Duchy College’s Rural Business School (RBS) has helped to sign up just over 2,000 farmers on to the BVD Stamp It Out Project. This is a massive 74% of the overall SW target, with lots more work projected to happen over the winter months.

These farmers are spread over 37 different vet practices, with another five practices yet to start delivery of the project. The map below reflects the number of farmers, with each dot representing a signed-up farm, with each colour depicting the vet practice with which that farm works.

The RBS supported a successful bid by the Scottish Rural College (SRUC) and SAC Consulting to deliver the EU/Defra- funded ‘Bovine Viral Diarrhoea disease (BVD) – Stamp It Out’ project, aiming to engage 8,000 herds across England.

The methodologies to control BVD through the highly acclaimed RBS Healthy Livestock (HL), which ran from 2010-14 have been taken up in the three-year BVD Stamp It Out project, which runs until 2021.

The Tamar Valley AONB, together with the National Association of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (NAAONB), has been successful in securing funding to conduct tests and trials to help shape the development of agricultural policy and payments to farmers. The future of the Basic Farm Payment and Agri-environment schemes will be replaced with the Environment Land Management System (ELMS).

The Test and Trial project is focused on Soil Organic Carbon (SOC). Soil Carbon is a good indicator of soil health, biological activity within the soil and is reflective of biodiversity above ground. As such, higher levels of soil organic matter can be linked to water quality, drought and flood resilience, as well as sinking and sequestering Carbon from the atmosphere. Therefore there is a strong argument that a payment directly related to Soil Organic Carbon can be seen as delivering public goods.

From an agricultural and business perspective, healthy soils with increasing soil organic matter levels can also be related to consistent sustainable agricultural productivity. The test and trial is therefore looking to road test new to market technology, namely soil scanners. We are seeking to see if they are reliable, accurate and consistent in how they measure the level and amount of soil Carbon. If the technology can deliver good results, it opens up a new revenue options for farmers to be rewarded in a very different way.

This project is being delivered with Duchy College Rural Business School, the Farm Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG) and the National Association of AONBs and is funded by Defra.

In a bid to help tackle the number of accidents that take place on farms, agricultural colleges in the region are continuing to highlight the critical issue among students.

The number of fatal accidents on farms is refusing to drop, with 167 people killed in the last five years, according to the Health and Safety Executive. Farm safety experts spent a day working with around 60 Agriculture apprentices and students at Duchy College Stoke Climsland to highlight the issues.

Specialist for the Farm Safety Foundation, Stephanie Berkeley said the problem of accidents on farms is “not going away”.

“We are not naive enough to believe we can solve this entirely but by digging deeper into the detail and engaging with the younger farmer, we have found that significant improvements in behaviour are possible,” she explained.

“As the farmers of the future, young people with a solid knowledge of safe working practices will have a greater capability to make informed and safe decisions which stands the industry in greater stead. Working closely with highly committed colleges like Duchy, it is hoped that together we can make a difference and change attitudes to health and safety in tomorrow’s farming community.”

The workshop was held at the Duchy Home Farm and involved the students visiting four accident scenes. The scenarios included 2 machinery-related incidents, a fall from height and a crushing injury from working in a pen with cattle.

The students then spent time working out what had happened at each one, deciding what immediate action should be taken in each case, contemplating First Aid implications and deciding what measures should be taken to prevent the accident happening in the future.

Level 2 Agriculture Student, George McIntyre, said it had been “a really good morning”.

“It was all based outside rather than in a classroom and I liked the way we went around to the different scenes and had to work out what had happened,” he explained.

“The instructors gave us information to help us do this. I have learnt a lot!”

Falls constitute one of the most common farm accidents and accounted for 23 fatal accidents in the last five years. It’s hoped that by targeting young people it may help to influence the older generation.

“Young people are such an important target group for this farm safety message as the future of the industry,” said Curriculum Lead for Work Based Learning, Roger Clarke.

“As technology advances within farming, the risk of accidents can actually increase,” he continued.

