Farming for nature

Farming

for Nature

Belted Galloways at Nunwell Home Farm.

MARIA BELL PHOTOGRAPHY

Our latest nature reserve, Wilder Nunwell, sits beside a new enterprising regenerative farm on the Isle of Wight. We introduce the people behind Nunwell Home Farm and explore how nature-friendly farming can be a reality.

This spring, the Trust acquired over 350 acres of land on the Nunwell Estate near Brading on the Isle of Wight to become our second dedicated rewilding site.

Wilder Nunwell is a new type of nature reserve where we’re transforming former intensively managed land into new wildlife habitats as part of our Nature-based Solutions programme, helping wildlife to recover and thrive across the landscape.

What makes this new nature reserve especially fascinating is its location on the estate alongside Nunwell Home Farm, a trailblazing regenerative farm start-up founded in 2021.

Spearheaded by a team of three young, ambitious and entrepreneurial farmers, Nunwell Home Farm aims to prove it’s possible to simultaneously produce food and help nature.

Regenerative (or simply ‘regen’) farming is an agricultural approach that prioritises sustainability and environmental benefi ts, where soil and water are healthy, and biodiversity is enhanced.

Some suggest it’s a novel, modern concept. Others argue it’s simply a return to traditional farming methods.

Either way, the rise of regen farming seems to be gathering pace and, with high-profi le rewilding estates such as Knepp and Wild Ken Hill now endorsing the practice, its future looks bright.

The Wildlife Trusts believe developing a regenerative approach to farming is key to reversing devastating declines in wildlife, tackling the eff ects of climate change, and providing good quality, sustainable food for people to eat.

Here, we meet the team behind the Nunwell Home Farm mission, discover what inspired them to start this new farming venture and fi nd out why they’re trying to break the mould of intensive farming.

Left to right, Hollie Fallick, Christy Morley and Francesca Cooper run Nunwell Home Farm.

MARIA BELL PHOTOGRAPHY

Little more than a year ago, Francesca Cooper, her brother Christy Morley, and childhood best friend Hollie Fallick left behind established careers to take a leap of faith into the unknown.

They now sit at the helm of a pioneering regenerative farm start-up, fuelled by a passion to do better for the planet, and countless hours of research.

The trio assumed management of the 125-acre livestock farm in October 2021, rebranding it as Nunwell Home Farm in the process.

Previously, the site had been run as an intensive dairy farm and then latterly for beef. The new incumbents, however, are prioritising the environment.

“For us, regenerative farming puts soil health and nature fi rst,” says Hollie.

“We think it’s possible to farm and look after nature at the same time. Some people might say you can only either farm intensively or focus on rewilding, but we believe there’s an option somewhere between the two.”

Humble beginnings

The team of three grew up on smallholdings and Francesca previously worked as a rural surveyor but, with no direct experience in farming prior to getting the keys at Nunwell, she says they have devoted themselves to extensive research.

“We’ve all been reading books and watching YouTube videos about regenerative farming for so long, we had so many ideas of what we could do,” she says.

“Putting those ideas into practice in our own context and then seeing how they work has been really exciting and interesting.”

Greener methods

In their short time in charge, the young farmers – aged between 25 and 33 – have already implemented several processes in line with regenerative principles.

This includes ‘mob grazing’ their herd of native Belted Galloways, a practice that mimics the migration of wild herbivores across the African savannah or North American plains.

The technique sees Nunwell’s entirely grass-fed cows regularly moved to fresh

pasture, with paddocks allowed to rest and recover behind them for long periods. This benefi ts the soil and plant root structure, making the land more resilient during extreme rain or drought.

The farm’s Berkshire-Tamworth cross pigs, meanwhile, are fed a diet of maize, fi eld beans and wheat rather than soya, which is less sustainable as it’s often imported from South America where its production is heavily linked to deforestation.

Like all the animals at Nunwell Home Farm, the pigs live outside year-round. Their natural rooting behaviour – where they nuzzle the ground with their snouts looking for food – turns over the soil surface, which improves the seedbank in the grassland. This will create an ideal and diverse arable habitat for plants like hedge parsley and woundworts to grow. Again, this imitates the habits of wild boars, a keystone species.

The team’s next challenge is to produce soya-free eggs. They have experimented feeding hens with local soya-free mixes, but it had a detrimental eff ect on egg production.

A willingness to accept that failures like this are unavoidable, though, is part of the challenge.

“It’s important we learn that not everything we try will be perfect from the beginning but to be prepared to keep trialling other methods,” says Hollie

“There are no rules,” adds Francesca. “We are just adapting as we go.”

STRONG ISLAND Aerial view of the Nunwell estate.

reserve by introducing a mixture of free-grazing livestock onto the site.

There’s also potential to restore a wildfl ower meadow, and an area of chalkland, which could bring benefi ts for an array of species.

Looking ahead

Launching headfi rst into such a bold venture would seem a daunting prospect to many, but Francesca insists they aren’t reinventing the wheel, rather going back to traditional methods.

With more than a hint of avant-garde optimism in her voice, Hollie fi nishes by saying: “If we can prove, on this tiny piece of land here, that we can improve biodiversity and soil health, plus rewild and produce food, then we’re really getting onto something.”

Benefi ts for wildlife

The chance to work closely with the Wildlife Trust, as landscape management neighbours, is something the Nunwell Home Farm team were incredibly excited about.

“Nature is hugely important to us. Wildlife and biodiversity are real markers that we’re doing the right thing,” says Hollie.

“On a day-to-day basis, it’s very hard to tell whether what you’re doing is working so it’s great to be partnering with wildlife experts who can help us identify the species we have here.”

The Trust’s rewilding plans for the adjacent Wilder Nunwell reserve include creating an area of woodland pasture and allowing scrub to regenerate and form hedgerows for wildlife.

We also hope to help boost the biodiversity of fl ora and fauna on the Belted Galloways at Nunwell Home Farm.

The Trust is grateful to The Oglander family, owners of the land on the family-run Nunwell Estate, for making the Wilder Nunwell project possible.

Berkshire-Tamworth cross sows and piglets are helping to improve fl oral diversity at the farm.