Farming on the urban fringe

The land I farm sits just above the town of Holmfirth, close enough that the music from every festival and event can be heard from every corner of the small bit of land I work. Not that I mind the noise, it can be quite nice to have music to work along to. There are 9 acres in total, about 2 of which I currently use. The land itself was somewhat abandoned when I took it on, as the owner tells me, his cows kept escaping and been so close to the town, it was a problem. In the 20 years that followed the hedges turned into fully blooming trees, many other trees have sprouted and brambles as tall as me have taken over large swathes of every field. Hence why I'm around 2 acres into a very large 9 acre project of getting the fields back into a more workable productive state.

The fields are surrounded on 3 and a bit sides by houses. The access points into the fields are tricky to say the least, a single track road on the 2 accesible sides leads up to the main entrance and driveways, cars and houses sit sometimes infront or right next to those access points. I have ony ever farmed in my own right in urban areas so when I first arrived to start working the land at Holmfirth I wasn't sure what reception I would get. I've found people become attached to the surrounding landscape, espcially if it has remained the same for a long time. They don't like their view to be changed, even in so much as the grass being cut or livestock grazing. Indeed when I turned up one lady told me what a shame it was that I would be introducing livestock as there are deer that live in the space. I think people fear the unknown. I try to run my chicken farm in the most ecologically friendly way I can, I practice regenerative farming, moving the chickens regularly, I practice soil sequestration and am cautious about how tidy the place looks or how much noise I make. I have no desire to harm the landscape or the wildlife that lives there but people do need food and I do need to make a living. When I say I'm a chicken farmer its no surprise that the worst images come to mind, big industrial sheds, thousands of birds, pungent smells and polluted waterways.

Since starting farming pasture raised chickens 5 years ago a lot of my neighbours have been so kind and incredibly supportive, they enjoy walking past and seeing the chickens out in the field, they like to see how things change throughout the year and what progress i'm making but on the flip side I have also been verbally attacked because my neighbours didn't want chickens in the fields next to them. I have been told despite trying to be very considerate that unlike my bigger farming neighbours I can't cut the grass on the weekends because its not within regular working hours and its too noisy, I have been accused of harming badgers because I dared to cut my grass nearby which makes a noise. I can confirm that deers still live on the land and so do the badgers and they are in no way affected by the work I do and live alongside the chickens quite happily. As a farmer on the urban fringe then it is fair to say I face some challenges.

It was interesting then when I received an email from a charity called The Countryside Charity who have recently released a report about the importance of urban fringe farming.

Read the report here.

The report makes a series of recommendations for government, many of which I support. Some of the suggestions included are:

• Encouraging sustainable, small scale agriculture in the countryside around towns and particularly the increased production of food for local markets.

• Identify urban fringe areas as priorities for supporting nature and sustainable land management

• Provide strategic oversight of the total land available and needed for a secure supply of food under sustainable land management.

• Offer a targeted package of actions within the SFI for urban fringe farming to accelerate the transition to sustainable farming and increase wider public benefits.

• Provide an attractive small farm package of bundled up actions to make SFI easy to enter for nature friendly smallholdings, especially market gardens and community supported farms.

As someone who doesn't own any land and doesn't work a large area help from the government is currently non existent. But why should I get help anyway? Well that can be a long complex answer but simply put, if I didn't sell my produce direct to customers I couldn't afford to farm the way I do and even then it can be very tough financially. Bigger farms don't have it any easier, they may be able to sell wholesale but they often don't get to decide how much their produce is sold for, that is dictated to them in spite of the cost of production. Yes it means food has been cheaper for customers but it was subsidised by tax payers, in large part so farmers could actually afford to produce it. Those subsidies are now gone and the future of British farming seems pretty bleak.

I'm part of a movment of producers who are trying to change food production, encourage people to shop small, local and sustainable. It's tough, for anything to change everyone needs to be on board, not just farmers and growers. While urban fringe farmland is decreasing and the number of farm holdings is decreasing, there is some hope as more small and very small farm holdings in the green belt have appeared.

I think the report, like so many others brings up some pretty reasonable suggestions but I won't be holding out hope that policy will change. I guess the conclusion is if you live next to an urban farm, be open minded. Our farms on the urban fringe are necessary and they are doing the best they can with very little support. If you do buy their produce don't expect every item to be in stock all year round, don't expect every item to be a cookie cutter replica and in my case defintely don't expect a reply within 24 hours. What you maybe can expect is fresher produce, unprocessed nutrient dense food, money that is put back into the local area, jobs for local people, a more resiliant supply chain and a chance to connect and enhance your local community.