When Mark Osman took the reigns as farm manager at Royal Farms, Windsor, more than a decade ago, the Duke of Edinburgh gave him a simple instruction – leave the land in better shape then when you arrived.
Fourteen years on and despite a lower rainfall this year to date – the estate has received 101mm (four inches) since January, well down from its 685mm (27 inch) annual average rainfall – the farm looks a picture.
Mr Osman and his team have worked hard to restore structure back into the land, which is home to a livestock and mixed cropping operation, featuring mainly wheat, barley and oats.
Speaking to a group of award winning broadacre farmers and horticulturalists on tour with Syngenta, Mr Osman said problem areas had been successfully repaired over a five year period using a mix of of permanent pasture, grazing, cutting and fertiliser application.
“It takes a long time but it’s something we set out deliberately to do 11 years ago,” Mr Osman said. “We realised we couldn’t keep harvesting things off this land.
“We are now confident that we can hold structure. Beforehand if you weren’t growing a crop you would lose structure particularly on the clay.
“In the future, we will expand rotation, get diversity in there and just see if we can have a look at it differently.
“Our best income is from first wheat and worst income is from second wheat which is also causing us weed issues.”
Mr Osman runs Royal Farms, a 1153 ha (2850 acre) mixed farming and livestock operation at Windsor, on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II.
It includes a 200-head Jersey cow herd – one of the last remaining dairies left in operation in the United Kingdom – a pedigree Sussex beef herd, sheep, breeding sows and hens.
The livestock operation is supported with mixed cropping including 404 hectares (1000 acres) of arable land which grows wheat, barley and organic oats, and 809 ha (2000 acres) of grassland.
Most of the farm is farmed conventionally using integrated crop management, with some 202 hectares (500 acres) under organic practices.
Mr Osman said the estate was a “site of special scientific interest” and home to national treasures including grey partridge, ancient oats and some of the world’s oldest trees.
“There is a huge amount of stewardship needed for the protection of that but the farm plays an important role in helping that because it’s very much about long-term nature,” Mr Osman said.
“You have to farm within the environment rather than farm against environment.”
There is about 728 ha (1800 acres) of combinable crops, and Mr Osman said the farm carried out all activities associated with cropping, except for combine harvesting and baling.
The farm yields 8.72 tonnes of first wheat per hectare, 8t/ha for second wheat and 5.2t/ha for organic oats (five year average) and 7.4t/ha of winter barley (three year average).
Mr Osman said the past spring had been one of the worst on record for rain.
“Our rainfall is 27 inches on average but it has been exceptionally dry through spring, the driest ever recorded,” Mr Osman said.
“Since January we have had just on four inches, very dry, and most of that rain has fallen since beginning of June.
“All our first cuts (7000 tonnes of forage for animals) yields were down over a third.”
Mr Osman said mixed farming was “massive” in the United Kingdom.
“We found from a business perspective it protects us,” he said.
Queensland Country Life journalist Lea Coghlan traveled with the group as a guest of Syngenta.