Campaign to save Shropshire organic farm tops £51,000

The campaign to safeguard the future of a Shropshire organic farm by expanding it as a community hub has topped the £51,000 mark with the support of well-wishers and community shareholders from across the country.

The Babbinswood Farm Community Benefit Society - a type of co-operative - wants to buy part of Babbinswood Farm, near Oswestry, so that the land does not have to be sold on the open market. The community ownership model aims to protect the farm’s organic status as well as preserving and expanding the wide range of community projects that take place there.

The society aims to buy up to 117 acres, including native woodland and buildings. Their target is £1.5m from a range of sources to save all the farm’s land. These include offering community shares as well as donations, a national Crowdfunder campaign and applications for grants and funds.

The combined total of fundraising now stands at £48,582 just four weeks after the campaign was launched to the wider public. The total includes several private donations of over £4,000 from well-wishers supporting the principles of sustainable organic farming and community ownership.

Daisy Kirtley, one of the Directors at Babbinswood Community Benefit Society, thanked everyone who had contributed to the fundraising.

“Everyone who has bought a share, donated, interacted with our social media, or talked about what’s going on – you have all helped to bring in an astonishing amount of money in such a short time.

“The support has been amazing, which makes sense because I struggle to think of anyone who wouldn’t benefit from more community assets and food security. We now have shareholders from all over the country, including Devon and Lancashire, and so many lovely locals who believe in what we are trying to achieve at Babbinswood Farm,” she said.

She explained that the CBS had spent the last year researching and creating a business plan that sets out routes to land purchase with different fundraising scenarios.

“£1.5 million means every single inch of that farm is safe from property development or industrialised farming, so this is our overall target, but we also have plans in place to save land even if we raise less. Our minimum target is £800,000, and any change from that original plan of £1.5 million land purchase will be communicated to shareholders – they can withdraw their shares if they feel they aren’t happy.”

The community benefit society will be leasing part of the farm in community ownership back to the farming family, Barbara Jones and her daughter Casha Bowles-Jones whose family have farmed at Babbinswood for five generations, to facilitate long-term organic stewardship of the land.

The farm and community benefit society are also staging a free open day on March 23 from 11am to 5pm to include farm walks with Casha and talks outlining the future plans and how individuals can get involved. There will also be nature based activities for children featuring seed planting, bird and bug surveys and a nature scavenger hunt.

This weekend the farm will host a screening of Six Inches of Soil, a film which tells the story of British farmers standing up against the industrial food system and transforming the way they produce food. This takes place on Saturday at 12noon.

Bookin is via the Eventbrite link on the Babbinswood Farm website.