Our Carbon
Understand how Hammiton Farm is genuinely carbon negative
Measure
We use a leading farm carbon tool to calculate our carbon footprint. Everything that happens on the farm is measured and has its carbon equivalent accounted for. We don’t cherry pick obscure science, we base our carbon calculations on independently verified mainstream models so we can be confident that we have the best possible understanding of our carbon footprint.
Soil
We know we already have over 1800 tons of carbon stored in our pastures (we asked world leading experts to measure it) but storing carbon is not the same as capturing extra carbon. Not including soil carbon in our calculation makes us different from other carbon negative farms and is what allows us to be confident that we are genuinely carbon negative.
Regenerative farming practise means that our soil is very likely to be capturing carbon but we are not taking that for granted. Soil carbon capture is a slow and complex process so we’ll be measuring again in a few years time to check.
Capture
Key to Hammiton Farm being genuinely carbon negative is our ability to capture carbon.
All our carbon is offset on Hammiton Farm itself where we capture carbon with trees and plants. We do not purchase carbon credits.
30% of the farm is mature woodland and on top of that we manage over 2km of large growth hedgerows. To boost our carbon capture still further we have planted over 1300 Manuka trees with more to come.
Light Beef
We understand the limited amount of carbon we have available to us at Hammiton Farm so have had to innovate in order to be genuinely carbon negative.
Cattle are the biggest creators of carbon equivalents on Hammiton Farm so to keep producing food we have had to think differently. We have fundamentally changed the way we manage our livestock and our Carbon Negative Light Beef is an exclusive new small batch product.
Manuka
Finding a new crop that can replace cattle on our land has been an exciting challenge. We have planted over 1300 Manuka trees, the first commercial Manuka meadows in Dorset.
Less cows also means less pressure on our grass and our old grazing pastures are now low input hay meadows where we are harnessing the latest regenerative farming thinking to maximize the health of the soil, increase biodiversity and capture even more carbon.
We are even trying to grow tea!
Reduce
Finding the balance that allows us to be genuinely carbon negative whilst continuing to produce food has meant fundamentally reducing the intensity with which we farm. We continually explore opportunities to reduce the carbon we use in order to keep Hammiton Farm genuinely carbon negative.
We are using less diesel, less equipment, less chemicals, less water. We are even having fewer bonfires.
Reducing the intensity of our farming not only allows us to be genuinely carbon negative it also gives nature space to thrive improving our biodiversity.
Why not visit our shop to see what we are producing?
Our Carbon Results
So we can be certain we are genuinely carbon negative we run a significant carbon surplus. Figures are tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
