Presentation: John Hawkins, Land use change to incorporate biomass crops. A tenant farmers perspective.

In this presentation given at the Biomass Connect Showcase on 7th November 2024, John Hawkins (Bagber Farms Ltd.) details his experiences growing reed canary grass.

John Hawkins is a third-generation tenant arable farmer in Mid Dorset. He grew up on the farm but then after a BSc in Maritime Studies was commissioned into the Royal Navy. Later he travelled extensively as a security consultant which gave him an insight into global problems issues and solutions before realising that there is no place like home.

In a period of agricultural change, his initial role on the farm was to look for ways to diversify the business to support the families involved. This led to planting a 5000 tree cherry orchard(agroforestry) and committing 10 years to adding value to his fruit. The organic knowledge and steep learning curve in horticulture then paved the way to take over as Managing Partner of the Business 6 years ago within the background of 10 years min till arable rotation. 4 years ago using support from Mid Tier CS and Wessex Water and other complementary systems he turned his whole farm into a giant experiment (a sort of shot in the dark pre-policy pre ELM’strial) to see if Regenerative Agriculture was a viable alternative to intensive production whilst still seeing if he could grow food and energy crops more sustainably.

Reed Canary Grass was a catalyst for this change and initially grown on contract. It has been trialled on farm for 7 years now. Current themes include using Soil Carbon increases to maximise Nitrogen efficiency on farm, especially with Perennial Crops. Everything is driven by a practical observation of Science and tested rigorously to compare it to previous arable rotations within the confines of a rented farm.