Work with soil, carbon and beyond in Agriculture

This post is greater than 6 months old - links may be broken or out of date. Proceed with caution!

By Jemma Morgan, Farm Carbon and Soils Project Assistant at Farm Carbon Toolkit

As a ‘mid life, career change’ entrant to the sector, my role as a Farm Carbon and Soils Project Assistant at Farm Carbon Toolkit (FCT) gives me a unique perspective on how new roles in agriculture are making a difference, helping our planet and food systems be more resilient in the face of climate change.

Farm Carbon Toolkit is a farmer-led and employee-owned organisation which provides services and tools that help farm businesses and other organisations understand and act on their greenhouse gas emissions. Our wide ranging aims are for a farming sector that minimises its carbon emissions, maximises carbon sequestration, produces quality food and provides a wide range of public goods, all while supporting resilient and profitable farm businesses.

A lady smiles at the camera at an agricultural event. — Working at our events means being in touch with lots of farmers (Farm Carbon Toolkit)

The sector is changing, bringing opportunity for even more impact

For several years, we've been seeing more and more different types of farmer groups, businesses, supply chains, and landscapes seek to better understand the impact of their work on carbon - and measure their progress.

The Farm Carbon Calculator, developed by FCT, is a leading tool in the UK which helps thousands of farmers and growers measure, understand, and reduce their carbon footprint. Regardless of where you start, we use the measurement of carbon as a lens to evaluate business efficiency and identify opportunities to build resilience and deliver meaningful change.

Increasingly however, we’re forced to highlight in our monthly newsletter the unprecedented combination of challenges faced by farmers at present: Preparation for extreme weather events, from prolonged dry periods followed by prolonged wet periods, heavy rain and unexpected late frosts, and shifting pest patterns that render traditional management strategies obsolete.

We see therefore a wide range of opportunities opening up to tackle these beyond the growing focus on carbon. We are putting our energy into boosting soil health and structure, nitrogen efficiency and reduction, increasing forage quality, the introduction of trees into the farming landscape (my special focus!), and understanding how all these solutions can boost biodiversity.

It's an exciting time to work for FCT, or any similar organisation because we’re in the fields doing it, as we believe a farmer-to-farmer approach is the best way forward.

A group of people stand in a circle in a farm building. — The whole team in one place is a rare sight (Farm Carbon Toolkit)

Working at this exciting time

I support our advisory team to complete projects alongside the farmers we’re working with. On any given day you’ll find me either collecting soil samples on farms, using these samples to find out how much carbon is being stored in soil over time, and generating accurate carbon footprints alongside farmers. With this knowledge we can identify actions in our Toolkit of online resources and other resources which can improve a carbon balance. In doing this I’ve been seeing as well how often our advice has the potential to reduce expenditure or improve income too.

In practical terms I’ll be heading out from home early (mug in hand), donning wellies and waterproofs and hoiking buckets and various metal implements up hills, over styles and through gates to reach the required fields. Once there we walk a ‘W pattern’ across a field, stopping about 18 times to extract a core of earth, which is then amalgamated according to sample depth and posted to a laboratory for analysis. I’ll also be digging cube shaped pits the width and depth of a spade to assess soil structure at different depths, and count the number of worms present (a useful indicator of soil health).

It's quite physically demanding but the privilege of viewing the landscape from a new perspective is never lost on me. I catch glimpses of creeks and reservoirs, magnificent trees and ruined buildings and, very often - as I’m the only person out there - wonderful bird life, butterflies or majestic deer. It’s also fascinating to encounter so many different farming systems and business priorities.

A huge bonus of my role is the variety of projects FCT are working on. Recently I was able to do some work in beautiful rural Scotland with the Land Use for Net Zero project we help deliver; to shadow an organic horticulture business on the Isles of Scilly, and will be heading to Yorkshire next month to examine the carbon footprint of willow, flax and hemp farming and processing.

A herd of cows stand in grass, staring at the camera on a cloudy day. — Farm Carbon Toolkit are working extensively with dairies, beef and arable farmers as well as landscape-wide projects across the country (Farm Carbon Toolkit)

Also thinking of making a change?

I entered this world during a Masters in Agroforestry and Global Food Security, completed part-time, and by distance learning, and with no background in agriculture or conservation. It's not the only thing I’ve done - raising children, selling reusable nappies, setting up a slow bread microbakery, then running a ‘junk food’ project rescuing food at risk of being landfilled - but finding a job still felt like the biggest hurdle.

It was decades since I’d written a CV and I was aware of the very real gap between the theory of academic study and the real world of government policies and, of practical work on the ground. My prior knowledge of agriculture was limited to owning hens and ‘doing’ a couple of pigs for a few years, so there was lots to learn but my colleagues are always encouraging and willing to answer questions. Overall the industry is welcoming to new entrants.

I found my job by being interested… I attended farm walks, talks and other events and webinars where I made sure to engage, ask questions and learn about the topic on the day. We now run a range of events like this all across the country. I took the opportunity if it arose to ask different companies and organisations if they were recruiting. Happily, I recognised a person on the FCT stand at the Agroforestry Show who I’d met on a previous farm walk and asked about work. The answer wasn’t a yes, but I was asked to submit my CV and when some subcontracting work was available I jumped at the chance, before later becoming a permanent part of the team.

Farm Carbon Toolkit are regularly recruiting new advisors, soil samplers and more with all jobs advertised on our website, and on major job posting boards. If you have any enquiries, or are interested in hearing more about what we do, contact info@farmcarbontoolkit.org.uk