In June 2022, Yeo Valley Associates invested into Wildfarmed – a system which enables farmers to grow arable crops in a way that promotes soil health and diversity across their fields while simultaneously creating a marketplace for them that rewards quality rather than quantity.

Wildfarmed evolved out of a desire to find a more restorative and sustainable way of growing cereals. Founder, Andy Cato, was farming in France on heavily degraded soils he’d inherited from previous owners. He embarked on a decade-long journey experimenting with different regenerative practices – no-till, pasture cropping and mob grazing – to bring his soil back to life, improve biodiversity on the farm and grow highly nutritious crops. The changes on his farm were nothing short of transformative. The slightest improvements in organic matter in the soil brought big rewards. This resulted in Wildfarmed’s Regenerative Standards, which are the UK’s first third-party audited protocols for arable farmers created to guarantee the gold standard of regenerative agriculture.

Farmers who switch to Wildfarmed’s methodology are provided with a proven, commercial roadmap that prioritises food security and nutritional quality whilst restoring their soils, ensuring flexibility for growers and genuinely regenerative outcomes for customers. This allows them to become part of the solution to the world’s most complex problem: climate change and nature loss.

There are now more than 40 farmers implementing the Wildfarmed method on their farms in different ways – including species rich cover crops, diverse pasture mixes, bi or poly-cropping and integrating animals wherever possible. A growing network of major retailers, bakeries, restaurants, schools, independent food wholesalers, and breweries are supporting the Wildfarmed mission too. You’ll even find their flour in the Yeo Valley canteen kitchen.

Yeo Valley Associates has continued to support the businesses as they revolutionise farming through products that taste better and are better for you and the planet.

“Collaboration is key to instigating significant change. We believe our collective experience – with our growers and working on projects such as this – will create the quantum leap required for this kind of agriculture to become predominant in the UK”.
Andy Cato, Founder of Wildfarmed.