Cronkshaw Fold Farm

Firstly, thank you for coming to this page and caring about the province of your food, how our animals are treated and how we care for our land. It obviously matters to you, and it matters a lot to us, too.

​

Cronkshaw Fold is a small family business that has been passed down from mother to daughter. We work and live here on the farm with the rest of the family, farming in a sustainable manner which improves habitats increasing wildlife numbers, farming in harmony with the natural environment.

 

In early 2016 we began our journey to become a certified organic farm. Since moving to the farm in 1991 (from the farm next door) we have planted over 4500 metres of hedges, hundreds of deciduous trees including oak, hazel, alder and ash, restored hundreds of metres of drystone wall and encouraged biodiversity in our hay meadows by securing funding to reseed them with native wild grasses and flowers. 

 

Our land management style has resulted in a thriving traditional hill farm, bursting with wildlife and spectacular scenery. The animals we farm here are all cared for with the RSPCA’s ‘Five Freedoms’ philosophy (read more about this here). We have a strong desire to teach visitors to the farm about the importance of understanding how the human diet dictates farming practices, particularly with regards to the production of animal products for food, fashion or homeware. Death is not a taboo subject here and we encourage our visitors to contemplate how their animal product purchase choices influence the life of farm animals and the environment. We aim to inform your choices, not judge them.

​

We are very aware of the effects of agriculture on climate change and the significantly higher carbon footprint of a diet containing meat compared to a plant based diet. Due to this we are currently researching how we can transition from our current livestock farming practices to lower carbon alternatives. This takes careful research, money for transitioning to a whole different production system and care for the rare grassland species we have whose food chain is tied up with that of grazing livestock. We're currently in talks with professors at the Institute of Physics and various Entomologists. If you have expert knowledge in an area that could help us make these changes please reach out and get in touch with us. We are acting like our house is on fire so we will respond ASAP. Let's work together to combat climate change as quickly as possible!