Andrew Manfield: Controlled Traffic Farming

Controlled Traffic Farming (CTF), new crop varieties, renewable energy generation and collaborating with neighbours is one farmer’s way of responding to the changing political and economic climate.

Andrew Manfield grows a mix of cereals, peas, oilseed rape and certified seed potatoes on his 200 Hectares in East Yorkshire. Two years ago he switched to a CTF system, which uses GPS technology to create and stick to tracks year after year, thus confining traffic in fields to the smallest possible areas. In between the tracks the soil is protected.

With 70% of his land now untrafficked, Andrew is beginning to reap the financial benefits. He’s cutting energy costs (savings can be up to 75%), the soil organic matter and quality has visibly increased, and it’s a much quicker system, freeing up time for him to do other work on the farm.

He was able to keep much of his existing machinery, and the new kit was traded in for second-hand equipment, so the major investment was the RTK Autosteer. He’s looking forward to seeing increased yields as the system beds down on his farm – a similar system on a Lincolnshire farm has seen the winter wheat yield increase from 3.5 to 4t/acre.

Andrew is also exploring new crop varieties. With the farm in an exposed position in East Yorkshire, he knows that spraying days are at a premium, and this is becoming more important as extreme weather events become more common. To combat this, he’s trying out rust and septoria-resistant varieties that will reduce the amount of spraying required, allow more flexibility and perhaps even cutting some sprays entirely.

Andrew’s also looking at working in collaboration with his neighbours to combine their haulage, baling and farming experience. Their straw-fired grain drying plant is in planning and they’re also keen to have a wind turbine too.

Andrew’s actions are reducing the GHG emissions from his farm, protecting and enhancing his soil, and making sure his business is resilient to changes in climate. But it’s as much about profit as reducing environmental impact. As Andrew says, “I’m not trying to save the world, but I do want to run a successful business going forward and there are opportunities to do good things as a business and for the environment.”