Mike Wilkins

NFU Combinable Crops Board appointee, South

Mike is a fourth generation farmer based in North Wiltshire, where he lives with his soon-to-be husband, Matt, and their whippet, Todd. At home, he works alongside his Mum, Dad and sister, where they farm around 2,000 acres, primarily arable, a mix of in-house and contract farmed.

They also run a range of native rare breed livestock: British White cattle, Oxford Sandy & Black pigs and Wiltshire Horn sheep, plus non-native Boer goats.

Mike is also manager of CP Farming ltd, a 4,000 acre mixed estate in Wiltshire and Gloucestershire.

Previously, he studied Agriculture & Business Management at The Royal Agricultural University and also spent an additional year there as chair of the Students' Union.

His main passion in agriculture is a transition to more environmentally conscious farming, whilst maintaining food production.

Having taken great inspiration from the regenerative movement, he is reducing tillage, increasing cover cropping and incorporating livestock and herbal leys. 

He is looking to understand impacts on soil carbon from varying cropping and establishment techniques to optimise rotations to maximise and retain soil carbon. He is also increasing low input cropping, growing miscanthus and exploring agroforestry.

He strongly supports the NFU’s net zero target, but to achieve this he believes that in the need to focus on neutralising farming's internal emission and in-setting within our supply chains before selling our good work out of the industry.