About the farm
In 2000, we purchased Hope Farm, an arable farm in Cambridgeshire. It is contract farmed by one of our neighbouring farmers.
About Hope Farm
In previous years, we predominantly grew autumn-sown crops because they were considered to be more profitable. Recently, we have introduced a greater area of spring-sown crops, to help deal with pernicious weed problems and maintain overall profitability.
During the first five years only two crops were grown - wheat and oilseed rape. These were grown in a three-year rotation (wheat - wheat - oilseed rape). The rotation has evolved to take account of market opportunities and help implement a robust integrated pest management programme, so for harvest 2016 we grew winter wheat, spring barley, winter beans, winter linseed and spring millet.
Along with the arable land, there is also permanent pasture, which is grazed by horses and sheep. The soil is predominantly heavy clay.
Key facts
- Total farm area: 181 hectares
- Area of cropping: 161 hectares - harvest 2010
- Area of pasture: 6 hectares
- Soil type: Hanslope calcareous clay loam and Evesham clay loam
- Smallest field: 0.93 hectares
- Largest field: 34 hectares
- Length of hedgerows: 10.3 kilometres
- Area of woodland: 0.5 hectares
Our farming blog
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Oxford Real Farming Conference part 2 - Food Policy
Citizen’s Assembly: Emergency Plan for Agriculture and Wildlife In our previous blog we reported on some of the discussions which RSPB was involved in at the Oxford Real Farming Conference. One of our aims for attending the conference was to crowdsou...
Posted 28/01/2020 by Steph Morren -
The RSPB at the Oxford Real Farming Conference 2020
A blog by Mair Floyd-Bosley, RSPB's farming and climate change policy assistant Even before the Agriculture Bill was published, farming was the only subject in Oxford this month. At the beginning of January, an RSPB team from all over the UK headed o...
Posted 20/01/2020 by Steph Morren -
Report of the 2019 Butterfly and Bumblebee monitoring at Hope Farm, the effectiveness of our Wildlife-Friendly farming.
Paul Cabrisy, research intern at RSPB Hope Farm, tells us about the outcome of our butterfly and bumblebee surveys throughout the monitoring seasons this year. The butterfly monitoring. Summer 2019 has been a relatively hot and wet season, but just l...
Posted 13/12/2019 by Steph Morren -
Hope Farm: a round up of our farmland breeding birds in 2019 and how we did it!
How did farmland birds fare in 2019 on RSPB's Hope Farm in Cambridgeshire? In this blog, Farm Manager Georgie Bray tells us. A key part of the work we do at Hope Farm is to demonstrate wildlife friendly farming, in terms of its practicalities on the ...
Posted 28/09/2019 by Steph Morren -
Corncrake: the people's bird
Chris Bailey - RSPB Scotland's Advisory Manager - tells us below how corncrakes have fared in 2019, and why it is so important that we continue to work on conserving them. In the first half of the twentieth century, the corncrake was so widespread th...
Posted 27/09/2019 by Steph Morren -
Future Agricultural Policy in Wales
A blog by Rhys Evans, Policy Officer for RSPB Cymru. On 9th July 2019 Welsh Government published their Sustainable Farming and our Land consultation which puts forward plans for how farmers will be supported in the future. This consultation follows t...
Posted 19/09/2019 by Steph Morren
How you can help
At Hope Farm, we're developing farming techniques that will benefit wildlife.
