At Poole Farm, we are in a great position to educate people about ‘farm to fork’ and the provenance of their food. We demonstrate sustainable and organic food production and how careful land management can benefit wildlife and the environment.
We sell our farm produce of eggs, honey, pork and vegetables (from the community garden) to local people and our volunteers. We keep our prices deliberately low to ensure affordability for all and all profits go back into the running of Poole Farm. We employ the highest standards of animal welfare, ethical and sustainable farming standards and this is clear to anyone who visits! We are privileged to work closely with local farmers who provide knowledge and advice, while our volunteers and community groups help with horticultural projects. We have a fantastic relationship with organisations such as ‘Food is Fun!’, ‘Food Plymouth’ and ‘Plymouth Community Homes’, who use our facilities (and ingredients!) to address food poverty in the city by teaching people how to cook healthy and affordable food and understand more about where their food comes from.
As Derriford Community Park develops, we aim to be a ‘food hub’ for the city, with a Community Cookery school and café. We will demonstrate how to produce food in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way. Together with our partners we can help to address this issues of food poverty in the city, becoming a place for families to learn how to cook healthy and affordable meals.
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Did you know? Only 3% of pigs spend their whole life outdoors?
Our pigs have plenty of meadow to roam and forage 24/7. We have linked up with Devon and Cornwall Food Action and local breweries, who donate waste vegetables and barley to feed our pigs. This is a great example of the circular economy and reducing food waste.
Our wildlife friendly, non-intensive method of farming means we can minimise impact to land whilst offering local communities locally sourced, reasonably priced produce.
We love having honey bees at Poole Farm! Not only are they important for pollinating plants, the community orchard and wider local environment, they also provide a source of income for us and are a unique element of educational and eco-therapy visits. Several of our hives are made from locally adapted bees rehomed from the Forder Valley Link Road worksite and are cared for by Poole Farm staff and trained volunteer beekeepers.
In 2019, our bees produced 330kg of surplus honey, which was sold to local residents, volunteers and visitors. We also sell nucleus colonies and beeswax products, and Poole Farm is the perfect site for running beekeeping courses.
The honey bees are also fantastic for research - studying genetics of local bee populations can help determine how healthy hives are and can inform decisions on how to improve genetic diversity. We are working with Pollenize as part of the Green Minds Project and through this, we hope to play a role in the recovery of native black bees and host our own population to improve the genetics of the Poole Farm bees.