What made you decide to go into farming?
We have had small numbers of cattle and sometimes pigs for about 18 years to manage the land and produce a small amount of organic meat for my friends and family. The big shift into farming came four years ago when I bought the adjacent farm which doubled the land holding to 270 acres. The majority of what I bought was heavily commercial arable land and I knew I didn’t want to continue with that. So the question was ‘if not that, what do I want to do then?’
What do you produce on your farm?
We still produce small amounts of beef and pork. We sell piglets and we have bee hives so we sometimes have honey to sell. I did start a market garden last year but couldn’t make that enterprise financially viable. But as we all need to eat more organic, locally grown veg then someone has to start growing it! So, I continue to strive to find a way to make that work – watch this space! We begin our arable this year and will grow beans and barley for feeding the pigs and I also plan to sow heritage wheat in the autumn which we will mill into flour next year.
You've been doing lots of work to increase biodiversity and support wildlife on your farm. Can you tell us about some of the projects you've been working on/what you’re most excited about?
We’ve done so much across the estate, it’s hard to know where to begin with this! We have put up lots of nest boxes, built beetle banks and butterfly banks, planted new hedgerows, planted parkland trees to create wood pasture for the animals to graze around. We have started to actively manage the woodland and used the brush from the trees to create multiple habitat piles. We have large areas of untouched bramble and blackthorn scrub, for the birds and butterflies. We also have a raptor feeding table. Our most exciting development is the wetlands that we have created. So many new species have arrived and we hope to get beavers at some point too.
What changes do you hope to see in the farming industry over the next 5-10 years?
At present, the current government are not investing into sustainable or environmental farming practices as much as the previous one, so I am concerned that more farms won’t make these changes going forward. However, with rising costs of fertilisers and pesticides/herbicides, I do hope that more farmers will be attracted to improving soil health with agroecological land management practices. This will help insect populations and be healthier for everyone.
I am an eternal optimist so I do believe we are heading in the right direction and that there is a growing number of mostly younger farmers wanting to completely change their approaches and be more accommodating to all wildlife due to the massive benefits they bring.
Please check out what we are doing at www.bigwoodestate.co.uk or follow us #thebigwoodestate