Charlotte's Blog | Orchard Farm (Bucks)

Notes from Orchard Farm

Farming is experienced season by season.

The Orchard Farm blog is where we record some of that experience: developments in the flock, changes in the landscape, wildlife observations, new planting, work in the orchard and the gradual evolution of the farm.

We will also occasionally look beyond our boundaries at scientific or technological developments that have caught our interest.

Some posts will be practical. Some will be ecological. Others may explore an interesting piece of agricultural or biological research.

Together they tell the continuing story of Orchard Farm.

Farming regeneratively • Nurturing biodiversity • Informed by bioscience

As the fourth generation of my farming family and a Master’s student and researcher in Biological Sciences at the University of Warwick, I am passionate about applying bioscience to the challenges of regenerative farming — improving soil and plant health while helping biodiversity to thrive.

7th September 2026

Lab-Grown Meat: Where the UK Actually Stands Right Now

There's a lot of noise around lab-grown meat, some excited, some horrified, most slightly out of date.

Here's what's actually happening in the UK, based on what regulators have published.

What it actually is

The official term is "cell-cultivated products" (CCPs). They're made by taking cells from plants or animals and growing them under controlled conditions, rather than rearing an animal or growing a crop conventionally. A chicken burger made this way is made from real chicken cells, just grown outside a chicken.

Nothing is approved yet, but the process has changed

No cell-cultivated product is approved for sale in the UK. Several applications sit with the Food Standards Agency (FSA), which expects more in the coming years.

What's changed is how applications get assessed. The FSA, with Food Standards Scotland, launched a regulatory "sandbox", a first for Europe, working alongside companies before formal applications rather than leaving them to submit a huge dossier and wait. It runs until February 2027 and has already published guidance on hygiene, product identity, allergenicity, nutrition, and taste trials. One useful clarification: cell-cultivated products made from animal cells will be regulated as products of animal origin, slotting them into an existing legal framework rather than building a new one from scratch.

Why the slow pace has been a sore point

British companies, including Oxford-based Ivy Farm Technologies, have been developing cultivated steaks for years and say the wait has held them back compared with Singapore and the US, where products are already cleared. Ivy Farm applied in 2023. The FSA's own chief scientist has admitted there wasn't a single, clear route to approval, which the sandbox is meant to fix. As proof of concept, the FSA has committed to completing full safety assessments for two products within its two-year window.

One product already on UK shelves

Cultivated meat is already available in Britain, just not for people. Dog food made with cultivated meat has gone on sale, because pet food sits under a less stringent regime than human food.

What's genuinely contested

Conflict of interest. Close collaboration between regulators and applicants in the sandbox has drawn criticism over industry influence on the rules used to assess them.
Processing concerns. Some question whether cultivated meat counts as an ultra-processed food.

It's banned elsewhere. Italy and several US states, including Alabama and Florida, have banned its sale outright, so the UK's cautious-but-open stance isn't a universal direction of travel.

Where this leaves things

Nothing is on a shelf yet, and anyone naming an exact date is guessing. But the regulatory machinery has shifted from "no clear process" to a structured, published pathway with real timelines, which matters more than it sounds.

24th August 2026

Viruses vs Bacteria: Could Phages Save Your Cabbages ?

What are bacteriophages

You've probably heard of viruses that make you ill. Here's a stranger idea: viruses that make bacteria ill, and that farmers might soon be spraying on crops. That's what bacteriophages, or "phages" for short, are. They're viruses that infect and kill bacteria, and nothing else. Right now, researchers are looking at whether they can control one of the nastiest diseases in brassicas: black rot.

The problem: black rot

Black rot is caused by a bacterium called Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris, or Xcc for short. It attacks cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and other brassicas, working its way into leaves and the plant's vascular system, and leaving V-shaped, blackened lesions along the leaf edges. It's been a headache for growers for decades: outbreaks in the 1990s wiped out 23-90% of crops in some countries, and disease losses topping $35,000 were still being reported in the US as recently as 2019.

The usual tools, copper sprays and antibiotics, aren't holding up well. Bacteria are becoming resistant to both, and copper also builds up in soil and water over time, which isn't great for anyone. So there's a real gap for something new.