“While the safety of machinery and equipment has improved, the fact that machines can do so much more can make people complacent. It’s fantastic to have an outside organisation like the Farm Safety Foundation come in to help us deliver this vital message and for the students to face scenarios they could come across on their own farms when they go home or in their future workplace.”

Principal Phil Le Grice, said it was a great opportunity to be able to host the event for students.

“By helping raise awareness of farm safety among young farmers, challenging and changing their attitudes towards farming safely and reducing the toll of injuries and fatalities, we can help make this industry a safer place to work in,” he added.

Second year students on our FdSc (Hons) Agriculture course have recently completed their interviews with the Duchy of Cornwall’s Land Stewards. The Stewards scrutinised the viability of the farming systems proposed by the students, following the submission of tenancy applications for Carglonnon Farm on the Duchy of Cornwall’s Duloe estate, near Liskeard.

Students had the chance to experience the whole process of tendering for a farm tenancy, providing an excellent opportunity to put their theory into practice. They were given the full particulars of the farm and were able to visit the vacant farm and farmhouse with the Duchy of Cornwall Land Steward team, replicating a farm viewing day.

As part of the students’ Strategic Business Planning module, they had to provide a full application and business plan with detailed financial information, including profit and loss budgets, cashflow forecasts and balance sheet information in a precise, but concise format. Of particular importance this year was the Duchy of Cornwall’s interest in the ‘natural capitals’ across its estate i.e. access, biodiversity, historic environment, landscape, soil and water. The Duchy’s belief is that ‘the longer term farming future will be dependent upon environmental support payments related to the protection and enhancement of natural capitals’. Students needed to clearly demonstrate their understanding of these concepts and how they would apply them within their applications.

Students were also advised by Jamie Blake of the Rural Business School’s Farm Business Survey, Tim Burston, Agricultural Manager with Lloyds Bank and local farmer, Mark Thomas, a member of The Prince’s Council, a non-executive body which provides advice to His Royal Highness regarding the management of the Duchy of Cornwall estate.

Chris Matthews, Deputy Land Steward of Duchy of Cornwall’s Western District, commented, “As ever, there was a good standard of applications and we very much enjoyed reading and discussing the farming systems proposed for Carglonnon Farm. Clearly a tremendous amount of thought and work went into the submissions, which was reflected in their high standard and less variability this year. Students were very positive about the future of agriculture and demonstrated their long term commitment to the industry”.

Duchy Agri-Young Innovators Forum

The Duchy Discussion group most recently met to discuss the new ‘Farm Crap App Pro’. The evening allowed group members to have the opportunity to test and provide critical feedback for the new and unreleased app.

The Farm Crap App Pro is a collaborative project between Duchy College and Rothamsted Research North Wyke to develop an easy to use, accurate and reliable way to manage and record slurry spreading information and data on manure.

The finished app will include the ability to comply with Nitrate Vulnerable Zone regulations, as well as the new Farming for Water rules alongside the ability to truly integrate manure and slurry applications with bagged fertiliser to allow for environmental protection and economic benefits.

New features include:

• the ability to map all the fields on your farm
• individual crop nutrient recommendations from RB209, to allow you to complete field nutrient plans
• the ability to take into account applications of compost, digestate and other products, including your own data from slurry or manure analysis
• the ability to take into account the application method (dribble bar, trailing shoe, injection) and account for the increased nutrient availability that comes with these bits of kit
• the ability to include applications of bagged fertiliser.

Group member, Ryan Renfree said,”This is one of the best meetings we have ever had. It was really hands on and exciting to have an input into the finalisation of the new app”. The app developers really encouraged the group to put the app through its paces and criticise any flaws or pick out things which had the potential to be improved. The evening finished with a group discussion about which areas of improvement were priority and general feedback from the group. The new app looked really promising and is sure to be an extremely useful tool for farmers.

In a bid to help tackle the number of accidents that take place on farms, agricultural colleges in the region are continuing to highlight the issue among students.

The number of fatal accidents on farms is refusing to drop, with 158 people killed in the last five years, according to the Health and Safety Executive. Farm safety experts spent a day working with around 60 Agriculture apprentices and students at Duchy College Stoke Climsland to highlight the issues.