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After a decade of dedicated research, the Focus on Farming Project has drawn its conclusions.
The first and perhaps the most important for farmers, is that over the 9-year rotation there was little difference in profitability between IFM practices and conventional techniques. However IFM is more profitable when the wheat price is low.
IFM practices have a significant positive environmental impact, seen in earthworm, bird and beetle numbers, and the improved carbon sequestration in the soils, from the extensive use of minimum tillage instead of ploughing, which provided more food and shelter to wildlife and improved soil structure.
Integrated systems need less labour and energy, but do call for greater attention to detail and knowledge
As the trials reflected current practice on commercial farms, some of the original IFM techniques, such as minimum tillage, were adopted on the conventional plots towards the end of the rotation. This reduced the impact of the difference between the systems on the project.
We hope that future government strategy will strongly support the move of farming systems towards integrated farm management. It is a system of farming which can be adopted without great expense or risk to profitability, but which produces truly significant benefits for wildlife and the environment.
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