Rob Allan believes in balance. He passionately believes that farming needs to deliver food for us and for wildlife, and his approach has weighted things in his (and wildlife’s) favour. Rob is the Midlands Winner RSPB Telegraph Nature of Farming Award 2012.
Upton Estate is a 776ha mixed farm near Banbury, and has a huge range of habitats supporting rich and varied wildlife. Rob doesn’t just believe that we need to make space for wildlife for it’s own sake, he believes it can improve farming rotations as well, ensuring that farms remain sustainable.
His approach is clearly working. His farm supports 18 of the 19 bird species dependent on farmland, 26 of the 36 butterflies that breed in Oxfordshire, and species such as the scarce Natterers bat, water vole and common lizard have all been long established on the estate.
Rob’s management choices are all made on a robust commercial basis. Production is focussed on the more productive land, where average yields are increasing. Crops are chosen to attract a premium, such as Conservation Grade, Leaf Marque and Red Tractor.
His farming ethos includes a focus on the sustainability of the farm – woodchip boilers are fed with woodland thinning from the estate, and solar pholtovoltaic units supply carbon-free energy. Rob has also decreased the farm’s dependence on oil based fertilisers by buying in local chicken litter and coffee waste to use on the arable land, making the most of local resources, decreasing costs and increasing the sustainability of the farm.
Rob’s farm is already delivering a diverse range of wildlife-rich habitats and improving sustainability, but he is buzzing with plans to do even more.
Rob is an active advocate of sustainable, wildlife-friendly farming. Upton runs over 50 educational access visits per year, ranging from primary school children to degree level students. Many other interested groups visit and have even included the Chinese and Japanese Ministry of Agriculture. UK farming industry groups and neighbouring farmers have visited and seen his work in action, which has encouraged his neighbours to take up more wildlife-friendly methods.
The Midlands is proving to be a very wildlife-friendly farming region. This year the judges have awarded Highly Commended to 9 special farms:
All of these farmers are fantastic examples of the way forward. The health of our countryside depends on farmers like them. Don’t forget to show your support for them all, and vote for the overall UK winner of this year’s Nature of Farming Award – voting opens Friday 20 July at www.rspb.org.uk/farmvote
The EU LIFE+ Programme funds RSPB work which supports wildlife-friendly farming that furthers sustainable development in the European Union.
Really nice to see that large farmers contrary to what some people would like to think that if we went back to smaller farms wildlife would do better.Rob Allan knocks that on the head as in many ways they are able to do more simply because they do not need to make the last penny of profit to survive.Well done to all those highly commended as well,what a job for the judges.