Not just sustainable — regenerative by design
Sustainability That Starts in the Soil
At Ditton Farm, sustainability isn’t a department or a side project – it’s our operating system. It guides every crop we grow, every field we manage, and every decision we make. We believe modern farms must lead the way in environmental delivery, not just by reducing harm but by actively giving back.
That’s why we regenerate soils, cut inputs, capture carbon, and create new habitats — all while producing food, energy, and biodiversity from the same footprint.
We’ve built a regenerative system focused on:
Soil biology
Boosting microbial life and organic matter
Cover cropping
Keeping roots in the ground year-round & suppressing soil-borne diseases
Reduced inputs
Minimising synthetic fertilisers and pesticides
Carbon cycling
Using digestate, compost, and organic residues
Data-driven agronomy
Making decisions based on facts, not feel
Every pass, input, and application is monitored, logged, and measured for its long-term impact.
Farming for Resilience
Energy, water, and nature – integrated from the ground up.
At Ditton Farm, sustainability isn’t one initiative, it’s a network of systems working together to regenerate land and build long-term resilience. From powering the farm with renewable energy to rethinking water use and designing for biodiversity, we’re proving that modern agriculture can deliver more with less.
We capture farm by-products like maize, straw, and potato waste to generate clean electricity through anaerobic digestion, while solar PV panels power our infrastructure. Our 11 biomass boilers provide 7.5 kWh of renewable heat, fuelled with recycled wood, timber, and rape straw. Together with our 0.5 MW AD plant, we produce enough green energy to run farm operations efficiently.
Water is carefully managed through moisture sensing, rainwater storage, and low-disturbance cultivation. Water management is critical to our system. We capture winter rainfall, store it, and return 98% of it to the land as fertiliser through our nutrient recycling programme.
We also use Dial technology to connect across all chicken sites, reducing our carbon footprint.
And we don’t treat nature as a trade-off. By restoring field edges and riparian zones, we’re creating space for pollinators, birds, and biodiversity net gain —- not as offsetting, but as core business.
Soil is everything
Soils
Our soils are the foundation of everything we do — from the crops we grow to the carbon we store and the biodiversity we support.
That’s why every aspect of our farming strategy is designed to improve, regenerate, and protect the soil we rely on.
We treat soil as a biological engine, not just a surface to cultivate.
We treat soil as a biological engine, not just a surface to cultivate.
Our soil-focused practices include:
• Long-term organic matter restoration
• Use of digestate and compost as carbon-rich fertilisers
• Cultivation choices based on soil type, slope, and structure
• Regular organic matter benchmarking and lab analysisWe map soils digitally across the farm and track their movement, mineral balance, and microbiome health year by year.
Soil that holds moisture is soil that grows better — especially in dry years.
We invest in:
• Long-term organic matter restoration
• Use of digestate and compost as carbon-rich fertilisers
• Cultivation choices based on soil type, slope, and structure
• Regular organic matter benchmarking and lab analysisWe map soils digitally across the farm and track their movement, mineral balance, and microbiome health year by year.
Cover Crops That Do the Heavy Lifting
Cover Crops
Cover crops are a cornerstone of our regenerative system. They’re not an afterthought, they’re a working crop that protects the land, feeds the soil, and lays the foundation for next season’s success.
We treat them with the same planning and attention as any cash crop, selecting species mixes that build organic matter, improve soil structure, and suppress soil-borne diseases.
Why we cover?
We use multi-species mixes to deliver benefits including:
• Erosion control and winter ground cover
• Root mass development to loosen subsoils and increase infiltration
• Biological nitrogen fixation from legumes like clover and vetch
• Suppressing soil-borne diseases
• Pollinator support through flowering species
• Weed suppression to reduce the need for herbicide applications
Planted With Purpose
Each cover crop is matched to:
• The soil type beneath it
• The main crop that follows it
• The time window available between harvest and spring drilling
We blend oats, phacelia, mustard, buckwheat, radish, clover, and others depending on field condition and objective.
