Month: October 2022

Cross Lanes Organic Farm Shop and Simon Hare of Trees House Farm collaborated to develop a highly successful short supply chain. It is focused on offering customers a wide range of high-quality meats, including Pasture for Life certified beef.

The Northern Real Farming Conference teamed up with Pasture for Life for an event hosted by Cross Lanes Organic Shop and Café and their supplier, Trees House Farm. The event on Thursday, 21st July 2022, near Barnard Castle, Durham, was a fantastic opportunity to visit two Pasture for Life Certified businesses that work in partnership, to maximise the success of both.

The visit went quite literally from Farm to Fork. It included a farm walk to see the certified livestock and hear how they are produced. Visitors then sampled a delicious PfL-certified beef lunch in the Café and a tour of the shop and talked about how they support local producers and weave eco principles and sustainability into product sourcing.

You can keep throwing resources towards the goal of getting more output from your farm, but are you using what nature has given you wisely?

Chris Clark of Nethergill Associates explains how you can reach a point where adding more inputs isn’t sustainable and can be counterproductive. He calls it ‘Maximum Sustainable Output.’

This video explains why you should aim for a ‘sweet spot’ of using what nature gives for both profits and the planet. Maximum sustainable output means farmers can farm in an environmentally sustainable way.

Chris Stephenson of Bradley Burn Farm in the Durham Dales decided he wanted to improve his soil. His approach was to bring more cattle into his rotation with an integrated crop management system. Chris uses mob grazing on his grass and grows his own fodder crops. He’s found that this lowers his inputs and improves his carbon footprint.