“We've reached a point where the alarm bells are starting to ring, and we're starting to think, what are the impacts of this [traditional] way of farming.”

We visited Scott Iley at Barrowburn Farm in Northumberland to learn more about running a tenanted upland livestock farm. Measuring about 900 acres, the farm has 750 South Country Cheviot sheep and 20 Galloway cattle – both native breeds.

Having grown up around agriculture, Scott was initially reluctant to badge himself as a ‘new entrant’ but overtime he has learnt to appreciate what it means. He explains that at the beginning, “I understood pretty well and had a lot of experience of how to perform all the tasks, but it's only getting the tenancy and having to farm in my own right [that I’ve] actually started questioning why [I’m] doing the task, and what the impact of doing that task is on the business and on the environment.” For Scott, exploring the system and how to improve it “is part of the joy”, and calling himself a ‘new entrant’ is a way to remember that he and the farm are on a journey.

“I'm very keen that we make a positive contribution.”

Scott reflects on the potential for farmers to be a force for change, “I'm very keen that we grasp that by the horns and make that a positive contribution. But I think that there are a lot of challenges and obstacles… there are no quick and easy answers.” He points out that, while there are a lot of tangible changes farmers can make in terms of air, water quality, biodiversity, soil health and flood prevention, “perhaps, changing the way we think is almost the biggest contribution that we can make.” He argues that, “We've reached a point where the alarm bells are starting to ring, and we're starting to think, hang on a minute, what is the impact of this [traditional] way of thinking and doing things. We all feel a little bit like we're suddenly scrambling around, trying to find the answers to how we adapt to a changing climate, on our own farms at a micro level, but obviously what we're seeing happening globally, and also the demands that the public has of us are changing, and we're looking for answers.”

“I began to be haunted by what isn't here, and haunted by the small fragments that you find dotted around the farm that suggest this ecosystem was much greater, more complex, and much more diverse in the past.”

Over the years at Barrowburn Farm, Scott has slowly shifted away from doing whatever is needed “to survive financially as a family”, to understanding that the farm is part of a system that needs fixing. He goes on to say, “I feel privileged to live here. And I love seeing the birds and the otters in the river and the insect life and the fish in the river and foxes and the buzzards on the hill. And all the kinds of wildlife that we have retained in this landscape is fantastic. But at the same time, I began to be haunted by what isn't here, and haunted by the kind of small fragments that you find dotted around the farm that suggest that this ecosystem was much greater and much more complex and much more diverse in the past.” He points to a hill nearby and says, “It is called the partridge side, but there are no grey partridge left, and if you head up [to areas] that are difficult for sheep to access… you find plants growing there that are just completely absent everywhere else on the hill. [Which] led me to start thinking… how can we farm in a way that actually restored some of that, rather than continuing this trajectory of species decline?”

Scott sees this psychological shift as potentially a big barrier for local farmers. “The hefted system, arguably, could go back as far as sort of Viking times, [and is] not just an agricultural system, but also a cultural thing. But if we go back in our own history, anecdotally, sheep would have been taken from here and taken to graze on Harbottle crags and the heather ground in the summer, then brought back in the winter. And before that system, we would have had much smaller flocks of sheep being moved around, almost in a pastoral way, by lots of individual shepherds moving smaller flocks of sheep around. It's quite obvious (when you think about the farm as an ecosystem) that... those types of systems, where sheep are moving on ground and then off ground, mimic nature much more closely than the system we currently have as sort of a standard.”

“I have a vision for this farm... a landscape that is very biodiverse, full of birds, animals, and wildlife.”

The nature of Barrowburn Farm limits Scott’s ability to ‘mob graze’ big groups of sheep, but he has started moving them between two hills – so that “at least I could have one hill in rest for a number of months, and then move all the sheep to the other hill. That was one of the first changes I made. And that took quite a lot of work, because it took all the shepherding to make that work. But that's had a big impact on the kind of vegetation. And that obviously will have a big impact on soil health as well, I believe, in the longer term.” Over time the vegetation is becoming more diverse and has a longer growth season, which in turn reduces Scott’s costs by creating more grazing for his animals. He’s also starting to see a change in the biodiversity of the grasslands, which he thinks is a result of mixing the type of animals that are grazing the land.

He takes inspiration from everything, “I spend a lot of time thinking about how herds of buffalo created the North American prairies, and how do we mimic that? How do we mimic the levels of impact? The levels of movement? And the densities of numbers? And what exists in nature. Obviously this is a different environment and a different ecosystem… I don't think we want half a million buffalo in Northumberland, you know, coursing around The Cheviots, but I suppose for me, I just sit down and think, what are these processes of rest for the land and impact... in terms of hoof impact and grazing impact, and how do we use those tools to create taller vegetation, with deeper roots, more roots, more photosynthesis, more soil biology, more soil health and fertility. And what can I do? What systems could I attempt to mimic, or create here... but because every farm is different, you try something and it does or doesn't work, it's not easy.”

“You don't get a lot of positive feedback in those early years... you don't get the land suddenly bursting into a Garden of Eden.”

Scott explains that the sorts of changes he’s making come with challenges. He says, “I'm operating with a lot of faith that, in time, these decisions are going to benefit the farm ecosystem. I feel like it's important to flag up that a lot of these changes I make, are quite difficult changes to make. And... you don't get a lot of positive feedback in those early years… you don't get the land suddenly bursting into a Garden of Eden. So there is risk involved.” Though, he is excited that some of the experimentation is really starting to bear fruit. His wildflower meadows, for example, now have around 100 species, and he is harvesting the seed and sowing it out on the hill. By managing the livestock, he is seeing a significant increase in the biodiversity of the grasslands which is better for grazing.

In the future, Scott has high hopes for the farm which, in addition to sheep and cattle, has diversified to include B&B accommodation as well as patches of rewilded land. He says, “I have a vision for this farm, perhaps dream is a better word… in my imagination, I can picture a landscape that is very biodiverse, full of birds, and animals, and wildlife, what I would describe as a healthy ecosystem.” He explains that when making decisions now, he asks himself, “Is this decision going to have a positive impact and move us closer to that vision? Or is this decision actually leading us further away? And sometimes it's not obvious… [but] I'm hoping that in 10 years, I'm going to be able to see the impact of some of the decisions that I'm making now.” To bring this dream to life, he describes walking through a trial area on the farm where, “You were sending up plumes of moths in front of you, there were House Martins feeding around you all the time… and then you stepped out of it, on to the rest of the hill, and all of that was gone… In 10 years, the dream is that the whole hill can be like that.”

A rapid transition to sustainable farming and land use by 2030 is one of 5 'no regrets' actions we are urging government to take to speed real climate action.

More stories of hope and action from people across the UK working for a fair and sustainable future feature in our Field Guide for the Future.