Landward episode 14 2024
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00With the rush on to bring in the harvest, good news!
00:06We are back with a brand new series.
00:09Welcome to Lambert.
00:31As the seasons turn from what was a changeable summer into autumn,
00:35the team are back.
00:37We've been out and about speaking to the people
00:39and gathering the stories from the heart of the Scottish countryside.
00:43And as harvest is in full swing, I've come to the Kingdom of Fife
00:47where they're rolling out the machines and farming for the future.
00:51Here's what else is coming up.
00:55We just need to go with it and hope there's plenty of bidders.
00:58Cammy takes the spring lambs to market.
01:02So you just pull it up.
01:04Anne's bringing in the flax.
01:07And Shabazz samples a super berry.
01:11I didn't know what to expect but that's actually really nice.
01:18But first, a farmer who's been recognised as a climate hero.
01:23I'm off to find out about the pioneering techniques he's using
01:26to grow crops that are both profitable and sustainable.
01:32The harvest is well underway here near Leven.
01:36This combine is powering through a field of wheat.
01:40Just a small portion of the 3,500 acres
01:44managed across four farms by Matt Waldie.
01:48Matt, how's it going? Nice to see you.
01:50How's it looking?
01:52Yeah, it's good.
01:54Cammy then, how did you start into your journey towards sustainability?
01:59Well, we're a cooperative here at Forefront Farming.
02:02So there's four different farmers in the group.
02:04And we all have a passion to look after our soils, look after our farms.
02:08So that was the first step in what we do.
02:11Working together on a big scale like this
02:14has made investment in cutting-edge kit
02:17and experimenting with new techniques possible.
02:21We're finding that the stuff we've adopted, the practices we've adopted
02:25have made big differences to our business of sustainability within it.
02:29Like this beautiful field.
02:32This is a boney-looking thing, isn't it?
02:34It's a cover crop, not for harvest.
02:37Grown to improve the soil between cash crops.
02:41So this is our green manure.
02:43So it's clover. We have crimson clover, bear seam clover.
02:47We have vetch, oil radish, and we have phacelia as well.
02:51They all have their own characteristics, so they all do different things.
02:54So the oil radish has a big tap root on it.
02:56So if you pull it out, you'll see it's got a massive long root.
03:01And that punches through the soil and gets rid of any compaction.
03:04And then the clovers and the vetch, they are nitrogen-fixing.
03:07So they put nutrients into the soil.
03:09But they all create feed for bees, butterflies, pollinator insects throughout the summer.
03:15The plants have done their job.
03:18And oats are now being planted in this field.
03:23It all seems kind of counterintuitive.
03:25He's actually drilling into the soil without ploughing.
03:29Yeah, so basically these plants are doing our tillage for us effectively.
03:33The seed is sown underneath the cover crop by this direct drill.
03:39So it comes along with a disc, and the disc cuts through the trash and plants the seed.
03:44And if you dig in here, you should be able to see it.
03:48Ah, right.
03:49I don't want to touch it because that's next to you as profits.
03:51But there's pretty much minimal impact on the soil there.
03:54Yeah, it's removing very little soil.
03:56No ploughing means Matt's fuel bill per acre for fuels like this has dropped by 90%.
04:04He's saving cash and lowering his greenhouse gas emissions.
04:09We're also not disturbing all the roots that these cover crops have put into the ground.
04:13And they allow the water to penetrate in and good drainage.
04:16So it's important that we just put the seed in with as little disturbance as possible.
04:20So by not disturbing the soil, we're not releasing any carbon.
04:23And that's not all.
04:25After the oats are sown, the cover crop will be sprayed with a herbicide so it dies back.
04:32But even as it decays, it will continue to feed the soil.
04:36And Matt has more than one way to supercharge the earth.
04:41These Angus cross cattle are grazing on another farm in the co-op.
04:47So you'll see here that they've trampled down some of it, eaten some of it, and then produced manure.
