“I’m Todd Baker and with my cousin Matthew joined the family pig business and AF Member North Farm Livestock in the last few years. Our business is free range in the true sense of those two words. We take pigs into our outdoor gilt unit then our breeding farms, and the piglets from those sows come into our outdoor finishing sites across 2,500 acres in Norfolk. Consumers want higher welfare product and sustainability, and our system delivers both.”
“There are two key aims. One of them is growing, increasing our production. We’re looking for more land, recruiting more staff and in different areas of the region. Second, working with Waitrose and Pilgrim’s Europe we are looking at how we farm.
“Last year Waitrose launched its Farming for Nature programme, aiming to have all own label products farmed in line with regenerative farming practices by 2035. We’re the pork producer working with them to develop the set of standards.
“We’re asking ourselves how do we take what is already a sustainable way of doing what we do and make it even more so?"
“How do we minimise soil disturbance on the farm caused by the livestock? Reduce energy use? All of our fence lines in the last 18 months have transitioned from being charged batteries to solar-powered.
“We’re constantly investigating new ways to make marginal gains.”
"We provide a consistent, competitive income to land where we rear pigs for 2-3 years. The landlord gets the land returned as it was, if not in better condition with all the organic matter in the soil.
“Before we go onto that land a specialist comes in and advises how we should set the site up to best manage water. We’ll think about direction of our trackways so we’re not creating gullies for water to run down. Obviously with livestock, there’s natural soil compaction, but we drill with a cover/grazing mix to help protect the soil.
North Farm Livestock build sustainable long-term partnership with landowners
“We’re helping our landlords with their transition to more sustainable practices and integration of livestock in their rotation.
“There is close co-operation between our buyer (the processing company) and us and good collaboration with our land partners we work with, understanding what they aim for and how we fit into that.
“Farming feels like it’s a bit under the cosh in the last six months or so, so there is a real resurgence for togetherness binding the pig producing sector together.”
“We spend an enormous amount on fuel. That’s a big category we save on through AF. We’ve got a large vehicle fleet on farms and on roads.
“Like any business of our scale, we have a number of mobile and data contracts on various devices.
“We have an enormous amount of infrastructure - pig tents, feed and water systems and our fence lines. I think there’s a lot of miscellaneous products which would come through AF.
“We rely on a really positive relationship with AF, that they understand our business and our plans for growth and come to us with ideas of what we should invest in and save on."
"We’re trying to shift from just placing orders to a dynamic relationship using the knowledge and expertise of the team leads where they know us and come to us and say “here’s a new idea and we think you’ll be interested to try it.”
“Our ambition is to grow in East Anglia and beyond. Wondering how you move forward your sustainable farming and looking at integrating livestock, particularly pigs? Interested in income we can provide for relatively little contribution from you as the landowner for the time we’re on there?
“We’ve got a succession plan in our business that means you can form a partnership now in the confidence it can be long-lasting and deliver for your business and ours for a long time to come.”
Proud to be part of sustainable farming rotations with its partners, North Farm Livestock is always keen to hear from new landowners, estates and farmers interested in working together across Norfolk, East Anglia and beyond. Visit https://www.northfarmlivestock.co.uk/ for more details or to get in touch.
