Regenerative Agriculture Isn’t Misty-Eyed Nostalgia, It’s the Future
“It’s like growing muesli for cows,” says Yeo Valley Organic farmer Tim Mead, as he describes the smorgasbord of barley, peas and oats that feed the British food brand’s dairy herd – cereals and pulses thriving side-by-side.
“By growing them together instead of in separate fields [a tactic known as companion planting], you get crop resilience, you get the peas fixing nitrogen in the ground for other crops, you get better soil health,” he says.
Yeo Valley Organic led the way in bringing organic food to the masses – the brand got off the ground in the mid-90s but its roots go back to 1961 when Mead’s parents purchased Holt Farm in Blagdon, Somerset. They were humble beginnings – some cows, sheep and a few arable crops, but they soon realised they could do more than dairy farming. In 1972, the couple opened a tearoom and a ‘pick-your-own’ fruit farm. Then came yogurt production and the launch of the Yeo Valley Organic brand in 1994.