A Colne Valley quartet who moved to Spain to help tackle climate change through farming are to share the fruits of their labour with British residents.
Founders of the Handmade Bakery and former Marsden residents, Dan and Johanna McTiernan, and two founders of Slaithwaite’s Green Valley Grocer, Graham Mitchell and Helen Coxan, (pictured right) hope to sell olive oil and almonds to UK customers and educate them about sustainable farming.
The group will use a method called permaculture, which focuses on farming in a sustainable, non-polluting yet agriculturally productive and healthy way without man-made fertilisers in their community supported agriculture scheme, Terra, in Tarragona.
If the farm is commercially successful, they hope it will encourage other farmers to adopt their technique and reverse some of the damage to the local soil, like what has been done in the region and in other countries due to intensive farming.
Graham, who moved to Spain two years ago and will sell their produce to Cropshare members, said: “We wanted to have a simpler, more low-impact lifestyle and to become more self-sufficient.
“This meant moving as we needed land for growing and land prices in the UK were prohibitive.
“This area is famous for its olive oil, wine and almonds but conventional agriculture here is causing severe soil erosion and climate change is leading to desertification.
“Restoring the soil here can have a massive positive impact, not only in terms of improving the natural fertility of the land, but also in terms of reducing the impact of the long dry Mediterranean summer. And a big bonus is that by improving the soil we are storing more carbon from the atmosphere in the soil and keep it there.
“Although we are working on a really small scale, if we can show that we can grow good produce profitably using no chemicals and less water then other local farmers will hopefully follow suit and we’ve already seen strong interest in our approach.
“What we learned then is that people are really concerned about climate change and the integrity of the food they eat, and with Terra we are offering a way for them to take action that will help to change things for the better for all of us.”
