Vote for Al Brooks
Who will be crowned Climate Change Champion 2020? With true Net Zero ambitions, and an unwavering passion and resolve to develop a low carbon community that’s productive, sustainable and innovative, we believe Al Brooks of Faccombe Estate in Hants deserves your vote.
The initiative, supported by the NFU, has been running in CPM throughout 2020. This has detailed the experiences of nine growers – thought leaders who have already started their journey to meet the challenging target of Net Zero emissions by 2040. They have the ideas, the progressive outlook and the determination to shape positive change.
Show your support – help decide which of them should be awarded the accolade of Climate Change Champion 2020. A summary of their achievements and links to full articles can be found on the Climate Change Champions landing page.
From there you can go to the on-line voting form, where you can score each one of the contenders on their achievements. Voting ends on 28 October 2020 and the winner will be announced shortly after.
Why we think Al Brooks deserves your vote
As proud sponsors of this important initiative we recognise the challenge the industry is facing to achieve Net Zero by 2040. Every farm will start the journey to net zero from a different place, but achieving this will require the whole industry to work together. Heading towards Net Zero, and with every step taken towards zero carbon emissions being turned into a commercial opportunity, Al Brooks really is the perfect role model, and worthy of the title Climate Change Champion 2020.
You can read the full article on Al here or read on below for a summary of Al’s journey towards Net Zero to make your own mind up.
What makes Al a Climate Change Champion?
Innovative Ideas
New ventures and changes implemented across the estate not only reduce net emissions, but harness a real commercial opportunity. A determination to drive up productivity goes hand-in-hand with a resolve to do so sustainably, with a willingness to try something new to get there.
- Dovetailing of all enterprises across the estate has led to the establishment of a low carbon community
- Installation of a wood pellet manufacturing plant on the estate has enabled diseased & dying woodland to be turned into a renewable fuel & income source
- Grange toolbar in front of the drill has enabled a one-pass system for crop establishment, bringing carbon savings
- Use of Farm Carbon Toolkit to identify and measure carbon footprint & track progress to Net Zero
Productivity Push
Enterprises across the estate dovetail, aiming for them all to perform at optimum output for minimal resource. Targeting valued-added markets and driving root growth down into drought prone soils is helping achieve this.
- Reforming the sheep enterprise has led to a significant reduction in labour & machinery costs, increasing productivity
- Switch to Fendt mainline tractors has brought carbon savings & lowered fuel costs by 15-20%
- High protein wheats sold at premium over milling & HEAR oilseed rape help maximise returns from every hectare
- Improving early rooting into drought prone soils with organic biostimulants, is helping reduce reliance on chemical inputs, leading to smarter and more efficient food production
- Use of adjuvants help deliver crop protection more efficiently, boosting productivity
Cultivation Care
Tillage has been reduced as part of a measured, on-going journey, aided through cover crops and sheep grazing. Organic matter is being raised through selling of straw and replacing with biosolids, compost and manure. Woodland is carefully replanted.
- Areas of forestry lost to ash dieback are sensitively felled & replanted with species to secure long-term sustainability and carbon capture – 21,500 tree saplings planted in 2019 & 10,000 planted so far in 2020, with another 25,000 due to be planted by the end of the year
- Switch from plough to min-till, and wherever possible zero til, is helping to minimise carbon loss from the soil
- Maximising carbon gains with more than 1,000 t/year mushroom compost, and stubble turnip cover crop in the rotation is helping to build up soil organic matter
- Introduction of grazing lambs as opposed to lambing ewes, into the arable enterprise has improved soil fertility, reducing requirement for bagged fertiliser by 75% on the grazed area
- 150ha dedicated to wild flowers, farmland birds & beneficial insects promote biodiversity
Bio-based Boldness
Displacement of fossil-based energy sources with bio-based sources
- Timber is sold into construction or turned into wood pellets as a renewable fuel source for biomass boilers – 360 t/year of wood pellets contribute to the heating of residential properties, pub and guesthouse in the village, displacing GHG emissions from 65,000 litres of heating oil per year. 2,140 t/year wood pellets are sold as a renewable fuel source for biomass boilers
- The installation of a 500 kw wind turbine and 250 kw roof mounted solar panels supply electricity to Faccombe village, with surplus sold to the national grid
- 2,000 t/year straw is sold to power stations as a renewable fuel source
- Estate borehole supplies water to 2 settlements, outlying properties and rest of the estate
Closing the circle for a sustainable community
Every enterprise on the estate has to dovetail with the rest to ensure optimum benefits for their resource outlay.
