Almost 50 parishioners, family and friends enjoyed a fascinating and informative farm walk on Sunday 25th September thanks to farm manager Oliver Howe of Weston Farm.
The visitors were led along some farm paths which are not normally open to the public - but also enjoyed views from some of the new 'Permissive Paths' which Oliver has created.
With the recent sale of the farm's dairy herd, Oliver explained that some of the land was now being used for arable crops for the first time in 100 years. In these days of global commodity prices, he has sold about 20% of his 2012 crop before it has even been planted!
Oliver explained how his tractors now use SatNav technology (with computers in the cabs) to adjust the amount of fertliser onto every yard of every field. His combine harvester uses the same technology to record yields for every part of every field so as to optimise results.
The walk also took in some of the 'farm diversification' projects which Oliver has introduced, including commercial fishing ponds, pheasant pens and environmental schemes which meet the highest standards and attract grants from the Government and EU.
Oliver is creating some special water-meadows to attract winter wader wildfowl, he has planted large corridors of land with a wild bird seed mix (providing food for a range of birds throughout many months), he has created some new ponds for nature to colonise and he looks after lots of individual trees and areas of ancient woodland.
The walk had started with a visit inside a grain-drier where tons of recently harvested barley was awaiting transport for processing. The name of the variety was a clue to its purpose: Tipple !
The event was part of the ?Down on Buriton's Farms? initiative. For more details of this initiative - including opportunities to buy delicious local produce - click here: http://www.buriton.info/down_buritons_farms
