Sustainability on Longfield Farm by Jillian

 
 

After visiting Longfield Farm, I was truly impressed with how many different methods
they utilize to maintain sustainability within their operations. One of Longfield’s greatest strengths is actually the way in which they minimize their input costs. For instance, Hamish Marr, one of the operators of Longfield Farm, established a trust-based system with a nearby farmer to feed replacement heifer cows. Hamish begins feeding these cows when they are 100 days old, and send them home shortly before they give birth to their first calf. Additionally, since any medical care is provided by the cows’ owner, Hamish does not need to factor breeding, calving, or milking into his input costs. However, because he feeds replacement heifers year-round, he does gain a consistent profit from it. In this way, a lower output can still result in a profitable net result.
 

Hamish has a similar system for feeding store lambs. Lambs are not bred or finished on Longfield Farm, but their grazing is utilized to clean up what pasture is left in the paddocks from the cows. Longfield’s cattle and lamb systems display both financial and environmental sustainability. Minimizing costs helps the farm maintain a consistent income, and having multiple species graze a pasture helps maintain the nutrient balance of the grass and the soil.
 

The wind is the most challenging environmental factor that Longfield Farm faces. Both
cover crops and shelter belts help prevent topsoil from being dried out or carried away. Cover crops like canola, kale, and rye ensure that there is never bare, unplanted soil in a field, while trees can be planted to shelter the fields from some of the force of the wind. While Longfield farm does grow a variety of different crops, their most profitable is Cocksfoot-Orchardgrass, whose deep roots make the plant drought and wind-tolerant. Most importantly, Longfield’s status as an arable farm means that it will adapt its management from year to year in order to meet the changing environmental conditions.

Longfield Farm utilizes crop rotations to ensure the nutrient balance of the
soil is maintained from year to year. One of their rotations plants five years of pasture, which is then followed by five years of rotating through crops. The second rotation uses five years of grass seed and then rotates through crops for five years. Pest management is very important to Hamish, who uses bees to assist with pollination and to control the aphids and slugs that can get to his crops. 

 Hamish’s seed processing utilizes tight biosecurity to ensure pure batches of
seeds. Longfield farms utilizes a closed farm system. Any equipment brought onto the farm has to be completely washed out first. The seeds grown on Longfield Farm are actually not owned by the farm, but by the creators of the seed lines. This means that the creators decide where the seed is shipped from Longfield.

 
Ultimately, Longfield’s multi-faceted approach to farming means that a wider variety of
investments can be pursued by minimizing the inputs of each one. Should a crop fail, the income from the cattle and sheep will still be there. Longfield’s dedication to protecting its topsoil will also ensure that the land can be used for many generations to come.