Meet the Gorringes

And How We’re Making Farming Work — Properly

Why We Changed

After flooding and a difficult harvest in 2020, it became clear that the old approach wasn’t delivering — environmentally or financially.

Weather was becoming more extreme. Input costs were rising fast. Commodity prices weren’t. Wheat, for example, was worth less than it had been ten years earlier — and still only accounts for around 11p in a loaf of bread.

That’s a sobering figure when you’ve worked a full year to grow it.

There are few things more dispiriting than nurturing a crop — drilling, rolling, watching it emerge — only to see margins wiped out by floods, pests, or prices that simply don’t reflect the risk involved. You can do everything right and still come up short. Farming teaches you that lesson early, and repeats it often.

In 2020, we also read Dirt to Soil by Gabe Brown. It wasn’t a handbook or a promise of easy wins. It was a practical, honest account of what happens when you stop treating soil as an input and start treating it as a living system.

It didn’t offer comfort (in fact there were a few tears)— but it did offer clarity.

And it changed the questions we were asking.

What Regenerative Farming Means Here

For us, regenerative farming means soil first — because soil underpins everything else.

We build soil with cover crops, compost, Bokashi and biology. We rotate crops. We integrate livestock properly — cows, sheep and pigs — because animals belong in a functioning farming system. Managed well, they return nutrients, build organic matter, improve soil structure and help land recover naturally.

This approach is slower.
It takes patience.
And it definitely isn’t a silver bullet.

There are still bad days. Crops still fail. Weather still ignores plans.

But there is something deeply encouraging about seeing soils improve year on year — better structure, more life, more resilience. Fields that once shed water now hold it. Crops recover faster. And decisions feel more grounded, less reactive.

It turns out that working with the land is not only better agronomy — it’s better for judgement, morale and sanity.

The Six Principals of Regenerative Agriculture

Our regenerative approach is guided by six well-established principles.

We don’t claim perfection – we’re learning, getting things wrong, learning from those mistakes, and getting a lot of help from people further down the road – but they guide every decision we make and we’re fully committed to doing better each season.

  • 1. Keep the soil covered

    Bare soil is exposed soil — to erosion, compaction and loss of biology.

  • 2. Minimise disturbance

    Less cultivation, fewer passes, more work done by roots and microbes.

  • 3. Maximise diversity

    In crops, cover mixes and livestock — diversity builds resilience.

  • 4. Maintain living roots

    Feeding soil life for as much of the year as possible.

  • 5. Integrate livestock

    Cows, sheep and pigs recycle nutrients and reconnect carbon to the soil.

  • 6. Understand context

    What works here, on this land, in this climate — not blindly copying elsewhere.

Learning, Challenge and Scrutiny

We’re part of the King’s Countryside Fund Regenerative Agriculture Programme, which gives us challenge, structure and the benefit of shared experience — including hearing when things don’t work.

In 2025, we were pleased to welcome Prince William to the farm. His support for regenerative agriculture and for Duchy tenants prepared to invest in long-term land health matters — not as ceremony, but as recognition that farming is complex, risky and worth backing properly.

Meeting Gabe Brown in person — including with Monty — reinforced something important: regenerative farming isn’t about copying someone else’s system. It’s about understanding principles and applying them honestly, field by field.

The Honest Bit: Profit Is Hard

Let’s be clear. Farming margins are tight. Brutally tight.

There is something quietly crushing about realising that a full year’s work may not cover the cost of the inputs that went into it. It’s not dramatic — just wearing.

That’s why regenerative farming alone isn’t enough. Diversification is part of the system, not a side project.

As Jeremy Clarkson put it rather neatly:
“If you want to make a small fortune in farming, start with a large one.”

We laughed.
Then we sharpened our pencils.
Then we checked the spreadsheet again — just in case it had improved overnight. (It hadn’t.)

Eating What We Produce — and Selling It Properly

We eat our own pork, sausages and beef — and we now sell boxes directly.

That matters more than it sounds.

Eating food you’ve produced yourself, on land you’re improving, is grounding. It reconnects effort with outcome. And selling direct allows us to:

  • retain more of the value
  • reduce waste
  • understand demand properly
  • and operate a more predictable enterprise

It’s more work. More logistics. More admin.
But it gives us control — and control is good for the soul.

Why Diversification Keeps the Farm Viable

Like many family farms, we now run more than one business.

  • Wiggly Wigglers grew directly from what we learned about soil, composting and closed-loop systems on the farm — turning practical experience into useful tools for others.

  • UK Mini Trucks exists because farms and rural businesses need efficient, sensible vehicles — and because adapting old buildings and assets is often smarter than pretending everything starts from scratch.

Still Evolving

Regenerative farming isn’t a destination. It’s a process.

Some changes show results quickly. Others take years. We’re seeing bird numbers increase, soils store more carbon, fields recover faster — and that encouragement matters.

There’s still more to do. Always will be.

Why We Keep Going

Because food has to be produced.
Because soil health underpins everything else.
Because well-run family farms still matter.

And because despite the hard years, there is something deeply satisfying about watching land improve, resilience build, wildlife return — and sitting down to eat food you’ve grown yourself.

That part never gets old.

From Our Farm to Your Footprint

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SOIL FIRST

Healthy soil grows everything else.

Want to know more?