For one farm manager tasked with creating a new enterprise and faced with problematic foxtail, little-and-often regrowth topping on end-of-life legume fallows is aiding control while working within his regenerative farming principles.
Michael Kavanagh is the farm manager at Chadlington Farming Partnership in Cotswolds, England, neighboring Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddly Squat Farm. He was recruited to help create a business that can farm profitably while working with nature. A co-founder of the Green Farm Collective, he has spent years refining regenerative systems that reduce artificial inputs, improve soil health and maintain margins. “Farming with regenerative principles, working with nature to help manage soil and crop health, is something I’ve long been interested in,” says Michael.
On his previous farm, Michael gradually moved to a system using no synthetic phosphate or potash fertilizers, growth regulators or insecticides, while eliminating fungicides across most of the cropped area. The result was lower costs, maintained yields and, increasingly, access to premium markets. “Reducing artificial inputs does not necessarily translate to reduced outputs,” explains Michael, noting that some buyers now pay premiums of up to £20/t (~$27/metric ton) for regeneratively produced milling wheat.
New opportunity
At Chadlington, the ambition is similar. Michael wants to prove that productive farming can operate at scale while improving the environment. Nitrogen use has already been reduced to below 160kg/ha (142lbs/acre), while seed dressings, growth regulators and insecticides have been removed from the system.
Michael acknowledges that he is still learning the farm and only making changes slowly according to circumstances, but among the major alterations so far, rotations have been broadened to now include winter milling wheat, winter and spring barley, winter oats and winter oilseed rape, plus spring barley. “When moving to farm more regeneratively, it’s easy to make the mistake of trying to do too much at once,” believes Michael.
Cover crops, herbal leys and legume fallows have also been introduced, with livestock integrated to help build soil health and resilience. Composting locally sourced chicken manure is another key initiative aimed at raising organic matter levels and improving water-holding capacity.
Foxtail suppression
A major additional benefit has been foxtail suppression. About 100 acres of problem land have been put into three-year herbal leys, while the worst-affected fields have been entered into multi-species cover crop or conservation cover rotation. “Land with the most problematic foxtail issues has been put down to legume fallows as part of the Sustainable Farming Incentive and here mechanical topping with multiple passes is the preferred control method,” explains Michael.
Here, repeated topping has become a key cultural control tool. Michael invested in a 20-ft Major Cyclone rotary cutter/shredder and uses it to repeatedly to remove foxtail seedheads before seed can shed.
“In dense foxtail areas we wait until the weed has formed a seedhead and then go through as high as we can with the Cyclone to destroy those heads before they can disperse seed,” he explains. “Last year we made three passes, which helped greatly reduce seed return.”
The strategy relies on cutting high initially, encouraging further regrowth that can be targeted with subsequent passes. The mulched residue is evenly spread and returned to the soil, supporting organic matter build-up while reducing reliance on herbicides.
“It’s become an important tool in cultural, non-chemical control of foxtail,” says Michael.
The results have been encouraging. “Once sprayed off and drilled, when established with a robust pre-emergence herbicide the following wheats have been completely foxtail-free. It’s a good example of how good cultural control can work together with chemical control to best effect.”
For Michael, the approach demonstrates how regenerative farming can address weed pressure, drought resilience and soil health while maintaining profitability. His advice to others is simple: “Make small, slow steps rather than attempting overnight changes.”
