It is fantastic that we are constantly surrounded by news, advice, messages and posts on the impact our day to day lives have on the environment and what we should do, as individuals, to play our part in protecting the planet. Whether that be through recycling, buying local, choice of transport, reducing use of plastics or purchasing sustainably sourced clothing, it’s safe to say that each and every one of us are becoming increasingly conscious to reduce our carbon footprint.
Personally, we believe that, as farmers and land owners, we have an even greater environmental responsibility. Yes, we can make the individual lifestyle choices to play our small (But important) part in protecting the environment but with over 75% of the UK covered by farm land it is essential we lead by example by taking our environmental impact extremely seriously. It is paramount that we constantly invest in the future of our land for generations to come.
Our environmental credentials are something we are extremely proud of at Craggs & Co. We already have lots of systems in place to help us create our 100% environmentally friendly crop cycle with zero waste and environmental risk.
Wind Power
We have our own Enercon designed wind turbine which produces all of the electricity we use on our farms and also exports, on average, 50% back to the grid.
Biomass Boilers
We have recently made a financial investment to install 3 bio-mass boilers. These boilers burn the husks from the spelt wheat, along with any other crop residues, this then generates the heat to dry the crops from the following harvest. This also mean we don’t have to use generators, powered by fuel, to blow dirty heat / fumes onto the crops to be dried.
Machinery investment
We have also very recently invested in Soucy tracks. The cleverly designed tracks minimize soil compaction which will improve crop yield because more air and water reach the soil. They also enable the machinery to consume less fuel than traditional wheels. On very dry, hard soil, they result in fuel savings of almost 4% compared to tires and even more in wet, muddy soil, where the tracks are most effective.
Cover Crops
Our cover crop of buckwheat creates the perfect home for our honey bees and food for other insects. Our 10 beehives have provided a home to thousands of bees and also produced some fantastic honey!
Hedgerows
We understand our hedgerows play a very important part of our wildlife. We are constantly replenishing our many miles of hedgerow with a native mix which is animal friendly & provides year-round food & habitat for wildlife.
These are just a few of our current and on-going efforts towards a sustainable future. We know we are not perfect but we are certainly trying our best and always on the lookout for ways to improve.