Very exciting to be here. But im trying to understand what has happened to this land of yours, because when you arrived here, this was an intensively farmed land, wasnt it . It was. My husband, charlie, inherited it from his grandparents when he was in his early 20s, and this was back in the 1980s. And every inch of the land was ploughed, it was producing arable crops and dairy. And we fully expected to be farmers for the rest of our lives. Mm. 17 years on, we were £1. 5 million in debt, tearing our hair out and realised that, you know, this is very marginal land. Were walking on 320 metres of clay, over a bedrock of limestone, and its an absolute pig to farm. So you were literally close to going out of business . Yeah, the farm was a failing business. And we did everything we could. We diversified, we tried different crops, we tried different cows. We sold ice cream. We did everything we could. But always it was this clay that was against us. So lets just stop for a second and look a
ah, well, it s actually still, for me, very exciting to be here. but i m trying to understand what has happened to this land of yours, because when you arrived here, this was an intensively farmed land, wasn t it? it was. my husband, charlie, inherited it from his grandparents when he was in his early 20s, and this was back in the 1980s. and every inch of the land was ploughed, it was producing arable crops and dairy. and we fully expected to be farmers for the rest of our lives. mm. 17 years on, we were £1.5 million in debt, tearing our hair out, and realised that, you know, this is very marginal land. we re walking on 320 metres of clay, over a bedrock of limestone, and it s an absolute pig to farm. so you were literally close to going out of business? yeah, the farm was a failing business. and we did everything we could. we diversified, we tried different crops, we tried different cows. we sold ice cream. we did everything we could. but always it was this clay that was ag
talking about the kind of areas that we need for nature. but in our minds, marginal land that can be productive for nature is as important as food because the two are completely intertwined. but how can you convince people who are paying ever higher prices in their supermarket for basic foodstuffs, even bread? how can you convince them that that is true? we cannot continue intensively farming as we are. we know that if we continue ploughing our lands, we re wasting topsoil. we re losing topsoil at a massive rate. there s 60 harvests left in the planet, according to some statistics the un statistics. so we ve got to shift to a regenerative form of agriculture, and that s going to be working with nature rather than against it. but if i may say so, this isn t about regenerative agriculture. this is about giving the land to this word again rewilding. exactly. so rewilding is working
wasted. we have to address that issue further for we start talking about the kind of areas that need for nature. but in our minds, marginal [and that can be productive for major is as important as food, because the two are completely intertwined. the two are completely intertwined. ., intertwined. but how can you convince intertwined. but how can you convince people intertwined. but how can you convince people who - intertwined. but how can you convince people who are - intertwined. but how can you i convince people who are paying ever higher prices in the supermarket for basic food stuffs, even brad, how can you convince them that that is true? ~ ., true? we cannot continue intensively true? we cannot continue intensively farming - true? we cannot continue intensively farming as - true? we cannot continue intensively farming as we | true? we cannot continue - intensively farming as we are. we know that if we continue ploughing our lands, we are wasting topsoil, losing topsoil
first before we start talking about the kind of areas that we need for nature. but in our minds, marginal land that can be productive for nature is as important as food because the two are completely intertwined. but how can you convince people who are paying ever higher prices in their supermarket for basic foodstuffs, even bread? how can you convince them that that is true? we cannot continue intensively farming as we are. we know that if we continue ploughing our lands, we re wasting topsoil. we re losing topsoil at a massive rate. there s 60 harvests left in the planet, according to some statistics the un statistics. so we ve got to shift to a regenerative form of agriculture, and that s going to be working with nature rather than against it. but if i may say so, this isn t about regenerative agriculture. this is about giving the land to this word again rewilding. exactly. so rewilding is working