About Us
How We Got Started
James Skinner started it all. James has said all his life, actions speak louder than words. So he established the Conservation Farming Trust to demonstrate in actions what conservation farming is. The first project of the Trust has been to support the development of a regional project in south-east Wales, Our Food 1200 / Ein Bwyd 1200. This is backed up by a website, Our-Food.org, which is based on a range of online resources that new entrants can use to learn how to build and run a successful farming enterprise, together with inspirational stories from those who have done it. With its own local management now fully established as a not-for-profit community benefit society, the Our Food 1200 regional project is demonstrating how substantial change towards conservation farming requires a dynamic locally led approach that tackles the myriad of practical barriers to change.
The 3 Principles of Conservation Farming
Local
Short supply chains, which provide a fairer earning for the producer (fewer businesses to take their share of the customer pound), better for the environment (lower food miles) and more secure for everyone. Local trade builds connections between farmers and residents in the community.
Regenerative
By mimicking and working in harmony with nature’s own systems, the farming techniques we promote (including permaculture, agro-ecological, regenerative, biodynamic and bio-intensive approaches) create environments that increase biodiversity, rebuild soil and soil health, and improve water supplies, capture carbon and keep pests and diseases to a minimum. Together they also result in increased yields. “We produce the same amount of vegetables in an area which is ten times smaller (than organic mechanised farming)” – Charles Hervé-Gruyer, la Ferme du Bec Hellouin.
The future
This approach to farming is not a lifestyle hobby nor something that requires endless backbreaking work. It is enterprise surviving in a difficult economic environment. It generates a viable living. The secret is productivity: cut down on expensive inputs and machinery; focus on how to do every action with the minimum of time and effort; produce a large amount from a small space. It is the way that communities around the world can securely feed themselves and the urban areas around them.
Our People
James Skinner
Trustee
For many years I worked in Central and East Africa as an economist and then as CEO of national development corporations of two African countries. My experience in managing and promoting economic development, particularly of tourism and agriculture, made me realise the importance of preserving biodiversity and protecting nature from the devastation so often caused by the growth in the numbers and prosperity of human populations. Back in England I served for more than 20 years as a trustee both of the Organic Research Centre at Elm Farm and the New Economics Foundation. This made me acutely aware of the terrifying rate of increase in expanding human demands on the resources of the planet, which has led to the destruction of half the world’s biodiversity in the last 50 years.
Christopher Bielenberg
Trustee
I grew up on a traditional Irish farm (beef, dairy, lamb, barley, oats, sugar beet and peas), and was educated at Trinity College Dublin, where I read Physics. I then completed a Masters in Business Administration at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France and worked several years in various countries in the European Union. In 1975 I set up the International consulting firm, the REL Consultancy Group which I ran for 30 years. During this time from 1980, I was invited to be Non Executive Chairman of the Organic Research Centre at Elm Farm and currently I sponsor the development of a Secondary School and Organic farm in Ghana.
Stewart Wallis
Trustee
After a varied early career as a geologist, an economist at the World Bank and managing director of a group of packaging companies, I moved to Oxfam mid career taking my salary down by two thirds and my wellbeing up tenfold! At Oxfam GB, as International Director, I was responsible for 10 years for Oxfam’s emergency, development and policy work worldwide and became increasingly convinced that the prevailing economic system was a major cause of poverty, inequality and environmental harm. This led me to moving to the New Economics Foundation (NEF) as Director in 2003. After 12 amazing years in this role, I retired in 2016 to write, do academic and local economy work and look after our 20 acres on Exmoor where I live with my wife and 2 large dogs. In 2018 I ‘unretired’ to help establish a new global organisation, WEAll-the Wellbeing Economy Alliance (www.wellbeingeconomy.org) and am currently its Executive Chair. I knew Jimmy well through my time at NEF and was delighted when he asked me to help in establishing an organisation promoting local sustainable food production as this is a critical part of what a wellbeing economy (one that works for both people and the planet) looks like in practice.
Sue Holbrook
Joint CEO
Through my early career in the international travel industry, I witnessed the profound impact of tourism on destinations and was motivated to persuade the industry to do better. Teaming up with Jimmy and Duncan, we founded The Travel Foundation, the world’s first industry partnership focused on bringing greater benefit to the people and environments of holiday destinations. I was CEO for ten years, establishing it as a respected and award-winning charity. After a short, family-oriented career break, my focus is now on a sustainable lifestyle closer to home. We live on a small-holding and are learning first-hand the challenges of having ambitions of self-sufficiency! I am currently working on the Our Food project in Wales that the Conservation Farming Trust helped initiate and it is a privilege to have so many inspirational pioneers to learn from! See my profile on LinkedIn.
Duncan Fisher
Joint CEO
Over the last 30 years I have been involved in the creation of a series of new organisations and projects in the fields of child welfare and environment (LinkedIn). In the 1990s I worked with Jimmy and Sue to set up The Travel Foundation. I am currently working in Wales, helping with the Our Food project that the Conservation Farming Trust helped to set up. I also edit the international child development website, Child & Family Blog.
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