Why phages are the solution

Phages are everywhere. Every bacterium has phages that specifically target it. That specificity is the appealing part: a phage that targets Xcc won't touch the beneficial bacteria living on or around your crop, unlike a broad chemical spray. As one review puts it, phage-mediated biocontrol is becoming a viable option precisely because phages occur naturally and are safe for disease management.

Once a phage finds its target, it injects its genetic material into the bacterium, hijacks it to make copies of itself, then bursts the cell open to release them. It's brutal, but it's also self-limiting. Phages only multiply while there are bacteria to infect, so once the disease is under control, the phage population naturally declines too.

Is anyone using this yet ?

A little, though it's early days. Xanthomonas phage products are already commercially available from Certis USA under the brand Agri Phage, however black rot doesn't have a commercial product yet, but the research is building.

A few examples from recent studies give a sense of where things stand:

In a two-year greenhouse trial, a formulated phage product controlled black rot on cabbage seedlings better than a copper-based pesticide (71% versus 59%).

A field trial in Belgium showed a calcium-chloride-formulated phage cocktail could control a black rot outbreak in an open field, not just a lab dish.

In broccoli trials, two newly isolated phages killed Xcc without touching any of 41 other bacteria sampled from the same plants, showing how selective they can be.

The catch: Xcc doesn't play fair

Here's the complication. Xcc isn't one uniform bacterium. It's a genetically diverse pathogen with many different strains circulating in the field, and a phage that wipes out one strain might do nothing to another. Bacteria can also evolve resistance to a phage, the same way they can to an antibiotic.

The fix that most researchers are working towards is a phage cocktail: a mixture of several phages with different, overlapping host ranges, so that if one strain dodges one phage, another phage in the mix picks it off. But you can't design a good cocktail without first knowing exactly which phages kill which strains, which is a lot of unglamorous lab work testing phage against bacterium, one pairing at a time.

What I actually did this summer

This is where my own project comes in. Working with Josh Walmsley in Mojgan Rabiey's lab at the University of Warwick (my wonderful lab pictured in the image below), we tested six phage isolates against a wide range of Xcc strains to map out exactly who kills whom.

We grew each phage up on its host bacterium, purified it, then ran 24-hour "killing curve" assays: mixing phage with bacteria in 96-well plates and tracking the bacterial population by measuring optical density every 20 minutes (a summary of the procedure can be seen below for any science nerds). If the phage is working, the bacterial growth curve flattens or drops instead of climbing.

We found that the six phages had genuinely different host ranges. Some killed particular Xcc strains completely, others only partially suppressed them, and others didn't touch them at all. That patchiness is exactly what you'd expect given how diverse Xcc is, and it's exactly the kind of data you need before you can start designing a cocktail that covers as many strains as possible

If it works, it's a genuinely different kind of tool for growers: precise, self-limiting, and not reliant on chemistry that bacteria eventually work around.

10th August 2026

Living Inputs: Can Microbes Really Pay Their Way on Your Farm ?

Microbial products are the latest big thing in crop inputs.

Here's a plain-English guide to what they are, what they claim and what's worth your time.

What are Microbial Biostimulants ?

Plant Biostimulants are substances or microorganisms that when applied to plants or the rhizosphere, enhance nutrient use efficiency, abiotic stress tolerance, and/or crop quality traits, without establishing a direct nutrient source. They are being promoted as a promising alternative or supplement to conventional inputs such as fertilisers, to improve nutrient-use efficiency, root function, and plant resilience to adverse soil conditions. They are also a cost-efficient alternative to pricey synthetic fertilisers.

Plant Biostimulants are classified as microbial or non-microbial (such as seaweed extracts and humic substances) depending on their composition. The European Union recognised Microbial Biostimulants as a distinct product category within the fertilising products framework in Regulation (EU) 2019/1009, and the global Biostimulant market is projected to reach 6.8 billion USD by 2030, reflecting their commercial significance and confidence in their efficacy.

My own research led me to exploring all about the microbial biostimulants associated with wheat production, I identified four groups of main interest: plant-growth-promoting bacteria, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, Trichoderma and related fungi, and blends of several organisms, referred to in the literature as SynComs. The category is broad, so it should not be treated as a single type of input.

What's on the shelf ?

