Nature Friendly Farming, Esgairllaethdy Farm, Myddfai

“Producing high quality food, looking after the environment, managing air and water quality, enhancing biodiversity and wildlife and taking care of our most valuable asset -SOIL – is what we as  farmers should be doing. We are on this planet as custodians of the land and we must leave it in a better state”. (Hywel Morgan)

In the UK15-19 May is Nature Friendly Farming Week. It is led by the Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN)  – a group of UK farmers who believe that nature friendly farming is not only better for nature but is the most productive and sustainable way of obtaining food from the land. Apart from their policy objectives, they aim to:

• Produce safe, healthy food
• Ensure the land is productive for future generations
• Not pollute the water and air
• Help the UK’s wildlife recover and thrive
• Enable the soil to recover
• Prevent dangerous flooding and tackle climate change.

Hywel Morgan is not only a member of the NFFN but Chair of its Welsh Steering Group. He is an upland sheep and beef livestock farmer located at Llandovery on the western edge of the Brecon Beacons. His farm, Esgairllaethdy Myddfai,  comprises 230 acres with grazing rights for 400 sheep, horses and cattle on common land adjoining the farm, plus 25 acres of natural woodland. It is located near the magic Lake, Llyn y Fan Fach, where, according to Welsh legend, the Lady  of the Lake emerged and told her three sons that they must become physicians and give “relief from pain and misery through healing all manner of diseases.”. They did this and became known as the Physicians of Myddfai.

Hywel inherited the farm in 2005, from his father whose father (Hywel’s grandfather) had bought it after the Second World War, having previously farmed it as a tenant farmer. Shortly after the Brexit referendum in 2016, Hywel asked a Welsh civil servant how the Government wanted farmers to respond. His reply was “farm with nature” so Hywel started to learn more about working with nature, including going on a farm study tour in 2018 to visit organic farms in Sweden, France and England.

Initially he stopped using fertiliser to grow grass and not only found little difference but saved £300 per tonne of fertiliser, then he started to grow his hedges taller which not only improved bio diversity but provided shelter for the livestock in both the winter and the summer. Also he has cut down on pharmaceuticals as instead of worming his sheep 4 or 5 times a year, he now does faecal counts which tell him whether worming is required. Apart from no longer using chemical pesticides and weed-killers, he has adopted various forms of innovative tracking and virtual fencing technology to manage the cattle, plus he undertakes conservation grazing on the farms of other landowners, increasing biodiversity and allowing him to expand his business.

While such measures have benefitted both the farm and the planet Hywel has also planted some 2,000 metres of trees a year and created a pond to attract further birdlife. As he says, “it is about working with nature not against it and finding the sweet spot between productivity and biodiversity”. Although the farm may not be as productive as it was before, having experienced a 20% reduction in income, it is more profitable and, as he acknowledges, he is now better off financially than he has been for years. Also he has more time to spend with his family and, importantly, produces food that has the potential to improve the health and well-being of the population whilst addressing, climate change and environment regeneration. The tradition of the Physicians of Myddfai  lives on today.

However Hywel believes it is the consumers not the farmers who are ultimately the ones who can drive the change for a healthier planet.  He sells his Highland beef under the “Lady of the Lake” label direct to the consumer through farmers’ markets. As he is in contact with his customers he is aware of their increasing  interest not in the breed but how the animals have been raised. “What the livestock has been fed is becoming more important to the customer and will become even more important” he says. Consequently, he believes that farmers need to connect with consumers and work together, in harmony, to protect the planet and its people.

While we tend not to think of farming as a business it is and Esgairllaethdy Farm is a Harmonious Enterprise that addresses SDGs 15 (Life on Land), 13 (Climate Action), 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) and 3 (Good Health and Wellbeing).

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