Andy Barr

East Lenham Farm is a mixed farm in the heart of Kent, covering about 1,200 acres, the majority of which is in arable rotation, the rest is grassland (with Romney sheep).

We produce mainly milling wheat, malting barley, oilseed rape (OSR), beans, grass seed, and lamb. As we farm a wide variety of soil types, yields do vary substantially - we have land that rarely yields under 10 tonnes of wheat (famous last words!), but also land that has never yielded over 10 tonnes. Our sandier land, although easy to plant in the spring, is highly vulnerable to the increasing years of spring drought we are experiencing. All grain is stored and sold through our local co-operative, Weald Granary.

After a degree in Natural Sciences and two years in banking, I finally realised the error of my ways and returned to the family farm in the mid-nineties. From then on, initially purely to cut costs, we have moved down a progressively lower tillage path and have now been direct drilling for 9 years. Other integral parts of the system involve a more diverse rotation, many countryside stewardship features (such as field margins and field corners planted with rough grasses, flower and nectar mixes and bird food to encourage wildlife diversity), cover and companion crops, re-integration of sheep, and use of foliar nutrition and biological products.

The general aim is to maintain or increase yields while cutting costs to a minimum and increasing the health of all our farm eco systems. True sustainability in its widest sense would be great, but in truth we are not close.

We have set up a solar farm and rent out buildings for warehouse, office and residential use.

I am a member of LEAF (Linking the Environment and Farming) and currently a director of Weald Granary, Southern Farmers Limited and Kent County Agricultural Society.

Listen to Andy introduce the sustainable, agro-ecological practices that he currently carries out on the farm here: Some key points Andy moved to no till and growing cover crops on the farm in 2010, and has been combining companion crops with wheat and OSR. After stopping using foliar insecticides 12 years ago, he has been trialling a decreased fungicide regime i.e. using resistant crop varieties, varietal mixes in wheat and OSR, and experimenting with crop competition. He has been reintegrating livestock (sheep), bringing grass back into the rotation, rotational grazing cover crops, and cultivating herbal leys; increasing the diversity in the grass. He believes that if you want to reduce your chemical input, you need to have a systems approach; combining different feasible, practical techniques.