04:51And that's what we're trying to achieve.
04:53So you're creating fertility for the soil, creating armour on the soil.
04:57And then they'll move on to the next fresh batch of cover crop.
05:01But none of this is new.
05:04We're trying to replicate how all our soils were made for millennia.
05:07So that's with large numbers of rumens being moved by predators across grassland,
05:13taking what they want, trampling in the rest, and then moving on.
05:16But of course we are the predators, so we move them with electric fence.
05:19So twice a day they're moved onto fresh pasture.
05:21They eat what they want, they leave behind manure, which then fertilises the soil, lets the grass grow again.
05:26And we can replicate that on our cover crops with the nutrients used for the next crop of cereals, which is oats for wheat.
05:33It's all inspirational stuff.
05:36But there's been a lot of trial and error to get to this point.
05:40Setting up these systems hasn't always been easy.
05:44It's been a learning curve. Yeah, it's been definitely a learning curve.
05:47Finding what other people are doing, trying to replicate stuff in different countries has been difficult here.
05:52But we think we're on the right path.
05:56We're seeing benefits on both sides of the business, cattle and cereals.
06:00So both financially and sustainably. And sustainably.
06:03The future's bright, I think.
06:10Now, it's not just arable farmers who are busy with this year's harvest.
06:15For some sheep farmers, their spring lambs are ready to go to market.
06:20Sammy's near Kilmores in Ayrshire now, meeting a fellow farmer and finding out how he gets on when his sheep go under the hammer.
06:31Here at Flo's farm, Jordan Hibbard's getting ready to take his lambs to market.
06:39Jordan, how are you? Good to see you, mate. Big job's on today.
06:43What have we got here to sell?
06:46That'll be 70. 70? 70, the best ones, hopefully.
06:49Jordan's only six months into his first farming tenancy, so it's vital he gets a good price today.
06:56Need to keep the pennies turning just now, keep the bank manager happy.
06:59Absolutely, absolutely. Especially our first year.
07:02Are we getting loaded? Yes, sounds good to me.
07:04Aye, come on. There you go.
07:06They'll be fairly wild.
07:08Aye, they're firing their bellies, put it that way.
07:12These lambs are especially tough, born during one of the wettest springs on record.
07:19And they haven't had it any easier this summer.
07:24Great condition, considering how bad the summer's been. Aye, no, they've done well.
07:28Good grass. Good grass.
07:34The lambs are split into groups for loading.
07:37Job done, job done. That's the easy bit.
07:40The next bit's the hard bit.
07:43We're heading to the livestock mart at Ayr.
07:46Just like dozens of other farmers across the county.
07:50All hoping for a good price for their hardy survivors of lambing 2024.
07:57So this is the first big new lamb sale of the year here in Scotland,
08:01and it's really going to set the trade for the rest of the summer.
08:05Set the trade for the rest of the sale season.
08:08Now you lambs, of course, they're females.
08:10They will go off into farms in Ayrshire and further afield
08:13and be part of the breeding stock that will produce next year's prime lambs.
08:18Lambs that will end up on your plate.
08:21Many of this year's prime lambs have already been sold,
08:24and there have been good prices.
08:2626% up on last year.
08:29Partly because the poor spring meant lower numbers coming forward to market.
08:34Auctioneer Drew Kennedy is looking for a similar increase for the ewe lambs.
08:39You're hoping it filters down into the breeding stock,
08:42but there's other factors as well.
08:44There's that much cost with other things,
08:46and it just depends if folk's got money in the bank to pay for these in Ayr.
08:50But we'll wait and see. We'll wait and see. I always keep positive.
08:53It's a credit to the boys. I don't know how they manage it,
08:56but they manage to turn it out to perfection,
08:58and good big strong lambs here. It's good.
09:01And for Jordan, it's almost time to get his show of lambs on the road.
09:06He's hoping for an average of £150 per lamb.
