Farming Sustainably

Sustainable farming uses techniques that imitate nature such as preservation of soil fertility, preventing water pollution and protecting biodiversity.

We minimise the use of fossil fuels

… by using our tractor as little as possible and moving our free-range animals TO their food whenever we can (on their own legs!) unlike many conventional farms which DRIVE the feed to the animals that are often kept in a barn.

As our animals are outside for most of their lives, there is also less mucking out of their sheds and moving dung around with a tractor.

Most significantly, we do not use any high-emitting artificial nitrates or pesticides or any emission-heavy grain or concentrates for our animal feed.

We supply the majority of our food to the local community with occasional runs into London or Oxford using an electric vehicle and nothing is shipped in or sent abroad.

Our long term goal is to be carbon negative

… by capturing carbon in both our plants and our soils. We are planting lots of trees and hedges (which are actually rows of native trees) on the farm but soil is actually a much bigger potential carbon sink than vegetation.

Conventional agricultural practices can cause the release of carbon from the soil when it is damaged by machinery or chemicals. In contrast, organic pasture is not ploughed but is left to rest for year after year. As a result, it can be a powerful carbon sink as plants draw carbon dioxide down from the air, converting it into simple sugars and, in healthy undisturbed soils, this sugar-carbon can be converted into long-lasting, stable carbon compounds that remain in the soil for years to come.

Getting carbon back into our soils is a very significant potential element of the solution to climate change and also makes our soils healthier, more water-retentive and more productive.

We harness and use the natural elements

… such as the sun, rain and healthy soil which is planted with perennial grasses and plants to feed our animals which in turn can feed us with nutritious, natural beef and lamb.

This is in stark contrast to other farming and food production methods which rely heavily on fossil fuels for machinery as well as high-emission artificial nitrates, animal feeds and ingredients which are shipped around the world.

“Our plants are grown with what is naturally available to them and that’s all we feed our animals with. Our sustainable food production uses not much more than sunlight and water!”

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