The Farm, Stratford

Organisation: The Farm Stratford, Kings Lane, Snitterfield, CV37 0QA

Situated in the beautiful Welcombe Hills, The Farm (IMAGE 1) has strived to be part of its stunning surrounding landscape since its inception. Before the site was redeveloped to what it is today, great care was taken to repurpose as much of the original infrastructure as possible – from bricks and beams to wood and stone. This sustainable approach has carried through to the company’s current operations, centred on providing to customers a destination that caters for their health and wellbeing, all while having a minimal impact on the planet. Inspired initially by ‘Skipchen’, a no-waste kitchen in Bristol, The Farm’s Nourish restaurant was founded on the basis that food waste should be kept to a minimum and since then, the chefs pride themselves on creating dishes using fresh, local produce, regularly developing soups and other dishes from leftover vegetables in the shop to prevent food from going to waste. Choosing to be sustainable is no longer an option, and The Farm is committed to working with likeminded businesses and customers to make a positive difference.

Sustainability initiatives at The Farm include:

Rewarding customers with discounts for bringing their own refillable containers
7 commandment criteria for product buying including sustainable packaging, suppliers within a 30-mile radius (many of which have their own eco-conscious practices and accreditations), no damaging ingredients like palm oil
Installation of solar panels
Sensor lighting in the deli and washing up areas
Majority of employees are Stratford-based (or in surrounding villages) which reduces emissions from commuting. Car-sharing between employees is encouraged
Fresh food waste is recycled as feed for our pigs
Collaborations with Too Good To Go and Olio to redirect food waste to the local community
Co-mingling recycling scheme, where all of our waste (excluding glass and food which is managed separately) is streamlined for sorting at a recycling centre
Rainwater harvesting system collects 22,000 litres of rainwater which is used to flush toilets and irrigate the market garden (IMAGE 2) and raised flower beds. With over 1,000 square metres of roof area, we can harvest 1,000 litres of water for every 1mm of rainfall
60 tonnes of recycled garden waste has been used as compost for our market garden
Supporting local initiatives – including Great Big Green Week, getting involved with local environmental education programmes (i.e. appearing as a guest on Welcombe Radio’s Environmental Exchange show).
Collaboration with Rubbish Friends to lead an onsite litter pick with volunteers from Mencap
Using Ecologi to plant trees for each Christmas tree purchased at The Farm
Sustainability programmes for children via Flourish, our onsite alternative learning provider
Educational blog posts about sustainability (see website links attached)
Launching The Farm’s own podcast to educate our community on sustainability-related topics - conversations with suppliers, local green charities/activists and sustainability consultants on a variety of issues, including (but not limited to) circular economy, importance of buying local and connecting with nature

Results

Our activities have resulted in measurable carbon and water savings. On a typical summer day, 50% of our energy consumption is powered by solar panels (and for the rest of the year, they power around one third of our energy consumption). Since their instalment in 2020, our panels have saved more than 2,000 trees and 45 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

The average toilet uses 6 litres of water per flush so our full rainwater harvesting tank provides enough water for more than 3,600 flushes.

We offer a range of high-quality products that adhere to our sustainable values and demonstrate to customers (and prospective suppliers) that there are sustainable alternatives to mainstream products. We hope that this inspires our customers to move towards zero-waste and kindly encourages local stockists to prioritise sustainability if they want to see their products on our shelves.

We are working towards ‘zero-waste to landfill’ via the Fortress recycling centre. Visiting the recycling centre gave us a valuable insight into the recycling process in our area and made us rethink our bin signage to clearly highlight the differences and keep cross-contamination to a minimum.

We have built relationships with other eco-minded individuals and organisations in the community (via our podcast, wellness events, and local initiatives), paving the way for future action and collaboration.

Our future plans

We’re currently in talks to host a sustainability panel at The Farm as part of Stratford Upon Avon’s Great Big Green Week (10-18 June 2023). This will include local entrepreneurs striving to green local business and sustainability consultants providing support to businesses on a mission to lower their impact.

Recycling food waste to pigs has opened up new conversations about leftover food that they can’t eat e.g. citrus (we are currently investigating potential for squeezed oranges to be utilised by one of our existing suppliers for their products).

We plan to develop a sustainability roadmap in collaboration with Solihull and Stratford Colleges to hold us accountable for current actions and clearly document our progress.

We plan to communicate with suppliers via surveys to demonstrate what we expect from them (in terms of packaging, delivery method etc) and how we can work together to improve operations. Surveys will also be used to understand customer views on sustainability, how our operations might be aiding pro-environmental consumer behaviour and areas for improvement. We will use this information to put together a social and environmental impact report.