Members of the GWCT team from Fordingbridge HQ thoroughly enjoyed their visit to Loddington farm to celebrate 25 years of the outstanding Allerton Project on Wednesday 28th June.
Despite the inclement weather (think howling gales and lashing rain), hordes of people turned out to go on farm walks and tuck into a delicious lunch, all laid on by the team there. Each farm walk took about two and a half hours as participants were given lots of opportunities to stop along the way and chat to experts on various aspects of the amazing research being done by the Allerton Project.
Journalists, including independent rural commentator Rob Yorke, visited and took part in the farm walk and spoke to the team, including farm manager Phil Jarvis.
The Allerton Project has become a leading centre for agri-environment schemes in the UK and these schemes were comprehensively explained and showcased on this open day.
Plenty of opportunity was had to ask questions and to discover the astonishingly positive influence that Allerton’s research findings have had on current and future agricultural policy in the UK. That this relatively small working farm has had such a tremendous effect on agri-environmental thinking in this country is a tribute to the team involved and all of the hard work and dedication they have shown to prove that conservation and profitable farming can co-exist successfully.
To find out more about the project’s quarter of a century of sustainable farming, see Professor Chris Stoate’s recent blog.