About the farm
In 2000, we purchased Hope Farm, an arable farm in Cambridgeshire. It is contract farmed by one of our neighbouring farmers.
About Hope Farm
In previous years, we predominantly grew autumn-sown crops because they were considered to be more profitable. Recently, we have introduced a greater area of spring-sown crops, to help deal with pernicious weed problems and maintain overall profitability.
During the first five years only two crops were grown - wheat and oilseed rape. These were grown in a three-year rotation (wheat - wheat - oilseed rape). The rotation has evolved to take account of market opportunities and help implement a robust integrated pest management programme, so for harvest 2016 we grew winter wheat, spring barley, winter beans, winter linseed and spring millet.
Along with the arable land, there is also permanent pasture, which is grazed by horses and sheep. The soil is predominantly heavy clay.
Key facts
- Total farm area: 181 hectares
- Area of cropping: 161 hectares - harvest 2010
- Area of pasture: 6 hectares
- Soil type: Hanslope calcareous clay loam and Evesham clay loam
- Smallest field: 0.93 hectares
- Largest field: 34 hectares
- Length of hedgerows: 10.3 kilometres
- Area of woodland: 0.5 hectares
Our farming blog
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Volunteer Monitoring of Farm Wildlife
Guest blog by Jenny Atkins, Agriculture Advice Project Manager During the last year in Cambridgeshire initially, we have been working on an inspirational scheme that trains participants to monitor a wide range of farm wildlife, provides multi-taxa su...
Posted 02/09/2021 by Kathryn Smith -
Carbon and agroforestry at Hope Farm - new project underway
Guest blog by Sophie Mott, Carbon Farming Project Manager and Georgie Bray, Hope Farm Manager Why are we interested in Carbon at Hope farm? Recently, hard to read science underlined the ever-closing gap in our opportunity to halt the increase in temp...
Posted 02/09/2021 by Kathryn Smith -
Valuing Our Peatland - Environmental and societal benefits delivered through peatland restoration
Guest blog by Jonathan Bell, Head of Land and Sea Policy, RSPB NI and Ruairi Brogan, Policy Officer - Sustainable Agriculture, RSPB NI In Northern Ireland, peatland covers 24.6% of our land area and represent some of our most iconic landscapes. When ...
Posted 01/09/2021 by Kathryn Smith -
Farming with nature-based solutions at the heart
Guest blog by Roisin Beck-Taylor, Project Manager - Policy Climate Change Task and Finish Group and Brittany Mulhearn, Senior Campaigner From lobbying government for new climate polices to helping our nature reserves cope with the effects of climate ...
Posted 01/09/2021 by Kathryn Smith -
Food and farming that’s Fair to Nature
Fair to Nature is the only UK farm scheme to deliver the scale of land management wildlife requires to thrive. Find out more about this gold standard for nature-friendly farming and how it is helping farmers to create and manage diverse and successfu...
Posted 03/06/2021 by Kathryn Smith -
Review of Agri-Food must work for Nature
Northern Ireland’s Agri-Food Sector can play a pivotal role in addressing the nature and climate nature and climate emergency, at the same time as providing economic opportunities for rural communities and supporting healthier, sustainable diets. An ...
Posted 26/05/2021 by Kathryn Smith
How you can help
At Hope Farm, we're developing farming techniques that will benefit wildlife.
