Agriculture Case Studies
Shropshire Group
The
Shropshire Group is a leading UK supplier of Salad and
Vegetable crops to supermarkets, processors and wholesale customers,
importing and exporting produce world-wide. Since the early 70's
The Shropshire Group under its branded market name “G's”
have recognised the importance of managing farms in an environmentally
responsible manner. As part of G’s approach to biodiversity,
the company recently entered into its first countryside stewardship
agreement which will run form 2003/4 – 2013/14. Under the
agreement the company aims to enhance its biodiversity activity
by converting their set-aside acres to permanent status to be managed
as game cover. The company also added four beetle banks in their
organically farmed acres making the total number of banks to six.
The agreement also includes: sowing areas of pollen and nectar mix
with a high content of legume seeds, replanting or laying of hedges
where necessary and establishing 2 meter margins along all hedges
and ditches.
Having been awarded the Cambridgeshire Biodiversity Challenge County
Award to G's Cambridgeshire Farms, the company since 2000 has had
one of its G’s farms as part of the LEAF
(Linking Farming and Environment) demonstration farm- a
DEFRA Countrywide
Stewardship Scheme (CSS) initiative
The company is also working with Local Biodiversity Partnerships
to allow their farms to be used in a case study for the Farmers
biodiversity Pack which provides concise, expert advice on farm
management that can benefit the local environment.
Balliefurth Farm
In the heart of the Cairngorms National Park, Balliefurth Farm
lying on the river Spey, considers sustainable land management practices
as imperative to the survival of its business. The farm witnessed
the consequences of unsustainable farming practices during flooding
in 1990, and has since taken steps to ensure that the survival of
its business is not threatened by environmental events.
The owners of Balliefurth Farm have developed a habitat management
plan as part of its holistic business model, diversifying the activities
on the farm and land management. They have opened a bed and breakfast,
are carrying out woodland management for indigenous species, encourage
different wild flowers and grasses into the fields, rotate fields,
have put up interpretive signs on the Speyside foot-path that passes
through the land, and input into discussions with other farmers
and land owners under the LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming)
Scheme (see below). One of the owners also sits on the National
Parks Board and both work closely with the Local Biodiversity partnership.
The farm now has some 90 suckler cows and 190 ewes grazed on the
farm’s fields, butchered locally and consumed by the community
and Bed and Breakfast guests. The diversity of activities provides
for a variety of income sources as well as balancing different land-uses
with conservation objectives, reducing future economic or environmental
risks.
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