We are trying to fix the food and farming industry with our first Community Food Park that once proved, could be duplicated all over Cambs and the UK. Our mission is to build sustainable, healthy, inclusive, caring, communities around food by reconnecting people with where their food comes from, and encouraging trade, communication and buy-in, all helping create a more enlightened society that make better food buying, health, and lifestyle, choices.
Our first Food Park is called Frank’s Farm after my great grandfather Frank who bought the farm in 1920 when farms were net zero, grew food for local people and were an important asset to the community. This is part of our story and as we build the park and circular economies we can achieve net zero and make savings to pass on to our customers. To achieve this we have selected a range of enthusiastic artisan food retailers (butcher, baker, deli, barista, cafe, creamery…) and set up an open agroforestry regenerative 'mixed farm’, to supply the shops, to make people ‘think' we want to sell ‘essential' veg cheaper than Morrisons 4 miles away.
We also encourage buy-in and differentiation from the supermarket with initiatives like 'Crop for the Shop’, foodie events, CSA, school visits, and courses. And promote our plan to become net zero by 2030. This includes avocado and citrus polytunnels, vineyard, orchards, chicken tractors and a herd of Rare Breed animals to produce meat for the butcher and milk via automatic milking and vending machines as well as for cheese and ice-cream from our on site cheese and ice-cream makers.
A big part of buy-in includes getting our most effective influencers, children, to discover the 'better way' at school and why the 200 fruit trees we planted this year all have a tag with a different local child’s name added during recent school visits. We also want each local school to own one of our cows, beehives, sheep and polytunnel that we supply the same plug plants that we are planting in our polytunnel and 'no-dig' food growing field. Once we have proved the concept, our long-term goal is to use our BigBarn local food map and social networks to help set up Food Parks linking to their local schools all over the UK.
We are learning all the time and looking to develop a CSA. At the moment we have a 10m x 33m polytunnel and a 6 acre food growing field in which we have planted 200 fruit trees in 18m rows for agroforestry. Each half acre piece of land between the rows of trees is for different crops and food growing and accesses through a willow tunnel one end and hedge path at the other end. We are experimenting between hand-grown no dig, and traditional farming with tractors and machinery.
