SIX new farms will join AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds’ Monitor Farm network this summer, as the organisation launches the next phase of the programme.

The new hosts are spread across the country and include John Aynsley at Saltburn who was recently named farm manager of the year and overall winner of The Northern Farmer awards, the sister publication of the Darlington & Stockton Times.

The new farms build on the success of their predecessors whose three-year projects have come to an end.

Tim Isaac, Head of Knowledge Exchange for AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds, said: "We’ve learned a lot from the first three years. The scheme has exceeded all expectations in its positive impact on the industry, with a wide spectrum of participants getting involved, sharing and taking improvements back to their own businesses. So now is the right time to take the programme to the next level.

"We’ve also seen that farmers really value the opportunity to share their experiences and learn from one another and this will become even more valuable as the industry prepares for the challenges of the future."

The new groups will use AHDB’s Farmbench programme which, for the first time, brings together cereals, oilseeds, beef, lamb and potato enterprises into one piece of software. It will allow farms to benchmark multiple enterprises on one system, saving time and effort and encouraging a whole-farm approach.

Mr Aynsley runs a 1,302 ha mixed farm near Saltburn. Covering 566 ha he grows a rotation of winter barley, oilseed rape, and wheat on light loam to heavy clay. Combinable crops are established using a min-till approach and all grain is dried and stored on farm.

In addition to the arable enterprise, he also manages 1,300 breeding ewes and 450 spring-calving suckler cows.

The main challenge Mr Aynsley wants to address on the farm is soil management. He is already a member of the Darlington Benchmarking Group and has benchmarked since it started. By taking part in the Monitor Farm programme, he hopes to prepare his business to be profitable without direct payments.

For more information, or to attend the first meeting, contact judith.stafford@ahdb.org.uk or 07891 556623.