At Irongate Farm we follow regenerative farming principles, meaning we aim to grow good quality, healthy crops and livestock whilst improving our soil and environment. We do this by:

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• Minimum-tillage - Since beginning our journey towards organic conversion we have stopped the use of Glyphosate, which we previously used for termination, in favour of our 6m Treffler cultivator.

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• Herbal leys - As part of our crop rotation we plant herbal leys, which are species-rich mixes of grasses, herbs, and legumes. We mob graze these herbal leys for four years, allowing our soil biology to regenerate between arable crops and naturally build fertility. They also improve our livestock’s welfare by providing them a more varied diet, for example herbs help to naturally prevent worms in cattle, meaning we don’t need to use worming medication! Grasslands are also an excellent carbon sink.

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• Cover crops - We plant cover crops after harvest which soak up nutrients such as nitrogen which might otherwise be lost to water courses during winter. Cover crops also help maintain soil structure with their roots, and build organic matter in our soils by photosynthesising carbon from the atmosphere at a time when the ground might otherwise be left bare.

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• No insecticides - Few if any insecticides can select between pest insect species (which damage crops) and beneficial insect species which provide ecosystem services. Therefore we do not apply any insecticides at Irongate Farm. This leaves our crops vulnerable to pest attack. We aim to encourage beneficial predators to control pest insect species naturally.

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• No artificial inputs - We have recently committed to an organic conversion having slowly tapered off our use of artificial fertilisers and sprays. We are starting to experiment more with the use of Johnson-Su Bioreactors to feed our land's microbes.

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• 'Pasture for Life’ livestock - Our cattle's diet is entirely grass based, just as nature intended. Grass fed beef has significantly more beneficial omega-3s fatty acid content compared with grain fed beef, as well as more conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a naturally occurring antioxidant thought to reduce the likelihood of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

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