GO Falkland: New regenerative farming festival in Scotland hopes to bring sector more up to date

Scotland needs to catch up on the conversations about more environmentally friendly farming methods, farmers have said.

A man who is relinquishing ownership of an estate and who has dismantled the post-war farming practices of his father’s generation has set up a regenerative farming-themed festival where he lives.

Ninian Stuart, whose family runs the 1,900ha Falklands Estate in Fife, which is a mixture of arable and rough grazing, has had a long-standing appreciation and approach to regenerative farming practices.

He said the land management system built by his father in the 1960’s was failing, with unintended consequences for the environment.

Cows among the trees on Falkland Estate (pic: Paul Turner)

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Searching for tips on how to ensure the estate is managed in a way to help soil health, produce food and encourage wildlife, Mr Stuart travelled to Groundswell, an annual summer festival of agricultural knowledge in Hertfordshire that attracts some 5,000 plus people from the sector.

From farmers to foresters to scientists, the event centres on discussion and new ideas on how to reduce emissions and work the land in a way that mitigates the impact of climate change.

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The cattle grazing above Balbirnie Home Farm in Fife (pic: GO Falkland)

Inspired by the conversations, the Fife farmer, in partnership with neighbouring farmer Johnnie Balfour at Balbirnie Home Farms, set up a fringe event of the English festival and a first of its kind event in Scotland – GO Falkland.

Scotland behind the curve

Mr Stuart said the aim of the one-day event was for farmers to get talking to each other more about regenerative agriculture collectively north of the border.

“In England, there has been a noticeable shift to these conversations,” Mr Stuart said. "We don’t see it so much in Scotland just yet. There are some people doing amazing things, but in general, farmers are a little, perhaps innately, conservative.

Ninian Stewart, who is currently a steward of Falkland Estate in Fife which his family has owned for five generation but which are soon to be relinquishing ownership. He is one of the organisers of GO Falkland (pic: GO Falkland)

"Sometimes Scotland is ahead of the curve, but with these sorts of conversations and knowledge sharing on regenerative agriculture, we are not.”

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Sam Parsons, estate manager at Balcaskie Estate, which is also in Fife, said he regularly has to travel further afield to find the information and guidance to continue regenerative farming practices.

Speaking to The Scotsman while attending Groundswell, which takes place this week, Mr Parsons said: “It’s much harder to find good information north of the border.

Sam Parsons, estate manager at Balcaskie Estate in Fife who will be talking at the GO Falklands event (pic: Balcaskie Estate)

"There is a lot of interest, and well meaning people, but not an awful lot of action that helps you convert these ideas into a to-do list. That’s why I have to travel south.”

Mr Parsons, along with international soil scientist Joel Williams and chief executive of the Soil Association Helen Browning, will be among some 65 speakers at GO Falkland, sharing important knowledge and tips to others in the farming community.

"We need these sorts of events where we can go and find out the information we need to know on soil, for example,” Mr Parsons said.

"There is a concern that many people say they are ‘regenerative’, but are using it in a greenwashing sense because they are not actively getting out there and getting the knowledge required.”

Who owns the land has bearing on what’s done with it

Playing on the hit HBO series Succession, organiser Mr Stuart said another theme of GO Falkland would be looking at ownership and succession in farmland and estate communities.

Groundswell is a festival in Hertfordshire celebrating agricultural knowledge and attracts up to some 5,000 people (pic: Sean Ebsworth Barnes)

Mr Stuart’s family are in the process of relinquishing five generations of ownership of Falkland Estate to either hand it over to the local community or to an appropriate charity.

He said he and his relatives believed more in “stewardship of the land”, which he said in contemporary times meant “a collective of people looking after the land rather than someone owning it”.

"Who owns the land has an important bearing on what’s done with it,” he said. "And that will be a conversation we have in one of the talk tents.”

Speaking about his own journey, Mr Stuart added: “It’s not easy to step away from something that has been in our family for so many generations.

"The connection is, of course, important. But we are moving on from ownership because we believe in stewardship, which we have been focusing on since 1994, and which is all about working with others on the land, to benefit the environment and the community on it.”

Mr Stuart said the succession session at the event would look at what happens when a farmer comes to the end of their tenure, and also include a talk from Priscilla Gordon-Duff, who runs Drummuir Estate, about how her family decided her son be next in line to owning the land.

‘What happens in Essex doesn’t necessarily work in Fife’

Co-organiser of the event Johnnie Balfour, at Balbirnie Home Farms, who has been focusing on improving the land’s soil over the past decade, said the event would be important for bringing Scottish farmers together to learn from each other, and to bring the wider conversation about regenerative farming closer to home.

"I’m really looking forward to GO Falkland this summer, to learn from others who are experimenting with different methods and delving into the science of soil,” he said.

“There’s a lot of conversation around regenerative agriculture underway in the south of England. But what works in Essex won’t necessarily work in Fife, so it will be particularly valuable to hear from experience in a Scottish context.”

GO Falkland, which has capacity for up to 500 people, will take place on Saturday, July 1. Gates are set to open from 8.30am.

Groundswell festival co-founder Joanna Cherry said: “It’s fantastic to see what we started gain such momentum and for the conversation to now extend like this to a different part of the country in the capable hands of Ninian and his team.

"We’re excited to sense a real movement underway as we all work together in this new era of food production to sustain our soils and our businesses.”

Policy detail ‘needed urgently’

The event comes at a time the Climate Change Committee (CCC), an independent public body formed to advise the UK and devolved governments on tackling and preparing for climate change, said there has been “minimal progress” in reducing agricultural emissions in the past decade, despite the Scottish Government plans to reduce them by nearly 30 per cent by 2030.

In a report published in December last year, the CCC said detail on low-carbon agriculture policy once the subsidy payments under the current EU Common Agricultural Policy come to and end next year “is needed urgently.”

Rural affairs secretary Mairi Gougeon said Scotland’s new Agriculture Bill, which will give more detail on a new four tiered payment system for farmers with certain environment conditions such as soil testing, carbon and biodiversity audits, will be introduced to Parliament “this year”, but has not been able to clarify to the sector when.