Bringing life back to the farm

It is undoubtedly a good thing that we are scrutinising the environmental impact of food production. But the so-called solution is reductionist and nonsensical. It never fails to amaze how the highly-processed, factory-produced, 25+ ingredient plant-based alternative is touted as the answer to climate change. All whilst the cattle and sheep grazing on pasture that cannot be used for any other food-producing purpose, remains to be the perpetrator. Fake meat burgers aside, intensive production of other plant based foods isn’t without its own set of damning environmental problems.

In the reality of a sustainable world, all food production works together and prioritises a healthy soil. Organic fruit and vegetable farmers rely on livestock manure as a natural fertiliser. Non-organic farmers use synthetic alternatives – manmade chemicals that degrade essential nutrients in the soil (and therefore inhibit future growth) and cause a cascade of other problems, including collecting in water sources and killing plants, fish, and birds. The upshot is that our entire landscape is being devastated by intensive farming methods. Whether that be plants or animals.

Since founding we have worked with small-scale farmers who prioritise extensive free-range farming. Contrary to popular belief, this doesn’t solely refer to the space a particular animal has to roam. Extensive free-range farming addresses the bigger picture; including how we can encourage more biodiversity in our countryside, and how we can make our soils more resilient and productive for years and decades to come.

We recently visited our primary sheep farmer, Tom, who practices extensive free-range farming. Despite the intensive methods that his father and grandfather employed on the same land, Tom is actively involved in conservation projects. Restoring in excess of twenty ponds, most of which were drained in the 80s to create more space for livestock, has since welcomed otters, kingfishers, verging-on extinct eels, and undoubtedly a variety of plant species and insects to the farm.

We also met Nick, a third-generation hedge layer, who is skilfully hand laying miles of hedgerow around Tom’s farm each year. This craft was almost entirely wiped out by the much quicker and easier option of machinery and barbed wire (combined with government incentives post-war to remove hedgerows and make space for food production). Doing things the traditional way generates a habitat for birds, small mammals and insects, as well as creating a natural barrier to manage livestock grazing.

Tom regularly plants seed for birds and attracts Meadow Pipits, Linnets and Sky Larks in their hundreds – quite possibly thousands. The noise is astonishing when used to the call of just a handful of birds at one time. There are vast wild flower meadows, conservation grazing with New Forest wild ponies, and though less idyllic (but no-less important) the clearing of invasive rhododendrons.

Of course, there are also native breeds of hill sheep across the farm. The sheep graze land that either can’t be ploughed or needs regenerating. This is done by allowing the sheep to winter on stubble turnips, then ploughing the sheep manure into the soil as the next cycle of growing begins. As a result, the need for artificial nitrogen is reduced.

A sustainable existence on earth relies on biodiversity and encouraging new life. However tempting it might be to argue one way or the other when it comes to meat eating or veganism, dichotomous arguments in relation to sustainable food are prohibitive for progress. We’re all on the same side. And we need to be on the same side as nature.