ROTMELL FARM'S STORY
- Established - 1981 -
Our Family Story
Meet the Brewster's second and third-generation farmers based in the heart of the Scottish Highlands, Dunkeld.
Alex and his wife Jane, a farmer's daughter from Morayshire, have been nurturing the landscape at Rotmell Farm in the Tay Valley, Perthshire for many years.
Rotmell dates back to the 1790s and was built as a show farm by the Duchess of Atholl. Since its inception has been a place of innovation and modernisation, whilst the building may be historic, the farming methods by which Alex is actively implementing are at the forefront of modern Regenerative Agriculture.
Rotmell Farm is an upland beef and sheep farm surrounded by historic glens and towering Munros. Our farm is home to 180 Aberdeen Angus breeding cows and a flock of 700 breeding ewes, made up of a composite breed designed for our rugged Scottish landscape.
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Along with the livestock the farm also has over 4,000 free range laying hens, the Egg Shed now runs a doorstep delivery service and supplies many households, shops, bakeries, pubs, restaurants and accommodation providers within the Tay Valley area.
Regenerative farming is at the core of the farm’s ethos, producing sustainable and nutritious produce whilst improving soil health and sequestering carbon. The farming team recently won Soil farmer of the year 2020 in recognition of their dedication to improving soil health and the production of nutritious foods.
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Watch Our Farming Story Below
Alex Brewster's Story
In 2015 Alex applied for a study place from the Nuffield Farming Scholarship trust, whose aim is to bring positive change to agriculture. His application was to study how the management of genetics and the new science around genomics could help increase profitability in red meat production.
He then embraced two years of global travel, study and self-development. Little did he know that this experience would change his thought process and farming future. He soon modified his Nuffield topic from genetics to 'Soil Health and the Future of Red Meat in the 21st Century.'
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Leading up to his Nuffield, Rotmell Farm also became a monitor farm for Quality Meat Scotland (QMS). The goal for monitor farms is to help improve profitability, productivity and sustainability of producers through practical demonstrations, the sharing of best practice and the discussion of up-to-date issues. From this Alex gained further knowledge and understanding of mob grazing, animal impact and soil management.
And so began his soil farming journey......
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Our Soil Journey
Unashamedly nerdy about soil, Alex and his team are continuously developing their farming practices to help provide a sustainable and environmentally friendly future for Rotmell Farming Enterprises.
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He quickly found out that soil quality was a fundamental indicator of the health of his land. Over several years he has set out to build up his Soil Organic Matter (SOM) and thus increase the millions of symbiotic microscopic living life forms, which recycle and move nutrients through his farm soil. Expanding pasture plant diversity has increased the quantity of the microscopic soil life forms which in turn has enhanced the link between plant species, fungi and bacteria. Since coming to these conclusions he has continued to build and improve his soil quality, establishing a stronger resilience to climatic factors.
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