
Tags: world soil day, Producers, Dairy, soil, Regenerative Farming

Family-run Cornish business Trewithen Dairy are obsessed with nurturing the soil under their cows' hooves. Together with their farmers, they are on a mission to cultivate soil that holds as much water, air, nutrients and carbon as possible, while providing a home for the ecosystem inside. This way plants thrive and dairy cows thrive.
Trewithen Dairy believe that with great dairy comes great responsibility, so they created the 'Trew Farming' standard - a code of their shared practices and beliefs between the dairy farms contracted to supply Trewithen Dairy. This set of standards ensures a commitment to grazing, high levels of animal health and welfare, regular carbon emission monitoring, and sharing of best practices amongst the supply pool - all above and beyond Red Tractor standards.
Building upon these Trew Farming Standards, they also work closely with two farms pioneering regenerative farming techniques to sequester carbon into the soil and increase biodiversity. They have adopted methods such as planting herbal lays, longer grazing rotation and minimal tilling. Trewithen Dairy call this carbon-neutral journey their Earth Milk Project.
Trewithen Dairy's Managing Director, Francis Clarke believes that working alongside nature is more productive in the long-term than intensive agricultural techniques: “As producers, we have a responsibility to lead by example when it comes to finding solutions to tackle climate change. Days like World Soil Day are important to recognise that soil health is fundamental to us all. By making its regeneration part of our central strategy, we believe we can make a real difference to enhancing our soil for future generations.”
Alongside a carbon footprint reduction, there are a plethora of other benefits to regenerative farming, such as a decrease in fertilizer use, greater resilience to extreme weather and improved wildlife and biodiversity on the farm. Ultimately, regenerative practices are considered more flexible than organic farming and are more of an evolution of conventional farming, with a focus on soil health below ground, and diversity above ground. It avoids being prescriptive and has the potential for dairy to be more profitable for the farmer and better for the environment.
For further information on Trewithen Dairy please visit www.trewithendairy.co.uk and follow on Instagram @trewithen_dairy and Facebook /TrewithenDairy.
ENDS
For further information, high resolution images or an interview with managing director Francis Clarke, please contact Harry Hook at RAW Food & Drink PR:
Harry@rawfoodanddrinkpr.co.uk
Mobile: 07540 399025
Hi-res soil images are available here.
About Trewithen Dairy:
Trewithen Dairy is owned and run by the Clarke family, who have owned Greymare Farm in the Glynn Valley since 1976 and started crafting dairy products there in March 1994. As the business has grown, so has their family. It's not just the Clarke family that do all they can to make our delicious Cornish dairy products what they are, it's their colleagues, farmers and of course, customers too.
In the early days, the Clarkes had their own herd. Bill and Rachel would bottle the milk once the children were in bed and deliver it early the next morning. They cooked the clotted cream themselves, in open trays and potted it by hand. Their customers loved all of this Cornish dairy goodness and soon the Clarkes were supplying more and more happy customers. By 2001, the milk bottling and cream making side of the business had become so successful that the family made the brave decision to sell their herd and moved full time into producing milk, cream, butter and, more recently, yoghurt. Bill and Rachel's sons Francis and George now run the dairy day to day with key roles as Managing Director and Production Director respectively, with more than 250 highly valued employees and plenty of continued input from Bill and Rachel.
World Soil Day Background
World Soil Day (WSD) is held annually on 5 December as a means to focus attention on the importance of healthy soil and to advocate for the sustainable management of soil resources.
An international day to celebrate soil was recommended by the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) in 2002. Under the leadership of the Kingdom of Thailand and within the framework of the Global Soil Partnership, FAO has supported the formal establishment of WSD as a global awareness raising platform. The FAO Conference unanimously endorsed World Soil Day in June 2013 and requested its official adoption at the 68th UN General Assembly. In December 2013, the UN General Assembly responded by designating 5 December 2014 as the first official World Soil Day.