Pembrokeshire Monitor Farm

Working in partnership with his father, Tom Rees farms the mixed 280ha Dudwell Farm in Haverfordwest. His flexible arable rotation includes winter wheat, oilseed rape, spring barley and potatoes, with oats on the heavier land. For three years prior to becoming a Monitor Farm Tom has been part of the Cardiff Monitor Farm group and was inspired by the success seen there.

When Dudwell Farm secured Monitor Farm status, Tom was very keen to develop his own business through being the Pembrokeshire monitor farmer. He particularly hoped to look at soil health and the long-term impact potatoes have on the soil, as well as implementing more precision farming techniques and improving crop marketing.

You can find more information about Dudwell Farm, along with a cost-of-production breakdown, in the Pembrokeshire Monitor Farm launch meeting report.

Pembrokeshire Monitor Farm meetings & reports

Well sown, half grown – 28 November 2019

Sandra Kendall (ADAS) and Rob Fox (Leamington Spa Strategic Farm Host) lead a discussion on how best to establish a crop and then nurture it to maximise yield. Key points from the meeting can be found in the meeting report.

Soil Health Scorecard

The soil health scorecard provides a framework to monitor soil health on a rotational basis.

It uses soil analysis results for core soil health indicators and compares them to typical ranges for UK soil types and climate regions (benchmarks).

A completed Excel scorecard automatically produces a 'traffic-light' snapshot of soil health to guide management decisions.

In 2019, this Monitor Farm completed a scorecard.

Pembrokeshire Monitor Farm soil health scorecard (case study)

Tom really liked the visual element of the scorecard and plans to repeat the assessment after subsequent muck applications to his fields. 

Read more soil health scorecard case studies

Fungicide strategies – 5 December 2018

In this meeting report you can find key considerations that need to be made at each treatment timing when planning a fungicide programme in West Wales.

Soil health – 8 November 2018

Phillip Wright (Wright Solutions) explained why soil structure is important, and present region-specific knowledge pertaining to soil biology in Pembrokeshire. More information can be found in the meeting report.

Information on current Monitor Farms in Wales can be found here: Monitor Farms | AHDB