Letter to Farm Team

Hi Jo, and all the team fyi..

Have called the egg buyers and they are coming to visit us - and also looking to start their own buyers club in london...

We are not "certified organic" or referring to ourselves as organic - to do so you need certification....

Today there is huge misinformation, pseudo science and pr propaganda against "organic" being organised and unfortunately the term "organic" is seen as a bit elitist and "expensive" ...public perceptions just like politicians are bought using every trick in the book plus cash (one chemical company alone has 100x more marketing spend and a marketing department bigger than the whole of the Soil Association in its entirety .... global agri-business and supermarkets disregard the law, are more powerful than any Westminster politician, and are so dominant that even the tiny organic market is seen as such a threat they spend huge effort in crushing it... why.... because they are scared the truth will out and they will be crushed..

So we term our farm "ecological food and farming" and want to create great local food and deliver it at supermarket prices, putting ethics, social and environment first so not selling abused animals or air freighted stuff or stuff that's been sprayed with carcinogens etc... this will continue to be how we describe and market ourselves. Most importantly our aim is to involve our customers totally in the farm...

Personally am a life member and active supporter of the Soil Association as I believe they do brilliant and important work, if it was not for a handful of people there would be no choice for consumers, what the founders and drivers of the Soil Association have achieved against all the odds over the past 40 years is truly amazing. Ben Raskin and Anna Basset and others at the SA have given us much good advise over past 20 months.

In terms of rural sustainability and creating an agrarian renaissance there is lots of great thinking and examples under many "labels" from silvi-culture, permaculture, biodynamic and urban gardening to forms of connecting farms directly with people like CSA's, Farm Shops (currently growing 5%), Farmers Markets and Veg Boxes - methods of directly connecting people, farmers and the land that are vitally important to creating a sustainable business.

In my view any business to be sustainable in the long term, must not rely on any one product, any one person and needs say 100 or more core customers - else there's the all eggs in one basket syndrome. Farms used to be the model of sustainable long term enterprise, until the past 30 years when through subsidy and deliberate policy our farms were driven in the main to mono-culture, commoditized and therefore focused not on producing food, but on specialising in one commodity. Now the trouble for most farmers is not whether they are organic or not but that they are price takers and selling a commodity. Our aim is to combine all of this great thinking into what we do here, and so not being labelled "organic" "biodynamic" or anything in particular enables us to take the best from all and produce great local food for people that we are proud of, but always be open to new thinking and change in the light of new evidence or reason.

I do see certification as a thing to do. However right now the most important thing is connecting DIRECT with customers, differentiating ourselves, showing them the farm, explaining what we do one2one, then through the web, but focusing on building personal relationships and demonstrating an ecological farm that produces food. We are creating customers direct rather than selling through a label and a long distribution channel involving supermarkets. This is more than just an "organic" label and it is an attempt to reconnect people with land, place, food ... and go beyond this as we have already.. in seeing the farm as a multi-level local service centre, a hub of local enterprise and a sustainable new model local food and farming;

Our first focus is to create a sustainable farm and local food system (not all organic is), through a whole farm to food, social, environmental and ecological approach, built on diversity, poly culture and an long term "do the right thing and try and make it work" mindset,

Other examples of taking a different approach are

• the Orchard which is not sprayed at all - even "organic" orchards can be sprayed and treated with things like copper sulphate. Because our orchard is more than just an orchard... its a chicken pen.... will be a lovely place for picnics, weddings, funerals we can "evolve" an orchard accepting some losses. It is also very extensively laid out and uses trees, and contains 130 varieties... rather than many monocultural systems which are now all apple bushes. This "arboriculture" approach is also called by some people a "permaculture" approach. Its the detail not label that counts though....
• our pigs get to graze grass as do all the animals... that is vital, hardly any pigs have this luxury. Science shows this is vital for the good fats to be present in the meat

This is not knocking organic certification as a route for us, and one we will follow by going into certification next spring - rather than this September as planned due to simple priorities right now - BUT even after conversion and certification this will not be how we describe, sell or market ourselves, but be a part of what we do.

Hope this makes sense to all, as with everything I am free to discuss anything at anytime, thank you all for your help and support - we are onto something quite special here and can be really proud of our achievements in 18 months, and everyday we will get better, by all just doing our best, but remembering that each of us must also look after ourselves in order to be able to help others.

Its a weird time, there will be change everyday, there will be backward steps and upsets, but two steps forward and one back, is still progress. A year ago there was just me on the farm and emma, the sheep had just come, no veg, first chickens arrived and just some of the fencing done... as Vera Lynn sang.... "keep on smiling through as I know you always do".... and remember that I can help you at anytime all you do is ask, its my job to solve problems with you and figure out better ways of doing things with you or getting resources and help for you... am available 24/7 for this. Nothing is more important to me than this. There is so much going on I just need to ask you to shout when needed, nothing should be a stress for more than a day for instance without being resolved...

Clarifications like this note I will issue as soon as anyone brings up questions and challenges.... clarity is reliant on you asking questions, success and less stress relies on all of us working together better everyday, this is happening. There are many un-communicated plans and so much to communicate that it's impossible to push it all to everyone without overburdening, so please ask for clarification of things as jo has here as they come up to you......

Comments in the Guardian from yours truly in response to the media hype on organic being no better nutrition....... http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jul/29/organic-food-nutrition-fsa?commentid=188f7392-7fdf-42d1-8804-7d3541ea9bcc