Turning Carbon into a Soil Solution
Biochar
Biochar is a stable form of charcoal produced by heating biomass in a low-oxygen environment (pyrolysis). It acts like a sponge in the soil, holding water, capturing nutrients, and providing a home for beneficial microbes. Unlike traditional compost or digestate, biochar doesn’t degrade — it locks carbon into the soil for centuries.
At Ditton Farm, we’re trialling biochar as part of a new generation of regenerative tools — a way to lock in nutrients, improve soil resilience, and store carbon for the long term.
We believe biochar could play a pivotal role in closing nutrient cycles and enhancing our soil strategy beyond organic matter alone.
We’ve launched on-farm trials applying biochar to selected fields in partnership with AD and research stakeholders.
Our trials focus on:
• Nutrient retention (especially nitrogen and potassium)
• Soil water holding capacity
• Crop yield and root development
• Interaction with digestate and composted amendments
Results are benchmarked seasonally across soil types and crop species.
We’re exploring how our anaerobic digestion unit and green waste streams could be used to produce or support biochar
Biochar offers potential for:
• Permanent carbon storage
• Improved fertiliser efficiency
• Resilient root zones under stress conditions
• Enhanced biodiversity below ground
It’s early — but the science is strong, and we’re serious about leading its adoption at scale.
Power From the sky
Solar
Across our infrastructure, we’ve installed solar PV systems to generate clean electricity — reducing our carbon footprint and building energy resilience into the heart of our farm. For us, solar isn’t just an energy solution. It’s a commercial enabler.
We’ve equipped our grain stores, workshops, and machinery sheds with solar arrays. Configured to suit roof pitch and aspect, equipment load patterns and storage and grid integration capacity. These systems are managed with smart metering and designed to scale with future energy demand.
Powering cold storage and climate-controlled units, preserving potatoes and root crops year-round.
We invest in:
• Better shelf life
• Greater delivery flexibility
• Improved resilience for processors and retail partners
By using solar energy to maintain crop quality, we offer our customers supply chain confidence that’s rooted in renewables.
Beyond the Farm Gate, surplus power is stored or exported.
Our solar + AD hybrid system provides:
• Cleaner grain drying
• Emissions reduction in crop processing
• Smart energy management across multiple sites
We believe British food systems need British energy systems — and we’re helping to build them.
Farming Biodiversity, Not Just Crops
BNG Credits
At Ditton Farm, Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) isn’t an afterthought — it’s a strategic land use approach that unlocks both ecological and commercial value. We’re proud to be one of the few UK farms actively delivering BNG credits while maintaining a productive, regenerative crop system.
What We’re Doing
We’ve identified and removed low-yielding or marginal areas of the farm from production — especially field corners, hedgerow buffers, and unproductive river valleys.
These areas are being rewilded into rich riparian corridors, wildflower meadows, and species-rich grasslands, supporting birds, pollinators, and natural predators.
Our goal: create a landscape where nature and farming operate in harmony, not opposition.
Quantified, Mapped, and Available
Every BNG unit we offer is:
• Mapped in line with DEFRA guidelines
• Verified using the latest Natural England metrics
• Benchmarked against pre-existing land use classifications
• Available as part of offset projects or development partnerships
We provide transparency, audit-readiness, and long-term management frameworks with each agreement.
Water Management
Water
At Ditton Farm, sustainable water use is built into everything we grow. From capturing winter rainfall to improving retention in the soil, our water systems are designed for resilience in a changing climate – without compromising crop quality or consistency.
Storage & Capture
On-farm reservoirs and rainwater harvesting reduce pressure on mains and ensure irrigation readiness during dry spells. We capture winter rainfall and store it for use through the growing season, with 98% of water eventually returned to the land as fertiliser via our nutrient recycling system.
Soil Retention
Digestate, compost, and cover crops improve infiltration, reduce runoff, and help the soil hold moisture where it’s needed most.
Precision Application
Moisture probes and data-led irrigation allow us to apply water only when and where it benefits skin finish, tuber size, and yield stability, ensuring efficient use of every drop.