Modelling for a McDonald’s FAI Adaptive Multi Paddock (AMP) grazing project has indicated that the suckler beef enterprise is now ‘completely offset by carbon sequestration’ in FAI’s pasture.
Emissions and sequestration were modelled using GWP100, the standard but older metric, which over-emphasises the warming impact of cycling methane in farm systems. If the team had assessed the carbon impact using the newer, more accurate metric, GWP*, then the project’s on-farm sequestration would have been valued even more highly.
The AMP grazing project aimed to gain valuable insight into what AMP grazing looks like on a successful commercial UK beef system. AMP is a regenerative grazing technique that mimics natural processes to help achieve a more resilient farming system.
Suckler herd costs were also lower, at just 77 per cent of the AHDB average. The cost per cow put to the bull was assessed at £206.42, versus the AHBD average of £266.98 per cow.
Dr Amanda Deakin, science lead at FAI Farms, said, “In 2020, FAI transitioned its beef enterprise over to AMP grazing and over the subsequent four years we collected the detailed ethical, environmental and economic metrics to understand and document the impact of this novel grazing system.”
Now, the results are in – and the AMP grazing transition has delivered substantial regenerative outcomes across environmental, ethical and economic measures.
Environmentally, the team found that soil water infiltration rates are now three times faster on average across the farm compared to pre-AMP grazing (while some fields have more than 100 times faster infiltration). 50 species of birds have been recorded bioacoustically on the farm – and modelling has suggested that the suckler beef enterprise is completely offset by carbon sequestration in FAI’s pasture.
In terms of ethical outcomes, FAI staff reported that AMP was an enjoyable system to work in, while for the beef herd, high levels of behavioural synchrony and positive social behaviours were recorded, suggesting good herd welfare. Herd health also improved, with low levels of pathologies (as recorded at the abattoir) and minimal requirements for antibiotics.
The project also resulted in reduced age at slaughter (down from 25-28 months to 22-24 months) and daily liveweight gains of approximately 0.8kg/day in a solely pasture-based system. Savings were also made on input costs such as feed and bedding by outwintering using bales of home-grown forage (£205.50/cow saving for 100-day winter).
Key results from the farm transition – AMP grazing:
- Supported healthy animals with low requirements for antibiotic use.
- Supported good productivity, achieving finishing times of 22-24 months, in a solely pasture-based system (Pasture for Life Certified) where animals were outwintered on hay and deferred grazing.
- Enabled FAI to outwinter cattle, meaning we no longer needed to buy in feed or bedding in the winter. Reducing reliance on inputs such as feed and bedding, the costs of which can vary significantly, can support increased resilience of farming communities and supply chains.
- Is a fulfilling and positive way to farm. In anonymous annual surveys, all of the FAI farm team said it was either likely or very likely that they would still be implementing regenerative agriculture practices in five years’ time.
- Water infiltration – Over the four-year project FAI saw substantial reductions in water infiltration rate, meaning their soil can absorb and hold on to more water. This a) suggests they have improved soil structure, b) means they are more resilient to drought and c) means they have reduced run off so hold on to more topsoil, and are helping to reduce flooding events downstream.
- Biodiversity – AMP grazing can support high levels of bird species diversity, as measured using Chirrup bioacoustic devices. Birds are a good indicator of overall ecosystem health. Bird song was continuously monitored for one month and a total of 53 bird species were recorded on the farm, 12 of which were red listed species. This was 23% more bird species than a neighbouring farm employing set stocking and 34% more bird species than a farm nearby employing conservation-style grazing.
- Net zero – Healthy pasture and soil have the potential to sequester a large amount of carbon. FAI’s farm was modelled to be beyond net zero i.e. sequestering more carbon than it is emitting from their beef enterprises (Net carbon balance 2022 = -49.70 tCO2eq; Trinity Ag Tech Sandy calculator). The team will be reanalysing physical soil samples from three key fields in 2027 to back up these data.