Orchard Farm
Growing within a living landscape
Crop production at Orchard Farm forms an important part of the wider farming system and includes arable crops, hay, orchard crops and organically grown vegetables.
Our approach is to maintain productive land while building healthier soils, greater crop diversity and long-term resilience. We are interested in how careful land management, crop choice and advances in plant and soil science can help us achieve that with greater efficiency and fewer unnecessary inputs.
For us, crop production is part of the wider ecology of the farm: soil, plants, water, pollinators and surrounding habitats are all connected.
Arable
Our arable land is an important part of Orchard Farm’s productive landscape.
We aim to manage it in ways that maintain soil structure, fertility and biological activity while supporting reliable crop production over the long term. Crop choice, rotation and careful soil management all contribute to the resilience and productive capacity of the land.
We are particularly interested in how advances in soil science, plant biology and microbial research can complement practical farming and help improve crop health, nutrient efficiency and resilience to environmental stress.
Successful arable farming is not simply about the crop harvested in any one year, but about maintaining productive land for the years that follow.
Organically grown vegetables
We grow vegetables using organic methods, with an emphasis on healthy soils, crop diversity and careful use of resources.
This provides an opportunity to apply some of the principles that inform our wider approach to the farm: building soil fertility, encouraging biological activity and using crop rotation and other low-input methods to support healthy, productive plants.
As this part of Orchard Farm develops, we see it as both a source of food and a practical way of learning more about the relationship between soils, crops and natural biological processes.
The Orchard
Our orchard combines food production with ecological value.
Fruit trees, grassland and flowering plants create a rich environment for bees, other pollinators and wildlife while preserving one of the traditional features of the English farmed landscape.
We are continuing to develop the orchard through additional planting and careful long-term management.
Together with our beehives, hedgerows and surrounding wildflower areas, it also forms an important link within the farm’s wider network of habitats.
The science of plant health
Agricultural science is increasingly revealing the complexity of the relationships between plants, soils and microorganisms.
Research into areas such as microbial biostimulants, beneficial plant-associated microorganisms and biological crop protection is creating new possibilities for improving crop health, resilience and productivity.
These developments are of particular interest to our family through our involvement in Biological Sciences and agricultural biotechnology, and they influence the research and innovations we follow at Orchard Farm.
Our interest is ultimately practical: understanding where better science and emerging biological approaches can complement good farming practice and contribute to healthier soils, stronger crops and a more resilient farming system.
