Kent Wildlife Trust wins bid to support regenerative farming in Kent, partnering with farmers on innovative crop trials

Kent Wildlife Trust is committed to supporting Kent’s farmers to produce healthy food efficiently, profitably and in harmony with nature. Regenerative farming is taking off as an approach to improve soils and work with nature. On farm trials with Regenerative Farmer Andrew Howard at Bockhanger Farms, we will be testing nitrogen use efficiency in winter wheat with the addition of a homemade nature liquid compost extract. We want to test if improving the microbial activity in the soil and creating, healthy fungal networks can increase the crops efficient use of nutrients and reduce the amount of synthetic nitrogen that’s needed by the crop to produce a high yield.

Nitrogen has a high carbon cost when produced artificially, as well as an increasingly high price tag for farmers buying it in. It can also leach from soils in our waterways and cause eutrophication. Reducing the use of synthetic nitrogen could be a win-win for the farmers bottom-line and the wider environment.

Regenerative farming is the new buzzword on the scene, but it has a serious set of principles behind it. Keeping the soil covered, diversifying the crop rotations, using living roots to bind the soil and retain water, integrating livestock into the whole system, reducing artificial inputs and building soil carbon. Kent Wildlife Trust will be seeking to help farms form a network across Kent to share their experience and practices in farming regeneratively.

Andrew Howard, Bockhanger Farms Ltd, says: "I hope with working with Kent Wildlife Trust and Reading University on this trial, we can put some actual numbers and figures on the benefits of compost extract rather than relying on my simplified farmer trials and observations. Also, working with scientists and a network of farmers we can also improve our current practices for the benefits of my own business, other local businesses and the environment."