Our Farm
To better understand the challenges that farmers face with each season, as well as the changing marketplace, we operate our own 370-acre farm: West Burton near the village of Bamburgh in Northumberland.
Managed by Sustainability Manager Ben Gothorp, the farm grows cover crops, oilseed rape, winter wheat and both winter and spring barley for malting at our Tweed Valley Maltings site.
We operate West Burton without the Basic Payment support, which plays a key role in McCreath Simpson & Prentice's advisory service, as it allows us to understand and experience first-hand the importance of having to farm as efficiently as possible to make a profit.
This drives our commitment to continuous improvement in our general practices, cropping and input regimes as well as overall work efficiency.
Perhaps most importantly, though, is using the farm to help us tackle our Scope 3 emissions.
All the different sustainability objectives we’re asking our growers to take part in are also being done here on the farm, including:
- Low carbon fertilisers: The farm is using low carbon fertilisers on cereal crops as part of agreements with long-standing fertiliser suppliers Yara UK and OCI.
- xarvio Field Manager: We’re using xarvio Field Manager by BASF Agricultural Solutions to document on-farm practices and build a comprehensive picture of the on-farm carbon footprint.
- Cover cropping: We’re sowing cover crops – and have done for many years here – to boost soil health ahead of spring barley cropping.
