For farms looking to improve productivity and reduce environmental impact, one of the biggest opportunities lies in treating the whole farming system as connected rather than separate. Pollybell Farm is exploring that approach through a project focused on nutrient management, biochar and the relationship between arable production and poultry waste.
Pollybell Farm is a fifth-generation family farming business covering around 5,000 acres and growing vegetables, salads and cereals for a range of customers. The farm is also organic, with poultry manure playing an important role in maintaining soil fertility.
Led by owner James Brown, the business used Launchpad funding to investigate how it could make better use of waste streams already present within the farm system.
Using biochar to retain nutrients
Pollybell Farm 
has been developing pyrolysis on the farm. The process thermally decomposes biomass into gases and solid carbon, or biochar. The gas can be used as a source of energy, while the biochar can support farming operations by helping capture nutrients and reduce leaching from the soil.
Through its Launchpad-funded Carbon Clock Char work, Pollybell Farms is exploring how this process can be used more effectively within the wider farm system.
One area of focus has been whether biochar can be added to chicken bedding to reduce emissions from poultry housing. The business has also been testing whether char can be added to stored manure to reduce nutrient loss, emissions and odour.
Integrating the chicken and arable supply chain
At the heart of the project is a simple question: can the farm create a more circular system in which nutrients are retained and reused rather than lost?
Pollybell Farm grows wheat, some of which is used for chicken feed. Poultry manure then returns to the farm. The project is helping the business explore how biochar can be used within that cycle to improve nutrient management and make the overall system more sustainable.
James Brown explains:
“This funding has enabled us to look at this whole idea of integrating the chicken and arable supply chain.”
The project has also given the business the time and structure to test, trial and learn before deciding which elements have the strongest commercial potential.
Moving from trial to scale
The next stage for Pollybell Farm is to identify which applications show the greatest promise and develop them further. The business is already building on what it has learned from the trials and considering how the strongest ideas can be scaled within its operations.
For James, this is one of the key benefits of innovation funding: creating the space to test something properly, share the findings and build confidence before making larger commercial decisions.
The project reflects a wider whole-system approach to farming, where soil health, carbon, biodiversity, animal welfare and crop management are considered as part of one interconnected system.
For Pollybell Farm, the Launchpad has helped turn an idea around nutrient management into a structured research and development project, with the potential to improve efficiency, reduce emissions and support a more circular farming system.