Farm overview
Henry has a mixed farming operation on the home farm in Northamptonshire, running a Suckler herd, dairy and calf rearing, breeding ewes and producing their own beef and lamb boxes. Henry’s 200ha of arable land is farmed with a high attention to detail, following a ‘treatment when needed’ ethos. He therefore aims to till as little as possible, using mainly disc direct drills, and where compaction needs addressing, uses a subsoiler and combination drill. With a keen interest in biostimulants, Henry has run a few unofficial trials at home, on fields of beans as well as winter wheat, and is understanding their benefit. Henry is also conducting trials on polycropping and is currently growing a bicrop of peas and oats as well as trialling living mulches in partnership with Kings Crops. By working with Messium, Henry is focussing on reducing nitrogen use on farm and achieving better nitrogen-use efficiency.
Project activities
- Creative Arena – an interactive event to discuss and evaluate climate friendly principles which can be adopted on farm (May 2023).
- Demonstration events – Trials, climate friendly infrastructure and farm tour (May 2024); ‘Bi-cropping: what future for more complex rotations?’ (September 2024).
- Training – BASIS Certificate in Sustainable Land Management course at The Allerton Project (January 2024).
- Trials – Living mulch (Kings).
- Lead Commercial Farm visits – Boughton Estate, Brixworth Farming, Courteenhall, Manor Farm, Rookery Farm.
