REGENERATIVE BEEF, SHEEP & ARABLE, SHROPSHIRE: Rory runs a mixed farm of 1,090 acres (440 hectares) in North Shropshire, rearing Aberdeen Angus cattle and Suffolk-cross sheep and growing crops using ‘regenerative’ practices. He joined the business in 2003 and runs it in partnership with his father and stepmother. The farm also employs a couple of staff.

The cattle are bought in and fattened on the farm, before being sold to a retailer with high welfare and traceability. Ewe (female) lambs are purchased in the autumn, graze ‘cover’ crops such as clover, phacelia and chicory over winter, move onto grass in the spring, and are sold the following summer as prime breeding stock.

On the arable side, the farm produces wheat (sold for animal feed) and oilseed rape. It also grows fodder beet, spring beans and barley to feed the cattle, which also eat home-grown grass silage. Overall, Rory reckons the farm is 98 per cent self-sufficient in feed. “It’s a positive circle,” he says. “The livestock benefit from the arable, and the arable – and the soil it grows in – benefits from the livestock through the muck they produce. The soil becomes softer and easier to work and, as it’s rich in micro-organisms, is more fertile too.”

By including grass (for grazing) as part of the rotation, the land gets a rest, and cycles of disease and weed growth are broken, says Rory.

“My style of farming could come under the heading ’regenerative’, but I’m not really keen on labels!” he says.

Rory is trying to reduce the amount of ploughing he does, and since 2017 has been using a “strip till drill”, a mechanical dibber that precision plants in narrow strips, moving half the soil that a normal planter would move. He says this sowing method is cheaper and has also improved the farm’s soils too as they, and the organisms that inhabit them such as earthworms, are disturbed less. “This means the earthworms can continue aerating the soil and providing food for birds.”

Over recent years Rory has swapped insecticides for flowers that attract beneficial insects – including ladybirds, lacewings, beetles and parasitic wasps – which tackle plant pests such as aphids. He’s also planted areas with bird seed mixes and put in hedges and trees. These environmental measures appear to be paying off, as Rory says he’s now seeing barn owls, skylarks and lapwings. He’s even sighted an extremely rare black headed bunting.

Rory has always loved the outdoors. “When I was a schoolboy, I remember spending all hours outside helping with fencing and lambing,” he says. After ‘A‘ levels he took a degree in agriculture at Seale Hayne in Devon, then travelled and worked in New Zealand and Australia during the English winters before returning home permanently. Today, he admits he finds the paperwork involved in farming burdensome, but says the rewards outweigh the downsides. “I enjoy seeing birds and insects benefiting from my way of farming,” he says. “I’m keen to communicate this with others and share how good farming can be.”