Get to know Al Brooks
Get to know Al Brooks and you can’t help but “feel” the passion, sense of purpose and sense of responsibility to preserve and sustain the land under his watchful eye – from the roots of his crops to the tips of his trees. Always looking to do more and to give back, balancing commerciality with environmental sustainability, always listening, learning, imparting knowledge and trying out new things. We spoke to Al to get a deeper insight into why Net Zero is so important to him and why he decided to get involved with Climate Change Champions.
There’s a saying – we only borrow the land from our children – it struck a chord with Al Brooks of Faccombe Estate many many years ago and it’s a sentiment that is deep to the core of Al’s drive, passion and enthusiasm to farm. For Al it’s very simple – “if we don’t have an agreeable climate to grow our crops we won’t have any food. We need a stable platform to generate it from and we only have one shot at this to get it right. Further to that, and selfishly, I just love the beauty of the countryside and want it to stay that way for myself and my children.”
Why get involved in CPM’s Climate Change Champions initiative?
“It’s quite simple, because I have a duty to do it! I believe the group of organisations involved in this are integral to help as custodians of the countryside. We need to get noticed, impart our ideas on policymakers and hopefully have an impact on a worldwide scale. The people involved are a group of likeminded individuals that share a common goal, aim and interest, passion and desire to do something worthwhile.”
Why the journey to Net Zero?
“For me it’s a way of life – an inherent passion, interest, a hobby that I put into practice on a daily basis – it’s just what I do. The farming, land management, renewable forestry, mixed farming, rural business…it’s always been a policy of replacement. If a tree comes down, I’d plant 20 more in its place; take straw off – put twice the amount of organic matter back in. It’s basic sustainability, not rocket science, but built just on common sense. Over years and years of farming, front and centre of what I have done has been about regenerative agriculture. There is nothing new in any of it. It’s the same science, but it’s just more in depth now, but the same basic approach has always been there generations before me, for 100s of years.
I am always learning though, for me every day is a school day and I just have a deep rooted interest in furthering my knowledge to help get to Net Zero. I’ve always had an inkling we were close to Net Zero, but now we’re actually measuring what we are doing.
Other steps in Al’s Net Zero journey?
- Part of the ASSIST project – Achieving Sustainable Agricultural Systems – an £11m public-funded project aimed at increasing the efficiency of food production whilst enhancing farming’s environmental delivery and providing an invaluable carbon sink
- Works with Centre of Ecology & Hydrology and Natural England on environmental management
- Works with Hampshire Biodiversity Action Centre to survey beneficials, farmland birds, voles, butterflies on the estate in order to establish if numbers are rising or falling
- Woodland planning for the next 25 years to ensure long-term sustainability
Why vote for Al Brooks – Climate Change Champion 2020?
“For me it’s for the broad business approach, not just the arable farming operation to get to Net Zero. Our natural capital – the farm, the shoot, the pub, the enterprises all contribute to what we are doing and our drive to be as efficient as we can. I’m very passionate about what I do for the next generation and we don’t get it right on everything we do, but we’re trying.
Its’s not just about building soil health, and regenerating our forests, its about everything we are doing to ensure it’s is as efficient and sustainable as possible – which lightbulbs we are using, how much water we use, how much fuel we use. We are trying to generate an income in the most climate friendly way that is not reliant on handouts or government subsidies. Something that can be handed down to future generations, is sustainable, whilst ensuring good financial performance.”
We’re backing Al. You can show your support too, by voting.
