About us
Agriculture is our core enterprise, with the farmed area comprising 2,348 hectares.
Conventional arable rotation occupies 2,090 hectares with another 80 hectares devoted to an organic rotation. Permanent grassland and water meadows along the River Wissey account for the remainder.
Our crops include traditional cereals such as wheat and barley, as well as oilseed rape and sugar beet. 600 hectares are rented to growers for potatoes, vining peas (Pinquin and Waitrose), carrots and onions. Some of the vegetables are grown under an organic regime. Our two lagoons harvest and store 150 million gallons of water for use on the estate.
The estate maintains a 200-plus suckler herd of Aberdeen Angus cross cows, which includes 30 head of pedigree Aberdeen Angus cows on a fully organic system. All Angus cross and Charolais cross youngstock are fattened and sold through AQM and Dovecote Park.
Our farming policies are based around sustainability – maximising production to help meet current day demands, whilst not impairing the estate’s ability to meet the demands and needs of future generations. Estate enterprises as a whole currently employ 22 people.
Conservation is an integral part of our estate management plan. Field headlands have a six-metre grass strip between crop and hedgerow, while areas of land which are non-productive for crop purposes are planted with trees or a mix of grass and wild flower seed to encourage wildlife to prosper on the estate.
We also subscribe to the Government’s Higher Tier Countryside Stewardship Scheme and are committed to planting 2-3 kilometres of hedgerow each year.
Irrigation Infrastructure Improvements
This Project supported the installation of electric irrigation pumps, and
underground irrigation mains. The aim of the project was to improve the
performance, efficiency and sustainability of the Estate’s irrigation network.
It is part funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural
Development