Farm of the Week: Food production works alongside wildlife

READING through the list of wildlife which make their home on Tophouse Farm one might think the owners run a nature reserve instead of an arable farm.

The holding, at Rawcliffe Bridge near Goole, is home to a total of 154 plant species. Of this number 56 are water plants, five of which are officially classed as rare.

As well as this there are six species of bumblebee, a host of dragonflies and 22 varieties of butterfly living there.

However this impressive list of plant and wildlife has all been achieved alongside the successful arable operation the Hinchliffe family runs.

Little wonder then that the 141 hectare site was used as the venue for this week's Yorkshire launch of the Campaign for the Farmed Environment campaign – the industry led approach to improving-biodiversity on UK farms.

The campaign follows hard-fought negotiations by the industry to avoid a return to set-aside and its organisers are now pressing hard to get as many farmers in Yorkshire involved as possible. They would do well to follow the fantastic example the Hinchliffes have set.

The farm, run by Norman Hinchliffe, his two sons James and David, and David's son Richard, attracts more than 600 visitors each year to marvel at the wildlife for which they have made a home.

The promoting of wildlife has been a gradual evolution on the farm but, as James said, there was one major catalyst for wanting to get involved with it.

"I was fed up with so called 'experts' saying that modern intensive agriculture is killing wildlife. On this farm we have skylarks, partridges and corn buntings.

"It gives farmers the chance to show people that we do not harm the countryside like some in the general public may believe."

While the work began back in the 1990s, as part of work the farmers do with the BASF chemical company, a firm which supports the Hinchliffe's conservation work to this day.

In 2003 a total of 30 nest boxes were put in to house hole-nesting birds like tree sparrows. This number grew to 80 by 2006 with blue tits, great tits and tree sparrows all populating the farm. Owl boxes have also successfully brought tawny owls to the farm.

"We have been trying to improve the biodiversity of the farm for several years," James said.

"We started with just a few sparrow boxes and supplementary feeding trials. We have increased the number of pairs on the farm from around five in 2003 to more than 50 in 2009.

"The main effect it has had is that when we planted the bird feed crops neighbours in the village became very impressed.

"We have shown many of them round and they now have a better understanding of what goes on here, so from a public relations point of view it has been a huge success."

His and the family's work to foster wildlife has made him a strong advocate of the biodiversity on UK farms.

"We now need to make people more aware of the Campaign for a Farmed Environment – the big worry is that if we do not make it work then farmers are going to have something imposed upon us.

"There is a cost involved certainly, but it is relatively easy. At the end of the day every farm is different. We live in quite an intensive arable area – if we can make it work here we can make it work anywhere.

"I do personally get a lot of pleasure from it. When you hear the corn buntings singing it is lovely and to see the bird crop numbers coming up is great.

"If at all possible I would encourage them to sign up. Even if it is just to put in two or three boxes it is a start."

The family moved to the farm in 1966, coming from nearby Little Airmyn. In 1979 they bought a farm half a mile away and in 2000 they bought two more, one nearby and another some six miles away in the village of Thorne.

Aside from the wildlife Tophouse Farm is predominantly a wheat growing farm, with some oilseed rape, linseed and winter beans also produced on the farm.

As James said the market remains uncertain at present with all eyes this year on domestic and continental weather patterns.

"The cost of production is down this year and we are hoping that it is a better year," he said.

The Campaign for a Farmed Environment, run jointly by various farming industry groups including the NFU and CLA, hopes to involve up to 3,000 arable farms in Yorkshire.

The campaign was launched nationally at the end of last year and the take-up so far has been very strong as organisers strive to meet the tough targets they have set themselves.

These include the national level of voluntary environmental management increasing by 30,000 hectares and retaining a total of 179,000 hectares of uncropped land across England.