I am a great believer in community farms. I am not a farmer and I have never had a job working on a farm, but I am on a mission to see many more community farms across the UK.

Many arable and dairy farms today are members of a cooperative, which means several farms, as a collective, grow the same crop or produce the same product, such as milk. Perhaps as you are travelling around you see the same arable crop being grown on your local farmland?

These crops are then sold through a broker on behalf of the farmers. Growing the same crop year after year cannot be good for the soil? Commercial fertilizer then needs to be used. This fertilizer is full of industrial chemicals that end up in our rivers and oceans, which is killing our sea life, also it is not good for us either.

I can see that a community farm can provide seasonal fruit and vegetables at an affordable price. The farm or farms could run on a membership scheme whereby the farm members pay a subscription each month for a weekly box of produce, plus, members commit to working on the farm a few days per year.

The war in Ukraine has brought home how fragile global supply chains are and can be. Sustainable and local can and must be the way forward for a large percentage of our farms, and for them to be part of how we live moving forward in the Twenty First Century.

Community farms can allow communities to be more self-sufficient. It’s true that there will be some fruit and vegetables that our climate would not necessarily allow us to grow, but these products could still be purchased as a treat.

Having the community farm members commit to working on the farm a few days per year will be a positive contribution to local communities, it promotes community involvement and education opportunities, and it will also lower our reliance on plastic wrapped food.  I also believe that our farms can make a huge contribution to wildlife and eco-system conservation and preservation. There is no reason why a farm cannot plant trees and hedgerows, it can also have pockets of woodland and wildflower meadows. Everything should complement each other, not to mention the social and mental welfare benefits this kind of environment can give to us all.

What a wonderful hub a community farm could be. Open to the public, perhaps a café on site and the pinnacle could be watching the endangered magnificent Shire Horses doing one of the jobs they were bred to do.

Come on farmers, let us help you. Diversify and set up a well-organized and well-run community farm in your local area.