Jake Fiennes on 'restorative agriculture' and saving nature

Thirteen schools, no formal qualifications, night club PR man. Jake Fiennes’ CV doesn’t make for conventional reading. Then again, he’s not considered a conventional land manager.

Of course, as Conservation Manager at the 25,000-acre Holkham Estate in North Norfolk where he’s worked for the past four years, you could say, after a long journey via numerous different jobs, including time at the Knepp Estate in its pre-wilding days, that Jake is firmly part of the rural establishment.

Despite reckoning he still suffers from “impostor syndrome”, he sits on numerous industry boards and panels, has the ear of policymakers and is being asked constantly to share his views on agriculture. The week before I visit he was on Radio 4 “twice” and the day after we speak he was visited by the ballerina and Strictly judge Darcey Bussell to talk about “conservation”.

Given all the demands on his time it’s perhaps unsurprising that his emails prior to our interview are to-the-point. But I start to fret a little. Perhaps he’s fed up of being asked questions, maybe he’s only agreed to chat because one of my colleagues, who is helping the estate with a project, has twisted his arm.

In person he’s very different. I arrive at his office, which overlooks scenic swathes of the coastal estate he helps manage, to find him outside rolling a liquorice paper cigarette, one of a number he smokes during the day and another small clue that he’s cut from a different cloth to others in similarly lofty roles.

After I accept his offer of tea without milk – apparently, another journalist from a well-known tabloid refused because it might stain her teeth – he happily holds forth in animated terms, sometimes dipping into the vernacular to emphasise a point. He explains why current farming methods are unsustainable and what needs to change, as well as offering his strident views on a wide range of countryside issues.

Farming impact

“If we look at farming over the last 70 years, we cannot deny that it has had an impact. The biggest challenge for agriculture is climate change, which is happening today – we haven’t had any significant rain here for weeks. We have drought, we have flood, we have famine, the current way we produce food is not going to work for another 100 years. You know, I’ve just seen a report today on the levels of deforestation, and most of that is for beef production. So we really need to evaluate what we’re producing, and how we’re producing it.”

This climate crisis is inextricably linked to the biodiversity crisis, he adds. “Where there is fully functioning nature, carbon is being sequestered and captured. Wherever you have nature - whether that’s in a rainforest in South America or on the North Norfolk coast - carbon is being captured and sequestered.”

That he so freely acknowledges the damage farming has done to the environment sets him aside from many other farmers who take a more defensive view. But he does, however, take issue with those who suggest that the UK is a biodiversity desert. “I just get slightly frustrated with the argument that we’re the most nature-depleted country in the world. When I walk out of my office, I see quite a lot of nature.”

Language, he stresses, is important. “People need to engage with those who produce food and those who own or occupy land, rather than alienating them through their use of language. There’s been a lot of writing saying how degraded, screwed-up and nature-poor we are. No one is offering solutions. And from my perspective land and agriculture is the easy solution.

“Because 70% of the UK is farmed, your biggest, easiest, lowest-hanging fruit is agriculture. In my career, I’ve seen the impacts of agriculture on biodiversity, and I’ve addressed it. We can make positive changes, and we can bring back species that have been lost.”

Although he voted remain, he believes Brexit offers a chance to help this reset. “From a rural perspective, coming out of the CAP and being able to develop our own English form of how we support rural businesses, that is a great opportunity. I applaud the 25-year Environment Plan, and I applaud that farmers and landowners are paid to deliver public goods. I think that’s a bit of a no-brainer, if I’m honest.”

But he’s also frustrated at the pace of change. “This government has commissioned three reviews. Food strategy – no response. Dasgupta, probably the most important review of the lot – no one mentions it anymore. The Glover review, which I happened to sit on, actually we got a response, but it was bloody hard. It was like pushing muck up a hill.

“And those three reviews all say the same thing. We need to make more space for nature. We need to produce food that is healthy and nutritious and have less of an impact on our environment. We need to value nature.”

Livestock plays a vital role at Holkham in harmony with Jake's scarlet clover leys

Restorative agriculture

Jakes own prescription – restorative agriculture (he prefers the term to regenerative) – using livestock and bespoke forage leys to improve fertility, carefully managing crop rotations to rest the land and setting aside less productive areas of fields to make space for nature – is considered unconventional by some, as he readily admits, but it is not new.

Ironically, these ideas, when espoused by previous Norfolk farming visionaries like Turnip Townshend and Thomas Coke – arguably the Holkham Estate’s most famous owner – during the agrarian revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries, were far from being part of an environmental agenda; back then they were the cutting edge of farming technology.

“The Holkham approach actually does go back to the Coke of Norfolk 200 years ago, and they are just the basic principles of good soil care and animal husbandry. And that’s what agriculture has lost. It’s lost its connection with caring for our natural assets,” says Jake.

Unsurprisingly then, when he takes me on a tour of the 250 acres of the estate set aside to trial his ideas, I don’t feel in an alien landscape. The hedges may be a bit bushier, it sounds like there is more birdsong than usual, I can see some colourful strips of wildflower meadow in full bloom and his scarlet clover leys glisten in the sunshine, but this is still very much farming. And that’s important, because the Holkham Estate sees itself very much as a commercial enterprise.

Lucky then that the trial seems to be delivering on all counts, confirms Jake. “I spoke to our farm manager and I said, ‘Can you answer me three questions? In the two years of this project, yes or no, have you increased your average yield? Have you reduced your diesel usage, and have you reduced your artificial fertiliser?’ And the answer was yes to all three.

“If he’s reduced his fertiliser and diesel, he’s reduced his inputs, therefore increased his profit. So he has a more profitable business. We’ve made space for nature, we’ve increased biodiversity, so everyone wins.

“My approach still allows for the production of sustainable, economic, environmental food production. It still allows for the increase in yields, because you’re not farming the land that actually doesn’t produce a sufficient quantity, so by default, your average yields increase.”

He recognises that simply replicating what he’s doing at Holkham won’t work everywhere, but stresses the importance of context, nuance and land’s capabilities. “Context is the most important principle of regenerative agriculture, but isn’t talked about enough. What happens here at Holkham will be very different to what happens in Cumbria, Cornwall, or Northumberland. But I still believe that I can apply that same approach just about anywhere in the world.”

Soon the world will be able to read about his ideas as Land Healer, his “part memoir, part manifesto”, is due to be published this summer. “I hadn’t planned to write a book, but everyone thought I should. So I got advice
from friends who’ve written books and they thought that I have a story to tell.”

He admits his, as he terms it, “unfortunate” surname – his siblings include the actors Ralph and Joseph – may also have played a part in the decision. “You want to be recognised for what you do and not what others do.”

I tell him they are just actors. Jake Fiennes, the man who left school without passing an exam, is attempting to heal the world. That’s certainly something not many people can include on their CVs.