A Suffolk estate hopes to use bees as barometers to see which land management options most benefit the environment.
Matthew Hawthorne, farm manager at the Euston Estate, south of Thetford, believes monitoring the bees will highlight which Countryside Stewardship and Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) options deliver environmentally – as well as financially.
Counting bee numbers, monitoring their honey and the pollen it is made from are just a few of the indicators that could help determine which stewardship and SFI options are most effective, he explains.
Matthew is encouraging local bee populations to colonise hollowed-out trunks of Douglas fir – with plans to install more of the natural hives suspended 20ft high in trees within existing woodland.
“We hollow out the logs and drill four holes in them so the bees can gain access. Then we put a roof on the top and a trap door in the bottom so we can inspect the inside of the hive and monitor the bees and their honey.”
Over the coming months the bees will be monitored to see the extent to which they forage – whether it is on the special pollen and nectar mixes sown as part of the estate’s stewardship agreements – or indeed whether they prefer to forage elsewhere.
Matthew says the results will help decide the best pollen and nectar mixes to grow – and the extent that other habitats and feed sources, including trees as well as plants and wildflower margins, should be encouraged.
Heritage
Home to the dukes of Grafton for over 350 years, Euston Hall was built by Lord Arlington in 1666. Set in 10,500 acres of gardens, parkland, broadleaf woodland and farmland, it is currently home to Harry FitzRoy, the 12th Duke of Grafton, and his family.
The estate includes 3,500 acres farmed by three tenants. The remaining 7,000 acres is farmed in hand – including 120 residential properties, an anaerobic digester, two bore holes, 30 miles of underground pipelines and two reservoirs for irrigation.
It includes stewardship grassland and river meadows (1200 acres), maize (1000 acres), field-scale vegetables (1200 acres), cereals (2000 acres) and sugar beet (500 acres), a plantation of paulownia trees (400 acres) and solar park (600 acres).
Like many estates with a long-term objective, the over-arching goal is to hand on the farmed land to the next generation in better condition than it is now. That goes for the pheasant shooting and deerstalking too.
“The duke is very focused environmentally and conservation – sustainable diversification is very much a core interest,”says Matthew. “That goes for our bee project as well. Bees are extremely important – and not just from a farming perspective.”
Technology
Bees are likely to be good indicators of biodiversity – and the overall health of the estate, explains Matthew. “It’s about where they are feeding and where they are thriving. We believe monitoring their numbers will reveal more than we realise.”
Digital cameras complete with sim cards are installed outside the natural beehives so the bees can be monitored remotely. “We’re interested in their numbers, performance and the pollen they collect.”
It’s important that stewardship and SFI both deliver financially, says Matthew. But it is equally important to the long-term objectives of the estate that the environmental benefits are delivered too.
To achieve this aim, the estate is working with Kiryon Skippen and Team Ag UK – a company which helps estates and farm businesses adopt sustainable land management practices alongside food production.
The duke has a longstanding commitment to preserving and enhancing our farming businesses, balancing award-winning conservation practices with cutting-edge agricultural innovations, says Matthew.
“The goal is to prioritise the long-term sustainability of the farm and estate operations through responsible stewardship – cultivating a flourishing business that can be passed down to future generations.
Enterprises
“We take pride in cultivating a diverse range of crops, including wheat, barley, and sugar beet. The estate also serves as a nurturing environment for free-range pig and poultry farming – and the Grafton herd of 60 Red Poll cattle.”
Partnerships with other producers facilitate the cultivation of potatoes, carrots, and parsnips. These include Breckland specialist root vegetable growers RG Abrey Farms, based at East Wretham, Norfolk.
Half the estate’s sugar beet is grown in-hand. The remainder is grown on a self-grow basis for British Sugar which supplies the crop inputs and pay the estate a licence fee for the field. It’s an arrangement which works well, says Matthew.
Carbon credits
The paulownia tree venture is hosted on behalf of Carbon Plantations Ltd – a company which uses the trees to capture carbon from the atmosphere for carbon credits while producing sustainable hardwood timber and encouraging biodiversity.
A hardwood native to Asia, paulownia trees can capture much more carbon than native British species. Extremely rapid growing, they are seen as a key way to mitigate climate change and help meet UK net-zero targets.
Some 200ha of paulownia, a hardwood native to Asia, were planted in nine blocks on the estate in 2022.
It followed special approval from the Forestry Commission and a 35-year land lease deal between the estate and Carbon Plantations.
Biodiversity
Replacing 10% of the estate’s in-hand arable land, the paulownia plantations are screened with native trees, enhancing its biodiversity value and ability to deliver ecosystem services by “sucking” carbon from the air.
The selected paulownia variety, known as Phoenix One, is sterile, so there is no chance of it becoming invasive. Each plantation includes 10% of native trees and 15% of open space, in accordance with stringent UK Forestry standards.
The range of land-based activities and properties mean estate staff at Euston have multiple roles – from estate management to farm work, residential property maintenance and amenity management.
Staff include Fastrac driver, drill and sprayer operator Oliver Tyrell; Ian Denny, who has spent the summer on the Claas Trion 750 Terra Trac combine harvester; and Alice Northern, a newcomer to the team who helps Matthew in all aspects of his job.
“We’re an estate, not just a farm, so nobody in the workforce is solely on a tractor,” he says.
“On any given day, any of us could be helping to clear a tree, cutting grass for one of our property residents, or carting brick rubble for one of our building projects.”
Keen to encourage youngsters from non-farming backgrounds into agriculture – and show the range of career opportunities, Matthew hopes to give urban teenagers the opportunity to visit the estate as well.
“It’s one big team effort,” he adds. “We do a lot of educational talks locally here in primary schools and we would like to do the same for city youngsters too – and show them where their food comes from and what modern farming is all about.”
