Andy Dibben

Head Grower, Abbey Home Farm, Organic farm shop

Andy Dibben is head grower at Abbey Home Farm near Cirencester, where the land has been farmed organically for 35 years. He grows 90 kinds of fruit and veg on 15 acres and sells every bit of it direct through the farm’s Organic Farm Shop and café.

He farms with nature, not against it, using no chemical pesticides, insecticides or fertilisers, just rich, living soil, which Andy says is all a grower really needs. Organic farming produces healthy, nutritious food, keeps the air and water clean and the land alive with wildlife.

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Although Abbey Home Farm is everything a farming should be, supermarkets have dragged food prices below the cost of growing, and left family farms carrying the loss.

“Very little of our food production here is profitable and that, frankly, is an abhorrent state of affairs.”

So-called cheap food comes with hidden costs such as animal suffering, degraded soil, polluted rivers and the badly paid farmers here and abroad. It’s difficult for a small organic farm shop to make money, and Abbey Home Farm Shop is only profitable because they also source and sell beautiful textiles from India.

The solution is for everyone to buy from a local farm shop, box scheme or farmers’ market where the farmer receives a fair price that reflects the cost of high quality production.

Read more about how Andy farms here: https://agricology.co.uk/farmer-profiles/andy-dibben/