Launceston Farm beef headed for Waitrose shelves

With the difficulties facing the organic market at the moment it is difficult to get a higher price for organic meat than convntionally farmed meat.  However, we have started selling our beef toWaitrose as they recognise the quality of beef from our Aberdeen Angus cattle meaning we get a better price.

Another issue we are keen to look at is how we add value to our own product.  Beef is pretty versatile so we need to explore our options and be more creative about what we sell, how we sell it and who we sell it to.  Jimi's farm tours for the B&B guests inspire lots of visitors to take home a piece of top-side but I am sure there is more we can do.  Watch this space...

Renewable potential for farmers

Having just completed my dissertation - hoorah! - on renewable energy generating opportunities for farmers in Dorset, I thought it only fair to share some of my very interesting findings with you all...

Farmers have to be entrepreneurial to keep their businesses going, whether that is through diversifying their enterprises or trying different methods of farming to create new sources of income. Renewable energy generation on farms, through technologies such as wind turbines, solar panels and growing energy crops, presents a real opportunity for farmers to reduce the impact of their operations on the environment and save money.

Ironically, in the area we live in, the beauty of the very landscape farmers have been working so hard to maintain is one of the main obstacles to setting up these kinds of projects as they are considered to have a significant impact on the function of the landscape which makes gaining planning permission very difficult.

We are going to explore all the options fully at Launceston Farm and see what we can do within the planning restrictions and hopefully soon we will be able to start slashing our bills as well as our carbon footprint.