The market is big, though nobody agrees how big. Estimates for 2026 run from about $3.4 billion to about $6.5 billion, and microbial products are the fastest-growing slice.

Nitrogen-fixers. Utrisha N (Corteva) is a leaf spray whose bacterium turns nitrogen from the air into a form your crop can use. In a South Australian wheat trial reported in Corteva-supplied material, it lifted yield by around 5% (Farming Ahead).
Fungi. Trichoderma is the best known. One strain, T-22, is even registered in the US as a biological fungicide, which shows how blurry the line is between a biostimulant and a biopesticide.
Mictures/Synthetic communities. Several microbes in one. Great in theory, but they can compete as well as cooperate, so results are harder to predict.

Can they replace fertiliser ?

No, but they can certainly limit the amount of fertiliser you need to buy and use on crops thereby reducing costs. They're meant to help the crop use what's already there, however the nitrogen-fixers blur that line a bit, because they're sold as replacing part of your nitrogen programme.

Price is a big part of why people are curious right now. One industry report says US anhydrous ammonia jumped more than 25% between February and mid-May 2026, topping $1,126 per ton (iGrow News). But a nitrogen-replacement claim only pays if the product costs less than the nitrogen it replaces, and only if the claim holds up on your farm.

So don't treat a biostimulant as a stand-in for a proper fertiliser plan. Results can also be less consistent than with conventional fertilisers.

Who's checking the claims ?

In the UK, less than you would think. Defra accepts that current UK law puts limited or no quality requirements on newer products like biostimulants. A consultation on a new UK Fertilising Product Regulations framework closed on 13 May 2026, and it asked for views on bringing products like plant growth-promoting bacteria into scope. It's worth checking what came of it before you rely on any of this.

In the EU, things are tighter. The Fertilising Products Regulation has applied since July 2022, and manufacturers have to show their products work through efficacy trials. A product with pesticidal properties gets classed as a plant protection product instead.

How I would choose one

Ask which strain is in it, because strains of the same species behave very differently.
Ask who ran the wheat trials. Independent ones in conditions like yours are best.
Check that any disease-control claim comes from an authorised crop protection product.
Trial it yourself with one treated strip and one untreated, compare at harvest, then do the sums.

For independent help, try AHDB's "Myth Busting Biologicals" roadshows.

What did my own research find ?

I reviewed 18 wheat field trials, and adding a microbial biostimulant on top of a normal fertiliser programme raised yield by a median of about 10%. Individual results ranged from a small loss to a very big gain. What made the difference was usually whether the specific strain suited the job, such as drought tolerance or disease pressure, rather than the product category. So the strain and the evidence behind it matter more than what it says on the packaging.

What does regenerative farming mean to us?

“Regenerative agriculture” can mean different things to different people. At Orchard Farm, we keep the definition fairly simple:cCan we leave the productive and ecological resources of the farm in better condition than we found them?

That question influences how we think about grazing, soils, crops, trees, hedgerows, water and biodiversity. It does not mean that productive agriculture becomes secondary. Orchard Farm is a working farm, and farming remains our starting point. But productive land depends upon healthy underlying systems. Grass depends on soil. Crops depend on fertility and water. Livestock depend on pasture. Pollinators depend on flowering plants. Wildlife depends on connected habitats.

For us, regenerative farming means paying closer attention to those relationships and managing the farm in ways that strengthen them over time. It also means taking a long-term view. Some decisions produce an immediate return; others, such as planting trees, restoring habitats or improving soil structure, may take years to show their full value.

The common thread is stewardship. We want Orchard Farm to remain productive, but we also want the farm that passes to the next generation to be healthier, richer in wildlife and more resilient than the one we inherited.

Farming with biodiversity rather than around it

It is easy to think of biodiversity as something that occupies the parts of a farm not being used for agriculture. We increasingly think that is the wrong way to look at it.

At Orchard Farm, hedgerows, field margins, trees, wildflower areas, ponds and woodland are not simply spaces between productive fields. They are part of the structure of the farm itself. They provide shelter, food, pollination, water, habitat and routes through the landscape. They also interact directly with farming. Hedgerows shelter livestock. Pollinating insects support crops and orchard fruit. Healthy soils support grass and plants. Trees influence shade, water and microclimate.

