Tomorrow, our Chief Executive Mike Clarke will meet with George Eustice (Minister for Farming) to hand-in a festive Christmas hamper and card (see our previous post here for more details). This is to demonstrate the support we’ve had for wildlife-friendly farming - 133,000 actions taken!
Over the next few days, we’ll share with you the products included in the hamper as well as the personal messages from the people who made them. All the products come from farmers who work with wildlife in mind and today, we’re featuring three of the scrumptious foods.
Padstow Pasta
Padstow pasta in Cornwall is made using Tregirls Farm home-grown durum wheat and is 100% wholewheat.
Farmer Charlie Watson Smyth values the wildlife-friendly farming payments - this is message he included in the hamper:
“We have many special wildlife species on our farm and without wildlife-friendly farming payments, we would struggle to keep these species in Cornish landscape. We’re proud of our produce and wildlife, so having access to funding that recognises all of our work is the most valuable.
My late father-in-law saw the last Cornish chough on his farm in 1976. I want my grandchildren to grow up watching a chattering of choughs at Tregirls like generations before.
We make our unique Padstow pasta with our home-grown durum wheat, using an Italian pasta machine. The pasta is 100% wholewheat.”
Hope Farm Extra-Virgin Rapeseed Oil
Hope Farm’s extra-virgin rapeseed oil has been produced exclusively from rape seed grown on Hope Farm in Cambridgeshire that cares for wildlife as well as crops.
Farm Manager Ian Dillon included the following message in the hamper:
“At Hope Farm in Cambridgeshire our aim is to demonstrate that it is quite possible to successfully integrate high quality habitat for wildlife into our arable farm.
We grow wheat, oil seed rape, field beans and peas, whilst delivering crucial habitat and resources for wildlife through Environmental Stewardship. I’m so pleased to report that we’re increasing our numbers of farmland birds, including skylarks, whilst still producing great crop yields.
We started selling our Hope Farm rapeseed oil in 2013. I hope you enjoy it, knowing that it has been produced on a farm that cares for wildlife as well as crops.”
Munns Goose Fat
Munns free-range goose fat has become very popular with the public thanks to many celebrity chefs using it!
Farmer George Munns of Westmore Farm in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, has been a fan of wildlife since childhood. This is the message he sent:
“We love the environment and the countryside within which we live and bring up our daughter. My own passion has always been nature and wildlife conservation. As a boy, I had a large number of wildlife books and spent my spare time exploring the farm, looking for the species that lived here. When I took over the farm I wanted to provide and improve habitat for these species, many of which were hanging on with very low populations. I jumped at the chance to join the prestigious Countryside Stewardship scheme in 2001. Now, water voles, lapwings, reed buntings, corn buntings and grey partridges are all thriving, and tree sparrows are nesting here again. We've had a flock of free-range geese since 1999 when we had 20 birds. We've now expanded to over 1,000 geese. Our Munns Goose Fat is gaining popularity, and is sold in many parts of the UK.”
This gives you a flavour of just three of the items included in the hamper. Look out for the other blog posts over the next few days where we will share with you some more lovely products and personal messages. And don't forget to click on the links above to find out more information including where you can buy each item.