Hannah Thorogood
Mum of twin girls and our "girl" farmer
Raises our grass fed lamb and free range turkey. Farms 55 acres in Lincolnshire. She received a Great taste award for her lamb and turkey.
The reasons Hannah farms
It makes my heart sing. It feeds my soul.
Farming is one of the jobs where at the end of the day you can see what you’ve done.
Livestock farming is exciting and varied. You never know what is going to happen – you go to bed one night and you never know whether you’ll wake up at 4 am and you’ll be running in your pyjamas in the field because your cows jumped over the fence.
Being a farmer is a life choice rather than a job. Despite scraping my living, I am very happy. I am healthy, so are the children and the animals. I do the best for the environment. And I have a place where others want to visit and stay, as it feeds their soul as well. It’s like being a custodian of this space.
I always wanted to bring up my children on a farm with livestock. And to produce amazing food that feeds and nourishes all of us.
Why do I farm? As a child, I was concerned about the environment. So I started to farm sustainably. I knew already how to grow my own food without chemicals. It was an easy next step to grow clean food for others. And do it sustainably or even better than that.
I feel that the grazing management that I do is the most positive thing for the environment. The land gets grazed in a way that sequesters carbon. Climate chaos reversed.
Farming is not always easy. Frustrations do come. The nature of farming is that there is always something you worry about and that you are completely powerless about. Broken legs. Your animals dying. A birth going wrong. Customers doing strange things. As a farmer, I have to be able to cope with all that. It’s not always easy.
What Hannah’s animals think about her grazing management
The animals laugh at our grazing management sometimes. What I like about it is that they can get out of it if they are hungry, not in the mood for it or don’t like it. They just jump the fence.
I like that they are wild enough so when they are in their daily enclosure, they are happy to be in. The same is true with chickens and turkeys, they can fly over.
Hannah loves all her animals. Each has a name and is treated with respect and care.
How is Hannah showing a humble example how your food can be raised
Lincolnshire is right in the heart of conventional agriculture.
I knew farming here would be like front line against the convention. I wanted to show a small humble example that we can do it differently and it can work. That is why I put myself forward for the Great Taste Award.
Farmers don’t need telling. They need to see it’s working; they need to see the proof – managing the land very well, having a good profit, selling what customers want and having your children interested in farming. That’s the kind of thing that will inspire change.
How Hannah’s land has changed since she started taking care of it
When we came here 9 years ago, our fields were ex-arable fields, ploughed, sprayed and fertilized every year. The soil was depleted.
We started at ground zero – we had no biodiversity, no organic matter in the soil, no natural fertility. It has been up from there and it is incredible how much change has happened.
Year on year it gets better, you can see more biodiversity, more species of birds and insect.
It gets more and more exciting.
In August, the grass growth slows down radically. However, Hannah’s farm is green and lush with lots of juicy grass and clover for her animals to enjoy.
Hannah’s goals in restoring more land
My goal is to farm the best way I can for the environment, for the health of my girls, me and you as part of our community. Here at our farm, you can come and learn, get amazing food whilst doing the best for the environment.
Now, my goal is in taking as much land on as I can for the benefits of land, animals and people. Each bit of land I can take responsibility for, is another bit of land that doesn’t have to be chemically sprayed. Where we can increase biodiversity and capture carbon.
It’s about safeguarding land.