This is why one of our long-term objectives is to improve not just the amount of habitat on the farm, but the connections between different habitats. A pond becomes more valuable when linked to rough vegetation and hedgerows. Woodland becomes more useful to wildlife when species can move safely between it and other parts of the landscape. Wildflower areas become more effective when they form part of a wider network rather than standing alone.

For us, the goal is not to create a farm on one side and nature on the other. It is to develop a productive landscape in which farming and biodiversity increasingly reinforce one another.

Why we chose Romney sheep

When we began developing the livestock side of Orchard Farm, choosing the right breed mattered. We wanted sheep that would suit a predominantly grass-based system, cope well with the conditions of the Chilterns and fit with our long-term approach to the land. Romney sheep offered that combination. They are hardy, adaptable and well suited to grazing systems where good pasture management matters as much as the number of animals carried.

Our aim is to build a high-quality breeding flock over time, with particular attention to health, welfare, genetics and responsible grazing.The flock is rotationally grazed across the farm, giving individual paddocks time to rest and recover. That allows us to make better use of the grass we grow while keeping the number of animals in balance with the productive capacity of the land.

We also value the role that livestock can play within a wider regenerative system when grazing is managed carefully.For us, choosing Romney sheep was therefore about more than choosing a breed.It was about selecting livestock that could become an integral part of the farming system we want to build at Orchard Farm — productive, resilient and closely connected to the health of the land.

What rotational grazing looks like in practice

Rotational grazing sounds simple: move livestock regularly and allow the grass behind them to recover. In practice, it is a constant process of observation. Grass growth changes with the season, rainfall and temperature. One paddock may recover quickly while another needs considerably longer. The condition of the flock matters too.

At Orchard Farm, our Romney sheep move between a series of paddocks rather than remaining continuously on the same ground. The principle is to graze an area and then give it sufficient time to rest. That recovery period allows plants to rebuild their leaf area and root systems before being grazed again.

It can also help maintain stronger pasture and reduce the pressure placed on individual fields. We are still learning from the system. There is no fixed formula that works throughout the year, and good grazing decisions depend on what is actually happening on the ground. That is one of the things we like about rotational grazing. It makes us look more carefully at the relationship between livestock, grass and soil.

It also fits with our wider approach to the farm: use practical experience, observe what the land is telling us and adjust rather than assume one system will work in every season. The objective is not simply to feed sheep efficiently. It is to maintain productive pasture that continues to improve over time.

From hive to honey

Beekeeping gives us one of the clearest examples of how food production and biodiversity meet. Our hives produce honey, but the value of bees to Orchard Farm extends far beyond what eventually reaches the jar.

Throughout the season, the bees move between orchard blossom, wildflowers, hedgerows and other flowering plants across the farm and surrounding countryside. Their activity connects different parts of the landscape. The amount and character of honey produced reflects that changing environment. What is flowering, the weather, the strength of the colonies and the availability of forage all influence the season. Beekeeping therefore encourages us to look at the farm differently.

A hedgerow in flower is not simply a boundary. An orchard is not simply a source of fruit. A wildflower area is not simply attractive. Together, they provide the succession of food sources on which pollinating insects depend.

Managing bees also makes changes in the wider environment particularly noticeable. For us, honey production is therefore both an agricultural activity and a reminder of something more fundamental: a productive farm ultimately depends upon healthy biological relationships extending far beyond the individual crop or animal.

Our Light Sussex chickens

Our free-range Light Sussex chickens are one of the smaller enterprises at Orchard Farm, but they bring a great deal of character to the farm. The Light Sussex is a traditional British breed, immediately recognisable by its white plumage and distinctive black markings. We keep the birds for eggs and also hatch and rear chicks.

Their free-range life means that they are very much part of the everyday landscape of the farm rather than animals kept apart from it. Keeping poultry on this scale gives us another direct connection with food production. An egg collected from the farm is a very simple product, but behind it lies the same principle that runs through much of what we do: good animal care, appropriate surroundings and an understanding of the needs of the animals we keep.

The chickens also add diversity to Orchard Farm. Alongside sheep, bees, crops, grassland and the orchard, they form another part of a varied farming system rather than a single-purpose enterprise. And the arrival of a new batch of chicks remains one of the most enjoyable signs of new life on the farm.