High Suffolk Farm Cluster attracts backing of Nestlé

Twelve farms in Mid Suffolk - including some of the county's top farmers - have joined forces with pet food company Nestlé Purina to create a partnership to support the county’s wildlife and wider environment on a landscape scale.

The High Suffolk Farm Cluster - encompassing 4,000ha - was formed this year.

It is hoping to recruit other farmers to create a bigger and more comprehensive bloc which would enable wildlife gains on one farm to spread to another.

Thanks to support from Nestlé and technical advice from companies such as Frontier Agriculture, Kings Crops and Oakbank Game and Wildlife, baseline surveys are being carried out which are already revealing wildlife previously thought not to exist in the area.

Finds include rare insects such as Bombus ruderatus (Large Garden Bumble Bee), Melitta tricinta (Red Bartsia Bee) and Andrena varians (Blackthorn mining bee). 

Adam Steed, Richard Negus and Richard Gould are co-ordinating the initiative across the farms.

Adam - a PE teacher, part-time gamekeeper and keen conservationist - is the son of Roger Steed who is farm manager for Blacks of Bacton. 

Richard Negus and Richard Gould are partners in traditional hedgerow-laying business R&R Countryside Services.

The pair has mapped, recorded and made management prescriptions for a little over 202km of hedges across roughly half of the farm cluster thus far. 

Richard Negus - who credits Adam's determination for bringing the project to fruition - said they were indebted to both the farmers and supporting companies.

"In both agricultural and wildlife conservation terms the High Suffolk Farm Cluster, supported by Nestle Purina, is quite a remarkable achievement and our county should be proud of it," he said.

The cluster was one of just two in the UK - the other being in Cumbria - being backed by the food giant, he pointed out, and had taken about four years to bring to fruition.

"The one who really pushed it was Adam," he added.

Adam said filling gaps and getting farms to act together on conservation measures was crucial.

"Wildlife doesn't know boundaries," he said. "If you think of it as a jigsaw there are lots of gaps. My passion is grey partridges. You lose up to 50% of those on your land over winter.

"They will produce the biggest clutch of any bird in the UK and they are fantastic parents but when the time comes they want their own territories.

"If they go across to anyone who's not doing anything environmentally, they are toast.

"If you build up this landscape-scale recovery they start to do really well."

Hedgerows are key, he said. "The point is that these hedgerows are the arteries of the countryside's fruit and food, shelter, habitats and nesting in.

"If we are going to increase biodiversity and change the fortunes of wildlife these hedgerows are very, very important to achieving that."

The idea was that it would be a win-win for farmers, who could benefit financially by being sustainable in their practices, and helping companies looking at cutting carbon and promoting nature recovery. It was also about engaging the public, he said.

Richard said it was a great achievement to get 12 disparate farmers to work together on a project which didn't immediately show on their bottom lines.

As prime agricultural land it was also important to maintain food production and show that farmers can achieve this while boosting wildlife, said the trio.

"I think we are all very ambitious and very passionate about where we live," said Adam.

Richard Negus added: "I think it's quite a game-changer, not just for this region, but also for normal farmers across Suffolk because they can look at these farmers and say that's farmers just like me - they want to grow wheat.

"They have got a level of trust and admiration and empathy with these guys here."

Farmers taking part include James Black and Roger Steed at Red House Farm, Bacton, Patrick and Brian Barker of Lodge Farm, Westhorpe, David Pettitt of West Hall Farm, Rickinghall, Sam Carlisle of the Wyken Estate, Stanton, and Josephine Henniker at the Thornham Estate at Thornham Magna.

Other signatories are Jon and Karen Gooderham of Chestnuts Farm, Rickinghall, Paul Baker of Chapel Farm, Bacton, Vicki Chapman of Fairoaks Farm, Westhorpe, Peter Colchester of Hempnalls Hall, Cotton, Fred Barker of Falcons Hall, Rickinghall, Henry and Ed Bullock at Church Farm, Cotton, and David Miller of Robb Hall Farm, Finningham.

Patrick Barker said working together was integral to sustainable landscape scale farmland nature recovery in the region.

Members of the cluster met with executives from Nestlé in June at the Barkers' award-winning 545ha farm.

They received little owl, kestral and spotted flycatcher nesting boxes made by retired carpenter and naturalist Jim Peart and funded by Nestlé Purina as part of the Landscape Enterprise Networks (LENs) programme.

They were also given bags of winter bird food supported by Kings Crops and a Perdix supplementary feeder to support farmland birds through the early spring "hungry gap" when food is scarce.

Matt Ryan, regeneration lead at Nestlé UK & Ireland, said it was a farmer-led drive.

"Our involvement in this, and other farm clusters, provides vital financial and communications support.

"We are determined to assist farmers to not only continue producing high quality food, but also help them to improve on-farm biodiversity and deliver positive environmental outcomes for the wider landscape."

Nestlé Purina has funded a biodiversity baseline survey conducted by Oakbank Game and Wildlife, a hedgerow survey and management plan by R&R Countryside Services and an assessment of the woods across the entire 4,000ha of the cluster.

The goal is to promote beneficial hedgerow and woodland coppice management practices which help connect wildlife habitats.

If you would like to find out more about the farm cluster or are interested in joining contact highsuffolkcluster@gmail.com.