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Thirteen schools, no formal qualifications, night club PR man. Jake Fiennes鈥� CV doesn鈥檛 make for conventional reading. Then again, he鈥檚 not considered a conventional land manager.

Of course, as Conservation Manager at the 25,000-acre Holkham Estate in North Norfolk where he鈥檚 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 鈥渋mpostor syndrome鈥�, 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 鈥渢wice鈥� and the day after we speak he was visited by the ballerina and Strictly judge Darcey Bussell to talk about 鈥渃onservation鈥�.

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

In person he鈥檚 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鈥檚 cut from a different cloth to others in similarly lofty roles.

After I accept his offer of tea without milk 鈥� apparently, another journalist from a well-known tabloid refused because it might stain her teeth 鈥� 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

鈥淚f 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 鈥� we haven鈥檛 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鈥檝e 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鈥檙e producing, and how we鈥檙e producing it.鈥�

This climate crisis is inextricably linked to the biodiversity crisis, he adds. 鈥淲here there is fully functioning nature, carbon is being sequestered and captured. Wherever you have nature - whether that鈥檚 in a rainforest in South America or on the North Norfolk coast - carbon is being captured and sequestered.鈥�

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. 鈥淚 just get slightly frustrated with the argument that we鈥檙e the most nature-depleted country in the world. When I walk out of my office, I see quite a lot of nature.鈥�

Language, he stresses, is important. 鈥淧eople 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鈥檚 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.

鈥淏ecause 70% of the UK is farmed, your biggest, easiest, lowest-hanging fruit is agriculture. In my career, I鈥檝e seen the impacts of agriculture on biodiversity, and I鈥檝e addressed it. We can make positive changes, and we can bring back species that have been lost.鈥�

Although he voted remain, he believes Brexit offers a chance to help this reset. 鈥淔rom 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鈥檚 a bit of a no-brainer, if I鈥檓 honest.鈥�

But he鈥檚 also frustrated at the pace of change. 鈥淭his government has commissioned three reviews. Food strategy 鈥� no response. Dasgupta, probably the most important review of the lot 鈥� 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.

鈥淎nd 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.鈥�

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

Restorative agriculture

Jakes own prescription 鈥� restorative agriculture (he prefers the term to regenerative) 鈥� 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 鈥� 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 鈥� arguably the Holkham Estate鈥檚 most famous owner 鈥� 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.

鈥淭he 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鈥檚 what agriculture has lost. It鈥檚 lost its connection with caring for our natural assets,鈥� 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鈥檛 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鈥檚 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. 鈥淚 spoke to our farm manager and I said, 鈥楥an 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?鈥� And the answer was yes to all three.

鈥淚f he鈥檚 reduced his fertiliser and diesel, he鈥檚 reduced his inputs, therefore increased his profit. So he has a more profitable business. We鈥檝e made space for nature, we鈥檝e increased biodiversity, so everyone wins.

鈥淢y approach still allows for the production of sustainable, economic, environmental food production. It still allows for the increase in yields, because you鈥檙e not farming the land that actually doesn鈥檛 produce a sufficient quantity, so by default, your average yields increase.鈥�

He recognises that simply replicating what he鈥檚 doing at Holkham won鈥檛 work everywhere, but stresses the importance of context, nuance and land鈥檚 capabilities. 鈥淐ontext is the most important principle of regenerative agriculture, but isn鈥檛 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.鈥�

Soon the world will be able to read about his ideas as Land Healer, his 鈥減art memoir, part manifesto鈥�, is due to be published this summer. 鈥淚 hadn鈥檛 planned to write a book, but everyone thought I should. So I got advice
from friends who鈥檝e written books and they thought that I have a story to tell.鈥�

He admits his, as he terms it, 鈥渦nfortunate鈥� surname 鈥� his siblings include the actors Ralph and Joseph 鈥� may also have played a part in the decision. 鈥淵ou want to be recognised for what you do and not what others do.鈥�

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鈥檚 certainly something not many people can include on their CVs.