Farming With the Land in Mind: Our Approach to Sustainable Agriculture
Sustainable farming is a term you'll hear a lot right now. And like most things that catch on, it means different things to different people. We're not going to claim we've reinvented the wheel, but we do farm in a way that tries to give back as much as it takes. Here's what that looks like in practice at Herb Fed.
Treading lightly on the land
Our birds are housed in small mobile arcs - a traditional method that's more labour-intensive than large-scale operations, but one that puts far less pressure on the land. We avoid heavy machinery on the fields, which means less soil compaction and better ground health over time.
We also operate stock rotation across our chicken site, using two separate ranges and rotating between them. It's a simple practice that makes a real difference - preserving soil structure and giving the land time to recover.
Encouraging biodiversity
We mow our meadows sensitively to encourage naturally growing wildflowers and clover - the kind of ground cover that's brilliant for carbon reduction and for the insects and pollinators that depend on it. Some areas are left completely unmown. We have built bunds on wasteland areas to create beetle banks and improve the habitat for local wildlife.
In the last six months alone we've planted over 200 trees into our fields - re-establishing native English trees to the area and adding to the natural landscape rather than taking from it.
Reducing waste and food miles
Our birds stay on the farm until they're ready to be processed, then head to a local abattoir before coming back to us to be cut, packed and sent out. Our cereal feed is milled locally, supporting a nearby family business and keeping our carbon footprint in check. Wastewater is captured and spread back on the land. Chicken manure is exchanged with a neighbouring farmer in return for fresh straw - so it goes back into the ground as a natural fertiliser rather than being wasted.
When it comes to delivery, we use DPD - a carbon-neutral courier - and we've invested over £1 million in our on-site processing unit so we can handle everything here at Shires Farm, cutting out unnecessary transport at every stage.
Better for the birds, better for you
We don't use antibiotics as a routine or preventative measure. They're only ever given on veterinary advice, for welfare reasons. It's better for the bird - and ultimately better for human health too, given the growing concerns around antibiotic resistance in the food chain.
No chemical fertiliser goes on our fields. Solar panels on the chicken huts power what little energy the site needs. Any food by-products go into the dog food industry - and waste beyond that is collected and used in a combined heat and power plant, generating renewable energy for the National Grid.
Part of the community, not just the countryside
Farming sustainably isn't just about the land - it's about being a responsible part of a wider community. 90% of our team live within 10 miles of the farm. We support the local primary school, donate to the foodbank at Christmas and join in with roadside litter picks. Every year we're invited to the Great Yorkshire Show to talk about poultry farming and the farm-to-fork journey to tens of thousands of visitors.
It all adds up. Not to perfection - we'd never claim that - but to a way of farming that we're proud of. One that tries to leave the land, the community and the food system a little bit better than we found it.
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