Supporters launch £1.5m rescue package as family faces losing Shropshire farming heritage
A Shropshire mother and daughter could lose their farming heritage unless supporters can raise £1.5 million to place their organic farm in community ownership.
Watch more of our videos on ShotsTV.com
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Barbara Jones and her daughter Casha Bowles-Jones, of Babbinswood Farm near Oswestry, will have to sell the farm that has been in the Jones family for five generations unless the cash can be raised.
A team of supporters has now come together to save the farm, with plans to put 116 acres of the 176-acre farm into community ownership.
The group wants to safeguard the farm’s future as an organic, sustainable producer of food and a focus for nature-linked community activities by selling non-profit community shares to supporters from just £50.
They have set up the charitable organisation, Babbinswood Farm Community Benefit Society (CBS), to sell community shares as well as encouraging donations and applying for grants to meet the March 31 deadline for raising the cash.
The mother and daughter team have been fighting for the future of the farm since a divorce settlement in 2020 meant Barbara had to take out a loan to keep the farm in family ownership.
As a result of soaring land prices – inflated by tax loopholes and the prospect of future development of the land – only expensive short-term finance was available.
They now face a financial crisis which could shatter their dreams of carrying on the family’s organic farming heritage and have spent the last year working with a team of dedicated supporters on the plan to set up a community-owned enterprise promoting land for purpose rather than profit.
Babbinswood Farm CBS is now stepping up its crowdfunding campaign, spreading the word to a wider community as part of the fundraising effort to raise the £1.5 million needed to buy the land.
“We know that this is a huge mountain to climb," said Casha.
"But we and the community benefit society are passionate about saving the farm, sharing what we have here with the community and becoming stewards of the land for future generations."
The aim of the CBS is to buy the land and lease it back to Barbara and Casha so that they can continue their organic and regenerative farming system, protecting the soil and wildlife and providing healthy local food.
Babbinswood Farm is one of only a handful of organic farms in the UK with a ‘cow-calf dairy’, where calves remain with their mothers until they wean naturally.
The cow-calf dairy system will continue under the new arrangements. Casha and Barbara have already set up a farm shop and community garden.
The CBS will also oversee volunteer days, farm trails and nature events at the farm to develop it as a family-friendly centre focused on helping people connect with nature. The non-profit community shares mean members of the public can have a stake in the dream and a say in how it develops.
Barbara said: “People are passionate about saving Babbinswood Farm and its organic and holistic farming methods that care for their animals and protect soils, its rivers and biodiversity and its wider community benefits.”
Babbinswood Farm CBS is hoping to mirror the success of the Fordhall Community Land Initiative at Market Drayton, which became England’s first community-owned enterprise in 2006 after the tenant farmers faced eviction.
Charlotte Hollins, who led that campaign, is now a key advisor to, and a director of, Babbinswood Farm CBS.
“The shareholders became our 8,000 community landlords overnight and it’s led to all the amazing changes that have made Fordhall into the incredible, successful, family-friendly centre it is today," she said.
"We’ve shown that the share model can work and we’re 100 percent committed to making this work at Babbinswood Farm too."
Babbinswood Farm CBS board member Daisy Kirtley added: "If you want more land secure in the hands of the local community, please consider buying a share, donating, or spreading the word. No more family farms lost to big agribusiness or developers.
"We want a lasting legacy of protected countryside, food security, and strong communities instead."
Further information is available on the website www.babbinswoodfarmcbs.org.uk or by emailing future@babbinswoodfarmcbs.org.uk.
