Regenerative agriculture and circular farming at Grosvenor Farms

Grosvenor Farms is one of the UK’s leading dairy and arable farms, working by the principles of regenerative agriculture and circular farming, to produce high-quality foods in a commercially and environmentally sustainable way.

Located on Grosvenor’s Eaton Estate, Cheshire, we produce over 34 million litres of fresh milk a year – enough for 465,000 people every day – and are long-term suppliers to both Tesco and Muller. We also grow around 45,000 tonnes of forage for animal feed and 4,500 tonnes of grains.

High quality farming and food production are integral to assuring the UK’s food security and to improving its self-sufficiency. We believe this must be done in an environmentally sustainable way - improving soils, eliminating pollution, enhancing biodiversity, conserving water, and recycling waste. We see it as the right thing to do to respond to the climate and nature emergencies, and as a way to improve the efficiency of farming and, ultimately, its economic sustainability.

Our ambition is to be carbon net zero by 2030, contributing to Grosvenor’s global commitment to reduce emissions in line with limiting global warming to 1.5°C.

We already have the lowest carbon footprint for milk production of the farms profiled using Agrecalc - an independent carbon reporting calculator - that tracks the greenhouse gas emissions produced from farming activities.

We are building on a strong track record, having achieved significant carbon reductions in our dairy activities since the upgrade of our farm in 2014 through the introduction of renewable energy from solar panels on our sheds, the recycling of sand for bedding, and the use of manures as organic fertilisers for growing our own forage.

We are investing in innovative technologies like anaerobic digestion and a biogas upgrading facility to recycle cow manure, removing 7,000 tonnes of biogenic carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually to reduce carbon emissions on the farm by approximately 2,500 tonnes CO2 equivalent per year and generating enough renewable energy to heat over 5,000 homes a year.

We use conservation tillage – cultivating our soils as little as practically possible – to retain carbon, reduce erosion and runoff, and recover nitrogen, an essential nutrient for plant growth. The manure from our cows is recycled into organic fertilisers to replenish our soils. This means that more than 80% of our animal feed is grown without artificial fertilisers.

These initiatives have resulted in an increase of soil carbon – an indicator of its health and quality – averaging 3% – more than 50% better than the UK average for cultivated soils.

We only grow food on land where it’s sustainable to do so and work to enhance the environment where it’s not. We choose to manage approximately 12% of our land to support greater biodiversity, restore natural habitats, while also improving the quality and quantity of water on the farm, reducing the risk of pollution downstream.

In striving to be a leading example of sustainability within the rural economy, we believe in the importance of delivering lasting benefit, beyond the farm gates, to the communities of which we are part.

We are a significant employer in rural Cheshire and ultimately a contributor to the local economy through the employment of more than 70 people across a wide variety of roles.

Each year, we welcome more than 500 visitors to Grosvenor Farms. They include members of our local communities, the agricultural media, farming groups, universities, agricultural colleges, policy makers and school children.

We passionately believe in the importance for all people, but especially children and those from urban areas, to have a connection with the countryside, the environment, and where our food comes from.

We have a longstanding relationship with national education charity the Country Trust, whose president is the Duke of Westminster, and have been welcoming children on visits to the Eaton Estate and Grosvenor Farms for more than 25 years.

Find out more about Grosvenor Farms.