01 Aug Inspiration from Royal Welsh Award Judging
Our MD, Alex Lockton, was given the very prestigious honour of being one of two judges for the Sir Brynner Jones Award at the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society this year. The award is the premier accolade that the society offers to its members and has been running since 1957.
This year’s award theme was focused on net-zero initiatives, seeking individuals who have made remarkable strides in sustainable practices and are an inspiration to the industry.
Each of the eight Welsh counties nominated a short list contender who was visited over the summer by the judging team. All entrants submitted a summary of their current farming practises, innovations which could be considered for the award.
The experience
The judging was conducted over four days, with in-person site visits involving a tour of the farm as well as time to hear first-hand from the farm owners about their ideas, their inspirations and their experience in implementing the techniques utilised. The judges followed a similar format for each farm; allowing each farm the opportunity to display its unique characteristics.
The conversations with landowners were incredibly rewarding and the process was fascinating to hear about each families’ history and the origins of their methods: Some ideas came from previous generations who had pioneered a concept or technology and honed it over the years, adapting to new technology along the way. Others followed opportunities as they arose, choosing to capitalise on grants and subsidies when available, maximising them to benefit their business and diversify for long term financial sustainability. Some were driven by necessity, to take full advantage of every resource at their disposal efficiently.
Narrowing down the initial shortlist was no easy feat. Given the diverse range of farms, their locations and challenges present at each site. The field of 8 was very high quality but those who made the shortlist had a clear vision for carbon or net-zero and were approaching the challenges holistically, embracing the efficiencies and techniques for farming whilst synergizing with cutting edge technology.
Our takeaways
First of all, the judges were inspired. There is no doubt we have seen glimpses of the future for sustainable farming with real-life examples of efficient net-zero techniques in working practise. The biggest successes came from:
• Good data and measurement of the results, without data you can’t see what’s going on!
• Appropriate use of techniques for the land available to the farmer, experimentation and trial and error of cropping and harvesting methods combined with analysis of the data were producing tremendous success in reducing inputs and increasing yields and benefits.
• Use of renewable energy in the right context works brilliantly; farmers are very well suited to various forms of technology including wind, solar, AD and more. Combinations which are designed to suit the needs of the farm and applied once demand has been reduced brings great results.
• Circular thinking maximises your resources and creates worth from waste, using by-products to bring further value to their farms.
• Collaboration through finding synergies with other farms is key. Knowing your neighbours (and building relationships with them) can be extended to working together to help each other with waste and create value for each other.
• Community Energy has massive potential for farmers and their communities around them. Power can be generated locally and shared locally in terms of ownership, funding and cheaper greener power for homes and businesses.
If there is one thing that’s clear about the world now is that we have less clarity and certainty than ever before, especially when it comes to climate impacts. Tackling net-zero has long term benefits both in terms of carbon abatement and efficiency but working together as communities creates resilience. Climate change is too big to tackle with each of us acting independently, but we have found evidence through this years, Sir Brynner Jones Award that working together is game changing.
At RenewEV we are specialists in community energy development and have a strong track record in supporting agricultural businesses so if you wish to hear more from us about our experience please get in touch.
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