Cambridgeshire farm wins national sustainability award

Mee Farmers is a 700-acre farm known for its blueberries.

The business is owned by Peter and Zoe Mee, their children Charlie and Emily, and Charlie’s fiancée Charlotte.

Earlier this month, they took home the Sustainable Farming Award at the National Arable and Grassland Awards.

Peter and Zoe told Star Radio what the accolade means:

Here are some of the ways Mee Farmers are working to be more sustainable:

• 70,000kw of solar panels have been installed on grain store roofs, and a ground source heat pump for the farmhouse.
• Crop rotation has been extended to include cover crops, and artificial fertiliser usage has been reduced, replaced with an on-farm compost.
• Nearly 7,000 hedgerow plants have been planted, with the goal of creating wildlife corridors, while unproductive land has been sown with wild bird seed mixes and cover crops to encourage biodiversity.
• The family have invested in rainwater harvesting and trickle irrigation systems for water conservation.
• Recyclable waste is put through a baler, making it easier to ensure that it goes to the correct end-point.
• Food waste is split with the ripest fruit used in their food and drink product line, and fruit not fit for human consumption going to a local pig farmer.

Peter and Zoe say they hope all their work has made the farm more sustainable.

They believe it has made the soil even better for growing crops, and it has stabilised the business for future generations.