THE ANSWER LIES IN THE SOIL

Let’s go see some soil,” Fred Price says with relish, grabbing a spade that’s leaning up against the sandstone farmhouse. Waterproofs caked in mud and his puppy Tink scurrying playfully around his feet, Fred strikes a course for the nearest field. Ahead of us, the boundaries of his farm are immediately obvious; the vibrant green of the fields a stark contrast to the bare earth of his neighbours.

“The chemicals I was using were actually undermining the basis of soil and plant health”

“Ten years ago, we were an industrial farm producing commodity crops, looking much like the farms that surround us,” he explains as we wander down one of the farm tracks that crisscross Gothelney Farm, a 101-hectare arable farm on the edge of the Quantock Hills in Somerset. “The first few years