Here at The Grower, we have been applying for funding grants, over the last year, and have been fortunate enough to have been awarded several, with which to supplement our farming equipment and technology, to improve, become more efficient and sustainable in what we do here.
We’re excited to share what we have been awarded, and what we’re doing with it.
This grant funds “support to enhance the domestic production of tree seed and saplings, via investments in facilities and equipment.”
The aim of the grant was overall to treble tree planting rates in England, and increase tree and woodland cover, and to support the increase of UK tree production to cover this growth.
We have been successful in achieving funding for three important pieces of equipment with the money we were awarded: a plug planter, an inter-row fertiliser spreader and an inter-row sprayer. Our focus for this application was to increase the variety of species we could grow and become more sustainable (both with our time and environmentally). The plug planter will extend the range of tree species we can grow on the farm, to include conifers. We are now growing Scots Pine, Douglas Fir and Norway Spruce, and are conducting trials of Sitka Spruce.
The inter-row fertiliser spreader will allow us to be more efficient in our use of fertiliser, placing the fertiliser where need it – at the base of the plants and not wasting it in the tractor wheelings. This will obviously result in less waste, and help prevent the use of fertiliser on weeds! Our new inter-row sprayer is also part of this work, allowing targeted use of weed controls, which will be a huge labour-saving benefit as the weeds try to out-compete our new trees. We want to continue to reduce our use of herbicide use on the trees so will continue to innovate and invest to explore alternatives.
In addition, we have also been awarded funding for a more efficient sprayer, which is a real step up from our current machine, and will mean a safer working environment for our team, as well as greater efficiency.
Tractor-mounted plug planter
The Forest for Cornwall programme, by Cornwall Council, is designed to help tree growers to achieve Plant Healthy status, which is a certification scheme for the horticulture industry, designed to protect plants from destructive pests and diseases. The risks to the landscape from diseases such as ash dieback are immense, but implementing controls to protect facilities, plants and growing areas can be expensive. The funding we received through the scheme has allowed us to speak with experts, to help us implement safety precautions, and purchase a steam pressure washer. This allows us to steam-clean equipment, eliminating bugs, and reducing the risk of cross-contamination between sites. We also purchased a shipping container to help us store prepared saplings safely, before sending them on to our customers.
In a second round of Forest for Cornwall funding, we were awarded a grant to install a new toilet block. The reasoning behind this is that, on site at present, we have a portaloo, which needs to be emptied regularly. The contractors from whom we rent this also visit other farm sites, and while the risk is low, there is still a possibility of contamination travelling to our site from another farm, via the portaloo contractor. Thus having our own plumbed in toilet block reduces this risk, as well as giving our team a nicer facility to use.
This fund is intended for farming, horticultural and forestry businesses to purchase items that improve productivity, manage slurry and improve animal health and welfare. We won funds from this scheme which we have used to contribute towards a camera-guided hoe. This is a very highly technical piece of kit which reduces human labour, and saves a huge amount of time. It does exactly what it says, using a high-speed camera to guide tractor-mounted hoes, in between rows of tiny saplings, more accurately and faster than a human could.
We’ve only recently taken delivery of this, and are excited to get it working to its full potential.
Farming and growing take a huge amount of time and effort, so any equipment that can reduce labour and increase efficiency is a blessing to a grower – whatever they are producing. However, farming equipment isn’t cheap. We are very grateful to DEFRA, the Forest for Cornwall and the Forestry Commission for their funding programmes, which have allowed us to invest in this new technology.
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