Winning ways mix care and commercial farming
The prestigious Steven and Gill Bullock Award recognises those who have used their learning from a Nuffield Farming Scholarship to develop their business, innovate and contribute to industry. This year’s award was made at last weekend’s Nuffield Conference. Jane King reports
The winner of the Steven and Gill Bullock Award 2012 is a farmer who has triumphed out of personal adversity and fully achieved his Nuffield scholarship aims, making education, health and sustainability key drivers of his business.
David Rose of Home Farm, Screveton, Nottinghamshire, is an inspiring individual who has built up his own farm and a social enterprise through hard work and innovation.
His journey began more than 10 years ago when he travelled to Australia, Europe and the USA to explore how farmers globally were reconnecting with their communities and developing local food opportunities. He realised that local food was something quite unique to the UK??, but also learned that education, health and sustainability were crucial worldwide to helping consumers understand and value agriculture more.
David’s own farm shop home delivery business struggled to survive when he returned from the Nuffield scholarship and it eventually had to be dissolved two years later. But he put his knowledge to good use by switching to a new role as food co-ordinator for a London initiative called Sustain, which aimed to help secure a better food future for the city. A key part of his role was to ensure that food for the Olympic Games catering operation was produced to LEAF standards.
David eventually went back to his home farm and two years ago decided to expand it as a community care initiative called Farmeco. He is now making a significant difference to the lives of people with special needs and those living locally.
His mixed farm operates to high environmental and animal welfare standards and includes an eco-centre for training and visits. Four farms work together on 1,214ha with arable and livestock?? and the focus is on environmental sustainability, local food markets and low inputs.
David’s mission is to educate the wider community and encourage involvement in food production for local consumption. In just a couple of years, he has reached out to more than 1,000 schoolchildren aged from five to 19, offering land-based studies linked to the national curriculum.
The life skills and personal development available includes confidence building, teamwork, communication skills, improvements in emotional well-being and education around healthier lifestyles. Some of the children enjoying the farm visits come from deprived areas and have not had experience of rural life before.
People with special needs also benefit from the Farmeco experience, using finance from personal social services budgets. As a member of LEAF, David has also been a strong advocate of the Let Nature Feed Your Senses project, which provides sensory-rich visits for those with visual or hearing impairments in a safe, accessible way.
His vision for his enterprise is now extending to other community groups such as people with mental health problems and rehabilitating offenders. The potential life-enhancing opportunities he can provide open up all sorts of possibilities for the future.
The Steven and Gill Bullock Award recognises individuals who have used learning from Nuffield Farming Scholarships to develop their businesses, innovate and contribute to the industry. The judges concluded that David Rose, through his leadership of Farmeco, was an excellent exponent of these principles.
The contacts he made during his Nuffield scholarship have been hugely influential in guiding and supporting him during his career. He has also used learning and inspiration from his travels to reconnect the local community with food production and has imaginatively put good environmental stewardship at the heart of the project.
By sharing his passion for agriculture in this way, David is making a significant contribution beyond anything he could have imagined when he first began.
The judges were the Rt Hon Michael Jack, past chairman of the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee and agricultural adviser to HSBC; LEAF chairman Stephen Fell and Farmers Weekly Editor Jane King.
What visitors say about David Rose’s Farmeco enterprise
“David has delivered many excellent sensory farm visits for various community groups through the Let Nature Feed Your Senses project. He has developed a strong and enthusiatic team at Farmeco and there is always a positive buzz and warm welcome for visiting groups. In particular, the way David and his team encourage visitors of all ages and abilities to get their hands dirty with plots of cereals and farm tasks is highly commendable. Of all the host farmers involved in delivering visits for visitors with disabilities, no-one in the project has embraced the opportunity with more enthusiasm and interest.”
James Taylor, Let Nature Feed Your Senses project co-ordinator
“All of our service users enjoyed the day enormously, due in no small part to the excellently planned day, warm welcome and always friendly and helpful staff/volunteers.”
Tom England, Notts Royal Society for the Blind
“Excellent trip, very enjoyable. David was very good with our young people and all of them want to make a return visit.”
Mick Dawber, Positive Futures
See the shortlisted entries for the Steven and Gill Bullock Award 2012