09:10Heading to the ring now, Jordan. How are you feeling?
09:12Nervous. The tree's a bit sticky,
09:14so we just need to go with it and hope there's plenty of bidders.
09:23Jordan's 70 lambs have been split into three groups.
09:26His best ones are put into the ring first.
09:40£160 per head for the first pen.
09:43Not bad. Can he keep it up?
09:46£160 for the first pen there, £145 for the second,
09:49so he still will be above that £150 target average.
09:52One more pen to come, though. Let's see how it goes.
10:05£130 for the second pen.
10:07Not bad. Can he keep it up?
10:15£130 a head for the last pen.
10:17That lowers the average, but Jordan's still walking away
10:20with more than £10,000 for his lambs.
10:24How did that go? Yeah, it went well.
10:26Happy enough with it, you know? Plenty of buyers.
10:28And what did you average in the end? £145.
10:30£145? So pretty close to that £150 target.
10:32Aye, no, happy with that.
10:34And what are you going to spend all this money on?
10:36Well, pay some bills, and it'll free up, you know,
10:38for buying some fresh stock, you know?
10:40I'm always having to build up numbers,
10:43you know, so I need these lambs to help pay for that.
10:45So, aye, yeah, get some bills too.
10:47It just helps with the debts. Indeed.
10:49They keep coming, they keep coming.
10:51It is worth it in the end. You think,
10:53oh, why am I doing all this work, you know?
10:55But it's worth it. You know, they look well,
10:57you know, I didn't show myself up, you know,
10:59so I'm pleased with that.
11:01And for all of these ewes,
11:03a few months rest before they go to the top,
11:05making next year's spring lamb harvest.
11:08I can only hope the weather will be a bit better.
11:13HE BREATHES HEAVILY
11:15I'm seeing wheat being taken in here in Fife,
11:19but there's much more than just grain
11:21being harvested from our fields.
11:24Scotland is renowned for its soft fruit,
11:27with strawberries, raspberries and blackcurrants
11:30making up the bulk of that particular crop.
11:33But there's another berry trying to muscle in on that market.
11:37We sent Shabazz to Perthshire to find out more.
11:43This is a honeyberry,
11:45but don't let its size or shape fool you.
11:48It's actually a superberry.
11:52And it's growing here on the southern banks
11:55of the Tay, near Bridgeover.
11:57Not the prettiest-looking berries in the world,
12:00but they're very, very good for you.
12:03Finn Hay has been growing honeyberries at Easter Rynd
12:06for the last seven years,
12:08and he's giving me the hard sell.
12:11They are full of antioxidants, anthocyanins,
12:15they've got more vitamin C than an orange,
12:18so they are a superfood, essentially.
12:20Would you like to try one?
12:24Wow. It's a really unique, tangy taste.
12:27Yep.
12:28I didn't know what to expect, but that's actually really nice.
12:31They've got this fantastic colour and a really sharp, zingy taste.
12:35Finn is part of a honeyberry cooperative.
12:38Seven other growers from the borders to the highlands
12:41have banded together to get the Scottish public eating honeyberries.
12:46They're part of the honeysuckle family,
12:48so they grow wild in places like Japan, Russia, colder climates,
12:53so optimum growing conditions in the summer, 15 to 20 degrees,
12:57and in the winter they actually need some frost or vernalisation.
13:01So as a group of Scottish farmers, we thought Scotland would be perfect,
13:05so we took a bit of a punt growing them,
13:07but we've found that they've loved our climate,
13:09grown really, really well here, and really seem to thrive in it.
13:12Isn't it often people say the climate in Scotland is a bonus point?
13:15Absolutely.
13:17And today, Finn is starting this year's harvest.
13:23It's nice to get to that stage
13:25where you start to reap the rewards of your year's work.
13:28It's a fairly unique-looking machine.
13:30Yeah, so it's actually initially designed to be used
13:33Yeah, so it's actually initially designed to be a raspberry harvester.
