Farmlife & Cascade

Farmlife

Farmlife was set up by Dr Ben Aldiss in 2003 under the working title ‘School and Farm Wildlife Programme’ and developed over six years, with the pilot eventually running highly successfully in ten English counties and involving 40 senior schools, each linked with a neighbouring farm.

Ben was helped by David Bird, National Coordinator of The Farmers’ Conservation Group – an organisation that was set up in 2000 and ran for ten years, under the auspices of The Game Conservancy and Aventis CropScience. With his database of over 3,000 environmentally-minded farmers, David sourced the farms to match the schools Ben had enlisted.

After an unsuccessful bid in 2009 for a grant of £800,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to roll the scheme out nationally, Farmlife was shelved.

In 2013 the opportunity arose to resurrect the project in a new, improved version. Supported by the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers, Gresham’s School and Norfolk Rivers Trust and developed by Dr Ben Aldiss directly from Farmlife, the new project was called Cascade. The Cascade project came to and end with Ben’s retirement from Gresham’s School in August 2016.

Features of Cascade

Cascade differed from Farm Life in a number of important ways:
  • It based the study of agriculture and wildlife on rivers and their catchments.
  • It concentrated on teaching senior students the methods of wildlife identification and survey used by professional ecologists, so that these students could then pass their knowledge down to younger boys and girls in other schools – hence the project’s name Cascade (also an allusion to the watery basis of the project).

Project Aims

  • Young people were educated about farming, wildlife and the importance of water catchments in conserving England’s countryside. Children of all ages learnt about farming and its importance in food-production, wildlife and habitat conservation and the shaping of the landscape.
  • Students were shown round their local wildlife-friendly farm by the owner and, on repeated visits, became familiar with the crops, livestock and the agricultural calendar.
  • They also gained knowledge of the associated wildlife – both harmful and beneficial.
  • Older students were taught survey techniques used by professional ecologists e.g. Phase I Habitat Survey; National Vegetation Classification; Common Bird Census; Belt Transects; Capture-Mark-Recapture; Kick-sampling; Butterfly Transects; Mammal Surveys.
  • Comprehensive and long-term surveys were carried out, covering all major groups of plants, animals and fungi occurring throughout local river catchments and on the farms they drained.
  • WildKnowledge software was used for identifying organisms and for recording and uploading species data.
  • Optivote voting handsets were used for teaching plant and animal ID and for testing baseline knowledge of older students and primary school pupils and for later summative assessment.
  •  iPad Minis were used for identifying organisms and for recording and uploading species data.
  • Novel methods of teaching and learning were tested using cutting-edge technology and software
  • Older students were given opportunities to teach younger children, both in their schools, on farms and in the catchments of their local rivers.
  • Data would be collected from ‘permanent’ quadrats, throughout the seasons and from year to year, had the project continued.

Project Aspirations

  • Comparative data would be collected.
    Phenology would be investigated i.e. the annual timings of natural phenomena (date of return of migrant birds to the UK, date of first bluebell flowering, etc).
  • Older students would become familiar with the species as they revisited the same permanent quadrats.
  • The varied nature and complexity of the surveys would allow for differentiation e.g. younger pupils could easily cope with kick-sampling, pond-dipping and simple bird counts, whereas only the older students would be expected to use difficult keys and survey techniques for NVC, population estimates and Phase I Habitat Survey.
  • Farmers and landowners would be encouraged to set up and strengthen wildlife corridors joining important wildlife habitats across the country.
  • The importance of rivers and water quality and the study of the plants and animals living in aquatic habitats would be impressed upon children.
  • Species and habitat data would be uploaded to local and national Biological Records Centres.
  • Ancillary data would be  collected:
    • Geological and soils data.
    • Archaeological and historical records.
    • Weather data.
  • Data would be progressively entered into a database accessible to all interested parties for later analysis.

Aims for a National Scheme

Education Centres

Setting up Education Centres on farms in each vice-county of England. One farm in each vice-county would serve as a hub for all the schools and farms in the region, providing facilities, courses and certification.

National Awards

Setting up a national system of awards, certifying competence in wildlife identification and farming knowledge. I envisage such a system to run along the lines of the scheme in Kenya, whereby individuals learn about their local flora, fauna and agriculture and take exams to become Bronze, Silver or Gold Guides. The scheme would be open to all ages, with perhaps a junior qualification for children. The Education Centres would administer the scheme.

Footpaths

Setting up permissive footpaths through farmland, running from one river to another across the catchment. This exciting initiative would result in an entirely new way of exploring Britain, allowing the public to see farming practices at close quarters, whilst also highlighting the work of schoolchildren on participating farms.

Tree Planting

Setting up ‘Signature Plantings’ of charismatic British trees as a sign that schoolchildren have been working with farmers. Each planting would consist of a row of five native species:

  • Chequer Tree Sorbus torminalis
  • Small-leaved Lime Tilia cordata
  • Holly Ilex aquifolium
  • Spindle Euonymus europaeus
  • Scots Pine Pinus sylvestris

Each group of trees would be planted at intervals along hedgerows in the system of permissive footpaths suggested above, with perhaps a bench and plaque nearby.