Chefs and farmers team up for a natural winner
enables us to manage the land better, more sensitively, including reducing fertiliser levels, grazing less intensively and laying new hedges and planting trees.
“There’s a turnaround with consumers now and the provenance of their food is a real issue even in an economic downturn and they want to know that we are farming with real care.”
At Lower Thrift Farm, Harvey Richards is keen to promote education as well as produce high quality meat. “I am really concerned about how distanced people are from the production of their food,” says Harvey.
Grazing at the 250-acre farm includes ten acres with access to the River Teme at Whitbourne, which is a Site of Specific Scientific Interest (SSSI). The holding has been in the countryside stewardship scheme since 2001 and abuts a Special Wildlife Site (SWS).
The principal livestock is a 400-head ewe flock but Harvey also keeps rare breeds such as Tamworth pigs and 90 traditional Hereford cattle, all recognised by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. The farming is distinctly non-intensive with emphasis on slow maturing, total traceability and the exclusion of artificial additives and antibiotics. This is Slow Food in action.
Last year, the farm hosted 16 farm visits by schoolchildren and Harvey believes educating children about the links between farming and the food on their plate is crucial. He says: “We want to target inner city kids. We had one group from Merry Hill and they were delightful. Some of them had never been out of their suburbs. Can you believe that?”
Such visits help to combat cultural misunderstandings and prejudices towards farming practices, not lest the dispatching of beasts.
Harvey says: “So many of the children who visit us are going to be vegetarians because they think it is cruel to kill animals. We have a viewing spot where you can see the patchwork of fields we have and if we did not have animals they would not be there. It would be open arable land.
“We have beautiful countryside because animals have been kept here for hundreds and hundreds of years. All the animals here have a good life, they are quiet and contented. You get the children on side very quickly.”
The same philosophy rules at Newton Court, where father and son Tom and Paul Stephens have turned some of Herefordshire’s oldest orchards over to organic cider production as part of their mixed farm. They have entered a higher level stewardship scheme and are convinced that “farming for the environment,” rather than against it, is the way forward at the 200-year-old holding and the industry as a whole.
Tom says: “One of our bigger priorities is establishing, maintaining and ‘gapping’ our orchards, planting a new perry orchard and improving our ancient buildings. Timber-framed buildings are an intrinsic and historic part of the farm which must be preserved. We have also undertaken fencing and hedge laying and general improvements to the fabric of the farm.”
The majority of Newton Court’s 6,000 gallons of cider and perry is sold at the farm gate – organic fruit is also sold to other organic cider producers – and Paul, an agricultural mechanic by trade, is convinced that natural farming is the future, rather than a fad.
“I think it is important for people to identify where their food comes from,” says Paul, aged 39. “I don’t think a lot of people are aware of the implications of organic farming and of how important it is, but we are trying to make people aware.
“Organic farming is going to play a big part in sustainability, whether we like it or not. We are great believers that the way farming is being done at the moment is not sustainable,” adds Paul.
However, he concedes that adhering to ethical farming and food practices can mean walking an economic tightrope. Paul says: “The downside for us is the credit crunch because we are feeling the pinch. We are finding it very difficult to sell at a premium.”
The farm has a 22-head suckler herd of Hereford crosses but can only get the same price at market as non-organic beef, despite the additional rearing costs. Fortunately, Newton Court has its own organic feed for the cattle as Paul says it would cost an extra 25-30 per cent to buy this in. Similarly, the farm cannot sell its organic oats in the current market. It needs to sell at £120 per ton but is being offered just £80. “We are hoping someone will want it. In the meantime, we have got to sit on it,” adds Paul.
There are then considerable short-term obstacles to the type of food/farming relationship that chefs and farmers are eager to develop, fulfilling as they do both ethical considerations and a desire for “homegrown” produce.
It is a war that Prue Leith, for one, considers worth waging. She says: “The food our farmers grow is not only some of the best in the world but it is also a vital part of our culture and heritage. It is also important to realise that food produced in harmony with the environment is not just for the well-heeled. Inexpensive, locally grown ordinary veg often has more flavour than the priciest imported stuff.”
* The Nature of Food can be downloaded from Natural England’s website at: www.naturalengland.org.uk. For information about environmental stewardship schemes, go to www.naturalengland.org.uk/es
