BASF panel bangs the drum at Oxford Farming Conference for climate change collaboration

Collaboration and sharing experiences must be at the very heart of the agricultural industry’s toolbox to help farmers build resilience against climate change.

This was the message that ran through BASF’s panel session at the Oxford Farming Conference in January 2024.

Echoing this year’s conference theme of diversity in all people, farm systems and geographies there was an international feel to the discussion on building climate resilience for the biggest job on earth.

Mary Boote, CEO, of the Global Farmer Network, an organisation established to amplify farmers’ voice in promoting trade, technology, sustainable farming, economic growth, and food security joined the panel from Iowa, where she originally grew up on a pig and arable farm.

Mary gave an international perspective to the effects the agriculture industry is facing as a result of climate change, sharing stories from an international organisation.

In response to a question from the audience about whether climate challenges are so large as to be “beyond the people who work the land and produce the food.” she said:

“Absolutely not", using as an example farmers in India who have found different ways of growing crops such as rice and maize in a more climate resilient way. She also highlighted the work being done in war-torn countries such as Ukraine, where farmers are navigating problems such as not being able to obtain nitrogen. She also spoke about innovation in irrigation systems in Japan.

“Change drives innovation,” explained Mary, who represents 250 farmers from 65 different countries and believes sharing results on a myriad of subjects such as seed technology is vital.

“Information from farmers on what doesn’t work is equally important as what does,” she said, adding that it saves so much time for farmers if they can access existing data about issues such as drought, disease and crop rotation.

“Information from farmers on what doesn’t work is equally important as what does,” she said, adding that it saves so much time for farmers if they can access existing data about issues such as drought, disease and crop rotation.

Over the last decade BASF’s #BiggestJobonEarth campaign has provided a platform for farmers to share the impact they have on food production and stewardship of the environment and kickstart conversations to help tackle the challenges farmers face.

Hannah Darby, an arable farmer near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, told the audience how with her uncle and business partner she has shifted away from root crops and stopped growing sugar beet completely as a direct result of climate conditions. She is acutely aware of the need to find new and innovative ways of facing the challenges thrown at her.

“We have moved away from anything that needed extensive cultivations, from the point of soil erosion through wind blow and also the fact that when the soil gets that dry it’s very hard to establish anything,” explained Hannah.

A solution Hannah and her team have found is companion cropping, with combinations such as peas and oats and beans and oats.

“Some years one thing grows better and other years the other crop grows better,” she explained. “But we will harvest something, and more in total than we would have done of one crop on its own. So, it is financially beneficial but does pose a lot of challenges as to how you manage that crop.”

Eighth-generation mixed livestock and arable farmer Martin Andersson, from Skåne in Sweden. His rotation is vast with crops including winter wheat, barley, oil seed rape, grass seed, spinach, oats, carrots, sugar beet, alfalfa and pumpkins giving him an advantage when it comes to trialling different options and collecting data on what impact climate change has on their performance.

“Water is everything,” said Martin, who is part of the Follow a Farmer initiative where BASF follow seven farmers from Finland, Norway and Sweden who report on their growing season to educate, inform and entertain people about how food is grown.

“If you get a dry year and you don’t have the possibility to irrigate then it will ruin the crops. We put in a lot of management and effort to be able to irrigate, but before that you must have the fields in good condition. You must always start with good drainage before you put the irrigation in.”

Mike Green, Agricultural Sustainability Manager at BASF, stood in for Northamptonshire farmer William Pitts, who was unfortunately unable to attend.

Together Mike & William founded Project Fortress at William’s Farm in Northamptonshire. Project Fortress is a five-year trial exploring strategies to increase resilience to the impacts and challenges of climate change. BASF collaborates closely with the Pitts family on this initiative which centres around a 12.5ha field that has been divided into five plots where different approaches are being implemented and analysed.

As always at OFC, there were thought provoking questions from delegates with the conversations continuing long after the panellists had left the stage.