13:37So it straddles the bushes,
13:39and then when it goes over the top of them, it gives them a shake,
13:42which should shake all the fruit off.
13:44If the fruit is ripe, it'll fall off onto plates and below,
13:47which goes into little pockets that come up, drop it on a belt,
13:51and there's a big fan that blows any leaves and branches and stuff off,
13:55so you've got a nice clean sample dropping into the trays in the top.
13:59It's clear the honeyberry is thriving in our cooler climate,
14:02but even the superfruit has felt the chill
14:05of the unusually cold start to our summer.
14:09Our harvest is probably at least a week later than normal.
14:13We have lacked a lot of heat this year,
14:15so a late, cold, wet winter and spring
14:18has definitely affected our yields,
14:20and it's also affected the ripeness of the fruit.
14:25The honeyberries won't be joining Scottish strawberries and raspberries
14:28in the fresh fruit aisle, though.
14:30They're immediately frozen as their high-juice content
14:33and delicate skin mean they don't last long,
14:36giving Finn and his colleagues a marketing problem.
14:41The vast majority of our population don't know what a honeyberry is,
14:45so with us freezing the berries as soon as they're harvested,
14:49it gave us a great product,
14:51but something that was very difficult to get in front of people.
14:54We had to find a way of trying to get the flavour profile
14:58and all that goodness from inside the berry to people
15:02but using a ready-to-eat format.
15:05And that's where Gemma Ray from Bruce Farms comes in.
15:10Freeze-drying takes a frozen product
15:12and turns it into a ready-to-eat product
15:15by really slowly dehydrating it in a vacuum.
15:19Just up the road in Meagle, the berries are frozen,
15:22then freeze-dried,
15:24so you can sprinkle them on your porridge all year round.
15:27And all the benefits of the products,
15:30all the vitamins, the minerals, they're all retained.
15:33So it comes out crunchy, it doesn't need to be in a fridge or a freezer,
15:37it can just be in your cupboard.
15:39Where it will last 18 months,
15:41meaning Finn and the rest of the co-op can market their honeyberries
15:45without the stress of a short shelf life.
15:48Something else you can give me the hard sell on.
15:52We think if as many people try them as possible,
15:55they're going to be a really popular product
15:57and something that will be a staple on many people's plates for a long time.
16:01You've won me over, they were a fantastic taste
16:03and I'm going to try and grab a few bags on my way out.
16:05You're welcome. Brilliant.
16:12From mid-August, large swathes of our Scottish countryside
16:16explode into a luscious carpet of purple
16:19as our heather moorlands bloom.
16:21But it's a habitat that's facing an uncertain future,
16:25as Rosie's finding out in Perthshire.
16:32Caluna vulgaris.
16:34It's the flower of Scotland,
16:36extending across 2.5 million acres of upland moorland.
16:43In fact, heather moorland is extremely rare globally,
16:47which is why places like this are internationally important.
16:52To find out why, I'm meeting Katrina Candy
16:56of the aptly named Heather Trust,
16:58a charity that focuses on moorland matters for a range of interests.
17:03Great spot, isn't it? It's beautiful.
17:05It's beautiful, look at this place.
17:07So, heather moorland, first of all, what is heather moorland?
17:10It's a specific mosaic of plant species, of vegetation.
17:15So, heather itself has many, many benefits for lots of different species
17:20and managed properly and regenerated.
17:23It provides a food source, it provides nesting habitat,
17:27so it's fairly unique.
17:29The key word there is managed.
17:32It might look wild, but this kind of moorland in Scotland is groomed,
17:37much of it for grouse shooting.
17:41As you can see here, there's been various burning patterns going here,
17:45which is an effective method of breaking up huge swathes of moorland
17:49to have that regen of young shoots, which many species thrive on.
17:55Heather can also be mown, you know, it can be swiped.
