Greenham Reach, is an innovative project of three affordable small mixed farms, located in Devon. It is the first dedicated organic land management cooperative in the UK. Each of the three houses that make up this place are trying to show that it is possible to live thanks to agriculture, with land below 12 acres and using sustainable methods of agriculture. Its objective is to demonstrate that it is possible to create a viable business based on cultivating the land, while respecting the environment.
Greenham Reach’s 22 acres make for an idyllic spot. Situated amongst rolling fields, between the banks of the River Tone and the nearby Somerset border, the fields are full of vegetables, wild flowers and herbs, fruit trees, a colorful garden, chickens, goats and even a beehive. This is a pilot project promoted by the Ecological Land Co-Operative (ELC). His goal is to overcome the obstacles that prevent an agricultural culture based on the creation of small rural businesses on parcels of land of less than 12 acres. Users pay £300-400/month rent for these lands to the ELC. The work of the ELC is essential, as it provides the land and the necessary basic infrastructure (such as the common barn, solar panels, compost toilet systems and access roads) for the activity of all the users of Greenham Reach. And as if this were not enough, it also organizes activities and tutorials designed to broaden the knowledge of small farmers. If this initiative works, the ELC will use this organizational model in 20 other projects nationwide.