“Our mission is to create a fun and educational environment for our visitors by sharing our values and knowledge on the importance of farming, working with animals and understanding where our food comes from.”
Our farm’s operational aim is to rebuild soil quality and, in the process, sequester carbon and enhance ecosystems. We know our resources are just six inches deep so we do everything possible to improve and nourish the ground we work on.
The animal shelters on the farm are made with repurposed pallets and wood.
Our regenerative farming increases biodiversity, improves ecosystems, enriches soils and captures carbon in the soil thus helping to offset climate change; finally, it is estimated that managed grazing, as practised here at Belmont Farm, sequesters up to four tons per hectare of carbon per year.
We have started to take small steps towards reducing our carbon footprint by installing solar panels, introducing rainwater harvesting systems and becoming self-sufficient in growing our own haylage and hay for the larger animals.
We also endeavour to support, encourage and protect native species which reside around the farm through strategic planning.
Through the years, Belmont Farm has restored one and a half miles of hedgerow and planted 6,000 trees which positively impacts the environment by providing biological carbon sequestration. Hedgerows and their associated trees, margins, ditches and bank play a vital role in terms of ecological sustainability. According to research conducted, they provide a safe haven to over 500 plant species, 60 species of nesting bird, many hundreds of invertebrates and almost all of our native small mammal species. We prioritise the preservation of habitats within our boundaries that are crucial for the survival of priority species, in particular, those found on the farm.
Focusing not only on the declining British biodiversity of species but also the declining native farming breeds which are recorded on the yearly RBSTwatch list. In the future, we will establish breeding programmes that will help save rare native breeds and also, educate the public about the importance of these breeds in the farming sector.
