Founder and Advisor
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Chantal Brown
Chantal has worked as an independent farm consultant since 2011, prior to that she worked for FWAG. A career that started by falling in love at a young age with a farm called ‘Gorrie Downs’ in North Canterbury, New Zealand. Chantal still spends time in New Zealand, but her base is now her own micro farm in Exmoor, with her husband Jon, two very busy young boys, a collection of fur and feathered friends, and a community food growing project.
Some examples of Chantal’s achievements:
— Completed over 90 agri environment schemes with a 100% success rate. Specializing in complex sites, including Commons, ‘Sites of Special Scientific Interest’ and estates with multiple tenants, Chantal has a gentle approach alongside a wealth of experience to ease the transition and make change feel exciting.
— Highly commended by the East Devon Catchment Partnership and the Environment Agency’s Technical Soil Specialist for an influential report on land use capability within the catchment. Research was carried out through surveying 30 high risk farms’ soils and studying compaction, soil condition and structure. Soil, LIDAR, risk and opportunity maps were produced for each farm alongside a report and meeting.
— Developed ‘Cotswold Veal Ltd’ from concept to operational trading company producing premium high welfare local veal with Freedom Food certification. Peak production was one ton of veal per week with a database of eighty customers and eight Michelin star restaurants being delivered to weekly.
— Organised five farm events in one year across Devon that reached 200 farmers to raise awareness of risks of Avermectin use. Further funding from Heritage Lottery Fund was secured to continue the project.
— Designed a pollinator box now funded by Natural England through Countryside Stewardship and sold by Buglife, and used by several commercial fruit growers alongside growing pollen crops to aid the recovery of pollinators.
