PHOTO: TOM MARSHALL
FARMING
Farming is in the blood. Left to right: Rosemary, Jim, Helena, children Daisy and Luca.
Wild about
FARMING The support system for farming is changing. White Peak farmers Rosemary Furness (nee Allen) and Jim Furness talk to Alison Riley about how their family are giving nature a helping hand by trialling new approaches for the Government’s new Environmental Land Management scheme (ELMs).
M
eeting three generations of Allens in a field, it is clear that family and a love of the land is at the heart of the Beech Farm business. Fresh air, mud, and nurturing an early knowledge of nature are some of the benefits enjoyed by Helena’s grandchildren Daisy and Luca. They’re also growing up in a farming world that is changing. The post war legacy of
focusing on food production is giving way to a new breed of 21st century farmerscome-environmental pioneers who want to marry farming with boosting biodiversity, soil health and carbon storage. Jim: “Our parents were told to dig for victory, to plough the hay meadows they grew up running through in clouds of butterflies.” Helena: “By the nineties, they’d all but gone. We were given grants for improving land
– farmers get blamed but we did what we were asked.” This family has not just witnessed changes in agriculture, it’s played an active role at every turn. They are currently one of six farms in the Peak District taking part in practical field trials which will inform Defra’s ELMs Tests and Trials. An intensively managed silage field has been sown with a three metre buffer zone of www.peakdistrict.gov.uk
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