NFU president visits Yeo Valley
THE country’s leading farming representative heard from the UK’s largest organic dairy brand Yeo Valley Organic on its optimism for a sustainable farming future in a whistle-stop tour of the firm’s innovative regenerative organic farming practices in Somerset.
National Farmers’ Union president Minette Batters started her visit at Yeo Valley’s HQ in Blagdon, meeting co-founder Mary Mead and the regenerative agricultural team.
Ms Batters then visited the company’s trials on the Mendip Hills with mob-grazing cattle – a planned grazing system that seeks to emulate nature.
She later visited one of the UK’s largest agroforestry projects, where livestock are introduced to woodland pasture to increase soil carbon and enhance biodiversity.
Ms Batters spoke to Yeo Valley representatives about British food production and the opportunities and challenges surrounding food manufacturing.
They also discussed methane measurement and approaches for soil carbon sequestration, particularly how they are accounted for in future agricultural policy.
Yeo Valley’s Karl Tucker said: “It was great to see Minette here in person, seeing first-hand what we’re doing. As an organic brand for nearly 30 years, we believe it’s important that we all continue working together and sharing best practice and the opportunities and challenges of UK food production.
“With nine million households enjoying Yeo Valley Organic products a year, it’s vital that we share our views on farming, particularly the sustainability of livestock farming in regenerative organic systems, which we believe provides potential solutions to our climate, nature, health and cost of living crisis.”
Ms Batters and Yeo Valley also spoke about the future of farming careers and opportunities for people interested in sustainability. Yeo Valley Organic believes regenerative organic farming is the potential solution to many of the world’s climate
It was great to see Minette here in person, seeing first-hand what we’re doing KARL TUCKER, YEO VALLEY
problems and wants to encourage a new generation of people into sustainable nature-friendly farming.
Find out more about Yeo Valley’s regenerative organic farming projects at regenerative.yeovalley.co.uk. To apply to work on Yeo Valley Farms visit https://careers.yeovalley.co.uk/.