EPC-UK Farming

For the good of the land, the people, and the local ecology.

At EPC-UK, we believe that by taking environmental responsibility for the protective barrier of countryside around us, we’re making a difference; one that’s designed to benefit our neighbouring wildlife and surrounding landscape – together with the livelihoods of those who work within it.

We’ve owned land at both Great Oakley Hall near Bramble Island in Essex, together with our farm at Alfreton since 1905.  The lands’ surrounding estates give us the space and proximity needed to conduct our activities safely, effectively and appropriately, while also presenting us with opportunities to nurture and improve the environment around us and help protect our indigenous wildlife species.

Furthermore, by producing crops including wheat, rape seed oil, sugar beet and potatoes across our 2,000 acres of estate, we’ve put our operation’s ‘buffer-land’ to effective farming use.

Wildlife conservation

We see wildlife guardianship as part of our role and responsibility, which is why we continually devise projects to improve conditions for birds and insects, increasing their chances of survival and swelling population growth.

Across our estates, we’ve already succeeded in;

• Installing 6m buffer strips between fields and water courses to help create new habitats
• Managing field corners to encourage wildlife interest
• Sowing wild seed mixture as a food source for farmland birds
• Growing flowering plants to create food for nectar-feeding insects, such as butterflies and bumblebees
• Creating habitats for skylarks on reserved plots of unseeded ground where birds can nest during the breeding season
• Providing over-winter feeding points to support wildlife during the ‘hungry gap’
• Protecting the locality’s landscape

“The work we undertake across our farmland is of pinnacle importance. Not only are we contributing to agricultural output, we’re also taking care to nurture our surrounding environment, and actively assist the wildlife that is so integral to it.

“The plans we put in place to improve our farms are part of a long-term strategy. We’re planting for the future and monitoring the results, to enable EPC-UK farmland to contribute to and help resolve issues within the country’s farming community.”

 

Great Oakley Hall Estate Manager