17:58There's lots of things that can be done to heather to manage that level,
18:01because if it gets to a certain height, it would degrade to a point
18:04where it didn't really have a huge amount of benefit for very much.
18:08That management is controversial.
18:11The methods used provoke fierce debate
18:14and in recent years it's been highly legislated.
18:18But the Heather Trust claim this kind of management
18:21means the moors benefit more than just grouse.
18:25They support a suite of wildlife,
18:28including red-listed, fragile species of wading birds.
18:32They are amazingly good at sequestering carbon.
18:35Heather itself and the sphagnum mosses
18:37and other mosaic habitats here of vegetation
18:40are incredibly good at soaking up all that carbon
18:43and it's a source for drinking water.
18:45They're like the lungs of Britain.
18:47They're taking up all that carbon, they're doing a really good job.
18:50If well managed and sustainably managed nationally,
18:54you know, the UK is lucky to have areas like this.
18:58But these heather habitats are at risk and being lost.
19:03There are many reasons for that and the extent of it isn't clear.
19:08So the Trust have launched Heather Futures,
19:11a project to look at the risks facing this habitat.
19:15Step forward, ecologist David Jarrett.
19:18Hello, hello. You must be David. Hi.
19:20He can show me what's having an impact on the moorland.
19:24We've obviously got the massive increase in commercial forestry.
19:29You can see over there we've got a plantation that's maybe 50 years old.
19:32But then actually over here we've got an area of native woodland
19:35which has been planted in the last few years
19:37and that's actually been planted to meet Scottish Government targets
19:40related to biodiversity.
19:42But actually the consequence of that
19:44is that an area of really nice habitat for open ground species is lost.
19:47Then further down here we've got some areas of,
19:50which would have been historically moorland,
19:52which are now converted into more intensive grassland for grazing animals.
19:57Scotland has lost more moorland than all of the other parts of the UK.
20:03By a long way as well. By a long way, yeah, that's right.
20:06Take a look at southern Scotland.
20:08All the red areas there is where we've lost moorland.
20:11So there's really been fragmentation and loss of moorland habitats
20:15across southern Scotland.
20:17One of the consequences David has seen of this loss of moorland habitats
20:22is a massive drop in populations of breeding curlew in southern Scotland.
20:27And he thinks other species are at risk.
20:31Our populations of curlew, oyster catcher, lapwing, golden plover in the uplands
20:35are actually important internationally
20:37and we do have a responsibility beyond what's going on in Scotland
20:40to conserve these species.
20:42There is a lot of legislation associated with moorland management,
20:46but we don't have targets for moorland conservation and moorland habitats.
20:49And so we really do need slightly more targeted, coherent policy
20:53to preserve the best bits of moorland and work out where we want things to go
20:57rather than just having a mad rush to change land use and change habitats.
21:01Yeah, we need a plan.
21:03We need a plan, yes.
21:08Now, flax is a crop you don't see much of these days.
21:13Essential in the production of linen,
21:16it hasn't really been grown widely in Scotland since the 1950s.
21:20However, in East Lothian, there are some people who think it's due a revival.
21:25Anne's been to see this year's harvest.
21:31At Fantasy Farm near East Linton,
21:34these volunteers are hard at work bringing in the flax.
21:40This farm is one of seven involved in a flax growing trial.
21:45The aim? To investigate the potential for sustainably grown, locally produced linen.
21:53At one time, Scotland was a powerhouse in the linen industry.
21:57Clothing, bedding and even airplane wings were made from it.
22:01But cotton took over and more profitable crops replaced flax in our fields.
22:08So, today we're pulling fibre flax.
22:11This attempt to bring it back is organised by organic farming charity The Soil Association
22:17and Colleen McCulloch from the group is showing me the harvesting technique.
22:22There aren't any cutting machines that we have access to in Scotland,
22:25so you just pull it up, kind of hold it halfway,
22:29just pull it straight out the ground and then we're laying it flat as we go along.
22:34Does flax grow well in Scotland?
