BEEF, SHEEP, DAIRY, ISLE OF WIGHT: Producing food and caring for the area’s sensitive habitats go hand in hand on the family farm that Rebecca runs with her husband James near the Needles on the west of the Isle of Wight. The main farm is 300 acres (121 hectares) and is owned by the National Trust so the pair are tenants. They also rent another 100 acres (40 hectares) or so from landlords in the local village.

Their cows and sheep are native breeds, such as Sussex cows and Herdwick sheep, that are suited to the area’s rough landscape. Being hardy, they can survive outside on the habitat’s wide range of plants and need no additional feed apart from the farm’s home-grown hay and silage. To help regenerate the land and to avoid overgrazing, animals are moved regularly. Fields are also planted with herbal leys (a mix of legumes, herbs and grasses) to build up organic matter in the soils.

The farm also has a micro-dairy with up to 20 Jersey cows, descendants from cows that Queen Victoria, who owned a summer home called Osborne House on the island, brought over in the 19th century. “They were about to be sold and leave the island, so we bought them,” says Rebecca.

The cows are milked just once a day so that their milk can be shared with their calves, which stay with them. The milk is sold directly to customers, along with the farm’s meat and local produce, through an honesty shop. The farm’s produce is also sold through a handful of local shops too.

In addition, the farm has a function venue, housed in a 17th-century stone barn, that’s used for weddings.

Since moving to the island in 2020 to take over the farm that James’ family had farmed for over 50 years, both Rebecca and James have juggled managing the farm with doing full-time or part-time jobs. Rebecca worked for a charity, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, helping to run their Food Initiative, but now works part-time for the Cool Farm Alliance and the Future Food Movement.

Raised on a farm in Lancashire, Rebecca loves being outside all day, and the feeling of freedom that that gives her. “Come rain or shine, you can’t help but feel alive when you feel the wind in your face or the sun on your back,” she says. On the downside, she is dismayed by the negativity that she feels is levied at the farming sector. This is something she wants to change. “I want to help present the human face of farming and the intentions of farmers, like us, who farm with their landscape and community in mind.” To communicate this, she has recently started a Substack feed.

Rebecca would love to scale up the farm’s direct sales, which she believes is the best way to make raising native and less commercial breeds viable. “The current supply chain penalises slower growing breeds, so we need more direct sales to customers who appreciate the way we farm and what we produce.” But the barriers to scaling up are considerable, she says. For example, finding abattoirs and butchers locally is difficult.