used land more efficiently than the component crops grown separately. The article also reported a stronger gross margin for that crop in the preceding season.
These figures describe one farm and one stage of its transition. Weather, soil, machinery, markets and rotation all shape costs and yields, so comparable changes should be tested and measured within each business.
Source and credit
This KindHarvest Team case-study brief is based on reporting by Louise Impey for Farmers Weekly, published 12 July 2022. Read the current Farmers Weekly article.