Whatever is put into the soil normally ends up in us. We know that chemical inputs disrupt the natural balances of plants, invertebrates, bacteria and fungi which are needed to keep the soil in good heart. It is possible to maintain or improve soil structure and productivity without using expensive and environmentally damaging agrochemicals. This helps reduce consumption of fossil fuels. The list of accepted agrochemicals shrinks as every decade it is decided that this chemical or that chemical is harmful to people after all.

Many chemicals are biocides - designed to kill life, and we do not want to take the risk of consuming them. We feel it is simpler and healthier to use absolutely no chemicals whatsoever and relax in the knowledge that we aren't poisoning anything or anyone. It is simpler, safer and less stressful to use crop rotation and mechanical control methods to keep weeds in check. Chemicals aren't selective, killing both insect 'pests' and 'innocent' creatures which would otherwise have been food for other species, like the greater horseshoe bats.

We believe that a small reduction in yield is an acceptable price to pay for farmland 'alive' with insects, animals and birds.