Alex Brewster: Meet your host for our Soil Health Workshop in Scotland

1 Apr

Regenerate Outcomes are excited to be bringing together some leading names in regenerative farming for our Soil Health Workshops this summer.

Each Soil Health Workshop will feature two days of practical insights into growing profits and cutting costs by improving soil health.

The workshops will be led by regenerative farming pioneer Dr Allen Williams, alongside Soil Farmer of the Year 2023 Stuart Johnson and soil microbiologist Kyle Richardville.

Our Soil Health Workshop in Scotland will be kindly hosted by Alex and Jane Brewster at Rotmell Farm, Ayrshire, from 5th June - 6th June.

Alex Brewster from Rotmell Farm — *Alex Brewster at Rotmell Farm*

Alex and Jane are the second generation of Brewsters to run Rotmell Farm, in Perthshire, after Alex’s parents moved to the farm in 1981 when he was four along with his three younger siblings.

Originally built as a show farm by the Duchess of Atholl in the early 19th century, Rotmell comprises 1000ha, 800ha of which is unimproved pasture – encompassing heather, bracken and wet areas.

The Brewsters began subdividing fields and moving stock in frequent rotations about 10 years ago. This has continued to evolve as they constantly adapt to learn and fine tune their grazing management to maximise carbon and nutrient cycling across the farm.

Today they farm cattle, sheep, hens and bees as well as a small pig operation, with the aim of vertically stacking all the enterprises with each supporting the other. As much of the produce is sold directly from the farm as possible.

Activities include making use of pigs as part of the bracken control strategy to root out the plants and lay down manure to promote nutrient cycling. The pigs are frequently moved from area to area with seed spread in their wake to increase forage production.

"We try to be as good at understanding and implementing pasture management as we can and we try to keep costs moderate,” says Alex.

Alex Brewster hosting a farm walk at Rotmell Farm — *Alex hosting a farm walk at Rotmell.*

“It's about understanding how to fit ruminants into the landscape. How can we empower pastures? How can we get soil active? How can we grow a nutritious product?”

Alex says the fungal dominance and high acidity from former commercial pine forests grown on the farm still persists. This is one of the larger management challenges, alongside trying to increase pastural diversity in a landscape that has been heavily grazed by sheep and a large wild deer population.

"The question here is whether the current human capital is clever enough to make it all work,” he says.

"If you want to make a difference within your business then you've got to try and get as many tools in the toolbox as you possibly can.

“Farmers are always frightened to fail, but some of the biggest learnings you can get is if you make a mistake and are brave enough to accept it’s gone wrong and take it on the chin.”

— Alex Brewster

“I think that the toolbox needs to be filled with an understanding of how an ecosystem is meant to function and how it is meant to work. I genuinely believe that we need to have this environmental resilience to have any economic resilience. It doesn't work the other way around.

"Farmers are always frightened to fail, but some of the biggest learnings you can get is if you make a mistake and are brave enough to accept it's gone wrong and take it on the chin.

"We've also got to be quite brave about sharing mistakes, because what we and other people can learn from our mistakes is far more valuable than boasting about our successes.”

You can listen to Alex in conversation with Kyle and Stuart now on Grounded: The regenerative farming podcast.

Listen to the podcast now

Livestock advice from Farm vet Lee-Anne Oliver

We will also be joined at Rotmell by farm vet Lee-Anne Oliver.

Lee-Anne grew up in Northumberland and graduated from Edinburgh University before being bitten by the livestock veterinary bug. Today she works as a vet and partner at The Fold Farm Vets, in Hexham.

"I love working with the farmers. I love the brutal honesty of it and the pragmatic approach. I love working with the livestock, and I like being part of the community,” says Lee-Anne.

"What gets me out of bed in the morning now is working for those farmers and doing my best for them.”

For the last four years Lee-Anne has become increasingly interested in how regenerative practices can help build more resilient farms by benefiting livestock health.

At Rotmell, Lee-Anne will discuss how improving soil health can enhance livestock health and performance through factors such improving resilience against disease, nutrient balance and parasite control, including the role of epigenetics.

“Just by spreading the word and sharing the stories that I've seen my clients go through, it can give people a bit of faith that the regenerative approach is the right way for their business to go,” says Lee-Anne.

“We can make it work on a level that's higher welfare, with fewer antibiotics, fewer interventions and is more environmentally friendly.

“I feel part of my role as a vet is to work with the farmers who might not be fully regenerative, but are somewhere in between and just need a little bit of support and confidence.”