Helen Browning is chief executive of the Soil Association and through her Wiltshire farm has become a pioneer of organic farming and food
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Hi Helen. You’ve been running Eastbrook Farm in Wiltshire for more than 35 years – and you also grew up there. What was that like?
I was a real outdoors kid. I loved the farm, but by the time I got to about 12
I could see it was changing. A lot of the wildlife was disappearing. My dad came here in 1950, and like everybody else at that time he was ripping out hedges to make room for the big farming kit.
I loved the place, but I was starting to worry about the way it was changing.
You took over the farm in 1986 and started experimenting with organic ideas. What changes did you make?
Obviously we stopped using all the chemicals – the nitrogen and the pesticides. Then to make the whole thing work without the chemicals, we improved the rotation so that we would have different crops growing on each field each year, including leguminous crops like clover, which builds fertility. We introduced more diversity to the farm: we brought on pigs and poultry. We were remodelling the way they all work together.
How unusual was it to be a young, female farmer at that time?
Really unusual. It was probably one of the reasons I wanted to do it so much – Iwanted to show that it’s possible for women to farm. Women have always been involved in farming, but usually behind the scenes. And I think women make great farmers; they’ve often got a longer-term perspective and a real empathy for the land, people and stock. That’s not to say that men don’t, but I wanted to show that it was a good career choice for women.
You’ve also made animal welfare a big part of the farm.
I think that’s inherent within the organ
