Agroforestry
Farming with nature at heart
Joe - the farmer
Joe Hope is a farmer by accident! Before coming to Cefn Coch, he lived in Scotland with a career as an ecologist and conservationist. After completing his PhD in forest landscape dynamics with Stirling University and the Forestry Commission, he worked for the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh as a lichen specialist and as a ecologist for Forest Research in Roslin. He came back to Wales in search of a conservation project, but having fallen in love with Cefn Coch Farm he realised that the best way to nurture the land’s biodiversity involved keeping cattle, and so the journey into nature-friendly farming began. This rekindled a latent childhood love of agriculture, and now Joe also works on a neighbouring farm on a project to bring arable crops back to the local landscape. It’s become a very happy accident!
The farm
Cefn Coch Farm is small upland farm of about 40 acres, nestling in a secluded valley in the Cambrian Mountains. Having never been particularly ‘modernised’ with the introduction of intensive management, and surrounded by semi-natural habitats, it retains lots of natural features and biodiversity. This makes it an ideal place to practice low-intensity, nature-friendly farming. There are many wonderful trees and shrubs of a range of ages and species on the farm, not only in the riparian woodands, but also within the fields. Intermixed trees and pasture, known as wood pasture, has become increasingly rare as farming has become more mechanised, but scientists and farmers are now realising that there are many benefits to these systems (known as agroforestry). We are now sensitively planting more trees and hedges on the farm for the sake of the livestock and the wildlife. Our gorgeous highland cattle are a key part of the system too. As a hardy native breed they stay outside all year, and the way they graze encourages greater diversity in the grassland.
Links
To read more about our farming philosophy and practice follow these links:
https://fuw.org.uk/en/news/14780-ecologist-turned-farmer-highlights-industries-crucial-role-in-sustainable-food-production-and-habitat-conservation
https://www.pontcymru.org/cefn-coch/
https://www.soilassociation.org/farmers-growers/supporting-you/the-future-of-organic/fabulous-farmers/meet-some-of-our-fabulous-farmers/meet-fabulous-farmer-joe-hope/
The landscape and ecology
We’re in a tremendously special and beautiful place. The farm is situated on the northern edge of the Cambrian Mountains at around 200 metres altitude. Above us we have SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) upland heath and bog habitats at Pen Creigiau'r Llan and Pencarreg-gopa, ultimately rising to Pumlumon, the highest summit in Mid-Wales. The stream in the bottom of our valley, the Nant Cefn Coch, runs through ancient semi-natural woodland and into the Llyfnant, whose valley forms an important SSSI for woodland habitats. These woods are good examples of the temperate rainforest, characterised by great abundance and diversity of mosses, liverworts, lichens and ferns - many of them growing epiphytically on the oak, birch and hazel trees (amongst many others).
“Our walk with Joe was fantastic. He was a a great guide, with tons of knowledge and enthusiasm for the landscape and its wildlife.
I have never been on a walk like it and would highly recommend it!”
— Kier, Celtic Rainforest Experience