Cumbria hill farm starts two-year organic conversion

Andrea Meanwell’s farm in Tebay, Cumbria, is beginning a two-year conversion to organic status through the Soil Association, with changes taking effect from 1 November. Writing in the Guardian, Meanwell says the farm already follows organic principles and that its shop, selling beef, lamb and pork, helped motivate the decision. The conversion is funded through the government’s sustainable farming incentive scheme.

Meanwell says certification will require more records, veterinary permission for sheep dipping and longer withdrawal periods for many medicines. Tree planting will require organic stock or an exemption if unavailable. The move continues changes begun after the conventional upland beef and sheep farm was bought in 2018. Beef sold this Christmas will not be certified organic.

Shared grazing on commons, unfenced boundaries between grazing areas and shared routes to the fell have historically complicated organic conversion for hill farms, Meanwell writes. She says certifiers are now more willing to adapt. Her account illustrates those practical barriers, but does not establish how widely that flexibility is available.