Loppington Monitor Farm

Name:

Rory Lay

Location:

Loppington

Farm sectors:

Cereals & Oilseeds

Twitter:

@broadwayorchard

View on Google Maps

About Loppington Monitor Farm

Monitor Farm since June 2019
457ha mixed farm with cereals, sheep and beef

Rory Lay runs a 457 ha mixed family farm with cereals, sheep and beef. The arable rotation is based around the livestock, so includes a lot of turnips, fodder beet and maize. Rory recently converted the arable business to strip tilling which he says has given him huge cost savings, as well as improving the soil conditions. During the three years of the Monitor Farm Programme he’d like to look in more detail at costs and benchmarking; health and safety on farm; soil health; and assessing the farm as a whole – livestock and arable together.

Loppington Monitor Farm will come to a close in 2023.

Past meetings & updates

IPM lessons from the past - 10 February 2023

In the final meeting of the 22/23 winter season, the group discussed how the move to adopt integrated pest management (IPM) practices has re-emerged in the last decade and mulled over IPM approaches lost to time.

Teresa Meadows (BASIS) furthered the discussion by painting a picture of current Integrated Pest Management implementation in UK arable farming.

Livestock in the arable rotation, muck or money? - 9 December 2022

Lizzie Sagoo (ADAS) discussed the value of organic inputs and how to make the most of them as well as taking us through the results of an AHDB-funded research project. The work investigated the benefits of running sustainable beef systems on arable units.

The group looked at the economics of the project with Mark Topliff (AHDB Lead Analyst - Farm Economics) as well as looking to see the impact of organic inputs on the Farmbench results. And finally, James Evans (Grass Roots Farming) discussed how he uses livestock to improve soil health.

Digging deeper into soils - 11 November 2022

In the first winter meeting of the 22/23 winter season, Rory reviewed the results of harvest 2022. Guest speaker Dr Anne Bhogal (ADAS) revisited results from Rory's initial soil helath review back in 2019. Anne discussed the impact of rotation and how long it realistically takes to improve soil health.

The original soil assessment in 2019 was conducted using the Soil Health Scorecard. All of AHDB's information and resources regarding soil can be found through the GREATsoils hompage.

Update - March 2020

If you would like to be included in the email invite list for future meetings, contact Michelle.Nuttall@ahdb.org.uk or alternatively call on 07778143404.

Farming more from less - 2 March 2022

Dr. Roma Gwynn (Biorationale) gave a talk describing the potential of biopesticides in broad arable crops. This was followed by Andy Howard (Bockhanger Farms Ltd) covering a range of topics from intercropping to molasses and testing for sugars.

Farming for the environment - 1 February 2022

At this meeting Rory had two speakers help attendess prepare for the reductions in BPS and uptake of upcoming ELMS:

Aoife O’Driscoll (NIAB) lead discussions around what pests and beneficials can do to help your farm business and Zoe Bell (Independent Environmental Advisor) helped the group explore the environmental management approaches for farmers.

Maximising crop yields profitably - 11 January 2022

Sarah Kendall (ADAS) and Richard Ling (Diss Monitor Farmer) visited Loppington Monitor Farm to explore how you can understand and maximise your crops' performance profitably.

Preparing for zero-carbon farming - 10 November 2021

Toby Townsend (ADAS) shares and discusses results from a carbon audit carried out at Loppington. The group then built strategies to increase sequestration and reduce emissions at the farm. Petworth Monitor Farm host Mark Chandler contributed to the meeting by explaining how carbon calculation can assist arable farmers in managing their zero carbon targets.

Designing a farming system to fit you - 3 March 2020

The final meeting of the 19/20 winter season saw Mark Lea (Agricology) and Mike Harrison drawing comparisons and exploring the differences between conventional and organic farming systems.

Labour & machinery review - 7 January 2020

Over the winter season a Labour & Machinery Review was conducted at Loppington.

In this meeting, AHDB's Technical KE Manager Harry Henderson and Rob Meadley (Brown & Co.) analysed the results and Rory talked about what he learnt from the review.

Plan, prepare & prosper - 17 December 2019

Heather Wildman (Saviours Associates) and Darren Owens (CXCS) spoke on succession and key aspects of managing a farm business.

Soil health: What do we know? What can we do? - 26 November 2019

Liz Stockdale (NIAB) and Strategic Cereal Farm North host David Blacker shared some best practice soil managament techinques. The pair discussed how to boost fertility, increase SOM percentages and implement cover crops.

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Gallery

Loppington Monitor Farm grain store