Meet the farmer: Stuart Johnson
Stuart Johnson farms at West Wharmley Farm, near Hexham, alongside father Richard, brother James and mum, Rosi. He lives on the farm with wife Rachel and boys Alfie and Isaac.
Fifth generation tenant farmer Stuart Johnson never used to think about soil health.
However, about 10 years ago he and his family began using strip-tillage in a drive to save money.
It was the beginning of a transition to regenerative farming practices at West Wharmley Farm.
Stuart and wife Rachel at West Wharmley Farm
Last year Stuart was named Soil Farmer of the Year 2023 and over the last decade he has massively reduced West Wharmley’s reliance on fertiliser, chemicals and other external inputs, while increasing its resilience to fluctuations in the weather and the economy.
Stuart will also be one of the mentors leading the Understanding Ag Soil Academy, which Regenerate Outcomes will be hosting in Northumberland and Oxfordshire in May.
Find out more and book your place here:
Reducing inputs to increase profits
"Back in 2011 we were a 540-acre high input, mixed farm with maybe 150 to 200 acres of arable. We used fertiliser. We used chemicals. We fed large amounts of grain as feed. We used all inputs we thought could help improve our yield.
“We never really thought about the soil at all. I think I once said to my dad that it didn’t matter because the crops only grow in the top two inches anyway. That was my take on it back then.
"As fifth generation tenant farmers, we don't necessarily have the land behind us that a lot of landowners have. We have to pay the bills and still always have a rent to pay, so this drives us to keep looking at how we can save money while increasing profit margins.
‘We have to pay the bills and still always have a rent to pay’
"In 2012 we decided that the best way to cut establishment costs would be to stop ploughing and start using strip-tillage. We did that for four or five years, still using our conventional inputs alongside. It became clear it was working in some places but not others and we couldn't quite put our finger on why that was.
The move to focus on soil health
“It turned out it was the soil organic matter which was really the one indicator of where it worked and where it didn’t. The reduced tillage worked best where the soil organic matter was high. This was also where, potentially, we could reduce our inputs.
“In about 2017 we made the decision that we wanted to be more intentional about how we managed the soil. I spent the next three years reading everything I could to try and get on top of it all.
“2016/2017 we also had a really difficult year. The calving was horrendous. I think we had seven caesareans out of 100 and far too many dead calves. The sheep were just relentless. We had 800 ewes and we were constantly having to manage issues.
“I wanted to make some changes because I’d just had my first child. I didn’t want to farm like that forever. Brexit had just happened and I was hoping to be proactive because we all knew the BPS would be in the gun sights. We wanted to find how to do things differently while the buffer of the BPS residuals was still there.
“I wanted resilience everywhere in the business, whether that was financially or environmentally.”
“I wanted resilience everywhere in the business, whether that was financially or environmentally.
“I thought that if there was a slightly different way to do it and I could still make money and be more resilient and not damage the environment, then that was worth exploring.
Using regenerative farming principles
“I had followed Gabe and Allen's work for a few years, and in about 2019 I came across the Understanding Ag 6-3-4 principles. Now most of my decision making takes place around them. We are still producing high quantities of produce. We’re still production farmers and we’re still farming, we’re just trying to do it in a slightly different way.
“We are still producing high quantities of produce. We’re still production farmers and we’re still farming, we’re just trying to do it in a slightly different way. ”
“We used to be set stocked everywhere and generally we turned the stock out and they would just stay in the same few fields. Now we mob graze everything and we move everything every day or maybe every other day.
“We’ll graze but then we might leave it for 50 or 60 or even 100 days before we come back again. It depends what the field is like. If it’s been really badly damaged a bit of rest helps. We carry as much stock now as we did before without the fertiliser, without the inputs we used before, just using the cows and the sheep to cycle those nutrients.
Moving from set stock to mob grazing
“I used to have a 500-acre farm and six batches of cattle and then I would drive around the whole farm pretty much every day to go and see the cattle. Now we try to have just two batches of cows and checking them doesn’t actually take any longer.
“I think the time we're spending is probably more quality time with animals, which I really enjoy.”
“We just go to mob one, check them, move a bit of an electric fence and spend a bit more time there observing. I think the time we're spending is probably more quality time with animals, which I really enjoy.
Cutting costs by outwintering livestock
“We have changed breeds because we’re trying to outwinter all the time and we’ve designed a system that allows us to outwinter on tall grazing grasses.
“We are trying to keep the cows out and reduce all the expensive points throughout the year. Bringing them in is expensive, running machines to keep them in is expensive, getting the muck out is expensive, so if we can keep them out as long as possible that keeps our costs down.
“The cattle are outwintered until the back end of January. We calve in February and then put them back out again in March onwards. We used to hate our stony ground, but they’re actually quite good at carrying cattle so we can get away with turning them out slightly earlier.
“We are also transitioning to more forage-bred sheep and we now have about 80 acres of arable whereas previously we were at 160 acres. We don’t really need it all because we’re not feeding as much anymore, so we can keep reducing it.
Benefits for soil, plant and animal health
“We initially put 90 acres of herbal leys in under a five-year stewardship scheme. At the end of the five years we put in 220 acres because we found it so much more productive.
“It was unimaginable to think that we were going to be planting fennel in our grassland 10 years ago. We now have seven herbs that go into our sward and they all do different jobs and have helped reduced the livestock vet and med.
“We haven’t applied any bagged P and K for the last six years and no fungicide or pesticide for the last four years.”
“We haven’t applied any bagged P and K for the last six years and no fungicide or pesticide for the last four years. Our nitrogen application has vastly decreased. We used to use 70 to 80 tonnes of fertiliser per year. We’ve used less than 10 for the last two.
"We're more resilient to the price changes and the weather extremes. We've reduced nearly all the variable costs, without over sacrificing yield.
Financial gain from greater diversity
“We are primarily motivated by the financial implications but we are also seeing some secondary impacts. We are seeing more birds flying around like curlew and the grey partridge have returned to the farm for the first time in years. I do like the birds but I know that they also indicate that good things are happening for my business.
“It’s made me feel really excited about the future, because there’s so much more to learn and we’ve only just begun to scratch the surface.”
"I have never had any interest in dung beetles in my life until the last few years. But I like to see them now because of what they signify. If a dung beetle is there, I've got a functioning ecosystem that's allowing that dung beetle to thrive. It means that you've got a more resilient, more diverse system, which allows me to utilise more nutrients for free. I'm not having to put inputs on because that dung beetle is doing the work for me.
“I’m not pushing the farm to its limits anymore.”
“I'm not pushing the farm to its limits anymore. I'm not spending time getting as much silage in and putting fertiliser on. It’s made me feel really excited about the future, because there’s so much more to learn and we’ve only just begun to scratch the surface.”
Join the Understanding Ag Soil Academy
Regenerate Outcomes is hosting the Understanding Ag Soil Academy at FarmED, Oxfordshire, on 13 and 14 May and Nafferton Farm, Northumberland, on 16 and 17 May.
The events will be led by Stuart, alongside Kyle Richardville and Luke Jones from Understanding Ag.
We’ll also be joined by Lee-Anne Oliver, from Fold Farm Vets, in Northumberland to discuss the connection between soil and animal health.
Ian Gould, of Oakbank Game and Conservation, will join us in Oxfordshire for more advice on how to make the transition to a regenerative farming system.