22:37It grows really well in Scotland. It likes our kind of slightly damp, temperate climate.
22:42It used to be growing right across the UK, even as far north as Orkney.
22:46They used to grow a lot of flax in the sort of 16, 17, 1800s.
22:51And is there a potential industry, linen industry, in Scotland?
22:56Yeah, well, that's kind of what we're hoping.
22:59Maybe not on a massive industrial scale like it used to be,
23:02but there's real growing interest from farmers to grow it.
23:07It works really well as a break crop in our arable system.
23:10It's got quite a short growing season, so there's a lot of farmers that would be keen to grow it.
23:15And there's an increasing demand from buyers for linen and the yarn to make it.
23:21There's been a lot of interest from people who are trying to source locally or regionally produced sustainable fabrics
23:28that aren't part of the kind of global industrialised fashion industry that uses a lot of synthetic material.
23:34People are looking for natural materials and things that don't come from too far away.
23:39And flax really fits that really well.
23:42Keen farmers ready to grow flax and buyers eager for linen.
23:47So where's the problem?
23:49Right now, Scotland has no commercial flax processors able to turn the crop into cloth.
23:56That's the bit that's missing at the moment.
23:58So if we can kind of join all the dots between growers, processors, that kind of whole supply network,
24:05there's definitely the interest in producing Scottish sustainable fabrics.
24:12Rosie Bristow wants to join those dots.
24:15Alongside her business partner Nick and with some help from Heriot-Watt University, among others,
24:20she's developing all kinds of processing equipment.
24:25The machine behind us is the first machine that it goes into where it gets all of the straws kind of snapped up
24:32so you can see it kind of looks like crimped hair where it's like broken the inner core of the plant.
24:40And then this machine is doing two different processes.
24:45So the first one is called scutching.
24:48So it's got like wooden blades and it's scraping off all of the skin of the plant.
24:55And then heckling.
24:58And heckling is essentially combing and it's got little metal combs on the inside.
25:04So it's like combing your hair.
25:07Oh, wow.
25:08And so you can see there it's now been combed out and it's really hair-like fibre.
25:14These are then put into the next step of the machinery to get it ready for actual yarn spinning.
25:20Rosie wants these machines to make local production possible,
25:25bridging the gap between handmade yarn and the vast industrial mills of Scotland's past.
25:31We wanted to build something that was in between a spinning wheel and a £6 million factory.
25:37So it's affordable to farmers and it would process like maybe a hectare of,
25:43you know, a sort of farm scale rather than like this giant factory.
25:48Amazing. What's next then? What is the dream?
25:52Lots of small textile processing hubs all over the place.
25:56So rather than this global linear supply chain and things are made and shipped all over the world
26:02and then they end up in landfill.
26:04Instead, you have little local hubs where you're growing organically, processed locally
26:11and then all the clothes are made of natural fibres and they can be composted at the end of their life
26:16and they can like contribute their nutrients back to the soil.
26:21It's an ambitious vision.
26:23But having seen the effort going into this homegrown flax
26:27and the innovation in Rosie's new machinery,
26:30I wouldn't bet against seeing Scottish made linen back on the shelves.
26:39When they get to cutting this, that'll be the harvest nearly done
26:43and that also brings us to the end of this programme.
26:46If you want to see it again or catch up with any of our previous episodes,
26:50go to the BBC iPlayer and search for Landward.
26:53Now, here's what's coming up next time.
26:56Here come the robots.
26:58If you see the vehicle coming towards us, it'll start to detect us.
27:01Cammy sees the latest in farm tech.
27:05We're shoring up the grey mare's tail.
27:09And Shabazz is in the milking parlour for sheep.
27:13So that's you milking?
27:14Yeah.
27:18Please join us for that and much, much more if you can.
27:21In the meantime, from all the Landward teams around the country
27:24and from me here in fertile Fife,
27:26thank you so much for your company.
27:28Bye for now.
27:56.