A highlight in the regenerative farming event calendar, this year’s Groundswell Festival didn’t disappoint, especially for Sea2Soil. After running its ‘The Great Groundswell Giveaway’ for the first time, Sea2Soil - the UK’s first fish hydrolysate organic soil improver - returned to the flagship event for regenerative agriculture with its competition winner, Doug Christie, agricologist and Pasture for Life member at Durie Farms in Fife.
The team took some time out to catch up with Doug and hear all about his recent experience of introducing the product into his farming systems in Fife.
“With a mixed farm of around 1500 acres, a mixture of organic land and conventional arable rotation, I have been farming with a regenerative ‘slant’ for a few years now,” said Doug. “Using methods such as direct drilling, cover crops, companion crops, crop rotation, and recently mob grazing with my native Aberdeen Angus crosses, this year I have also started implementing Sea2Soil.”
After attending a BASE seminar earlier in the year, hearing from Sea2Soil’s Business Development Manager, Grant James, and with a gentle prompt from Chris Leslie at Cloud Farming, Doug began applying Sea2Soil to his wheat fields this year.
“It’s difficult to quantify so far, having only applied the product this year, but I have already noticed a difference in plant health,” continued Doug. “In every wheat field, I requested that 6m strips not be sprayed with the product. I also asked not to be told where these strips were. When crop walking, you could pick out every strip where Sea2Soil hadn’t been sprayed - the plants were lighter in colour, they weren’t as healthy as those that had received the product.
“While the legacy of the product remains to be seen - given that we can’t expect to see any yield results just yet, I do think there is something there. There are a lot of products coming into the market now, but this is completely natural; why not keep it simple? The product is making use of what is essentially a waste product from another industry and is saving that from being disposed of in a harmful way.
“There’s no silver bullet when it comes to farming, and I know I’ve made mistakes over the years, but you have to try these things; that’s how you learn. Every farm is different, every field is different, so no one approach is going to work. Just as the industry is always constantly changing, how we need to farm and adapt our systems is too. I’d like to think I’m a regenerative farmer, but there are always so many variables to consider; all we can strive to do is create resilient farms, with resilient soil, by adapting so we can be in the best position to face the future.”
Drawn at random from the pool of entrants, formed of loyal customers, new customers and customer referrals, Doug enjoyed event entry, overnight accommodation and a front row seat to Joel Williams’ talk on the Sea2Soil stand on day one of the event.
Find out more about Sea2Soil at www.sea2soil.co.uk