The Woodhorn Group is 'Highly Commended' in industry awards

Celebrating the best in the business

The U.K. 2012 Food & Farming Industry Awards took place on the 14th of December at the House of Commons, recognising the champions of the UK farming industry.

Speaker at the event, organised by Farm Business, was broadcaster and political journalist Andrew Neil, and was hosted by Neil Parish, Member of Parliament for Tiverton and Honiton, and a member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee.

The Woodhorn Group were ‘Specially Commended’ and Runners Up in the ‘Rural Enterprise of the Year’ category.

The judges stated that the honour is “in recognition of the farm’s environmental credentials and its successful diversification into a wide range of agriculture-related products” and in particular that “The Group’s commitment to both the environment and the local community are highly commendable”.

Owner John Pitts, whose family has worked the farm since 1882, said: “It is a real honour to be recognised for an award because it reflects the hard work and dedication of everyone involved with the business. We care passionately about the quality of what we do and that has translated into a number of successful diversification projects.”

Award sponsor Nigel Parsons, from specialist rural software supplier Landmark Systems, added: “John and his team thoroughly deserve their recognition. They are the perfect example of how imagination and drive, coupled with sound business planning and financial management, can help a business to thrive through diversification, even in this difficult climate.”

About The Woodhorn Group

An organic tenanted dairy farming business based in Oving, now run by John Pitts, has been managed by the Pitts family since 1882. John diversified into composting and recycling in 1998.

The compost site now recycles some 40000 tons of green and wood waste,

 that would otherwise be landfilled, on behalf of West Sussex County Council, Arun and Chichester District Councils under the Reclaim West Sussex partnership in conjunction with Viridor Waste Management. Waste for recycling also comes from local horticultural nurseries, landscape gardeners and many other local businesses.

Woodhorn subsequently produce a range of peat free composts and soil conditioners, which are retailed under their Earth Cycle range.  For more information on these products visit www.earthcycle.co.uk or telephone 01243 781730

The Woodhorn Group opened a 5 MW solar farm in August 2012 producing enough renewable energy for c.1500 homes.

NEW PRODUCT RELEASE FOR 2013

The Woodhorn Group's product brand - Earth Cycle is pleased to announce a new product for release in 2013 - BS 3882 Topsoil.

Woodhorn Solar Farm NOW OPEN

Woodhorn Solar Farm NOW OPEN

 Key Points:

• 5MW solar Site covering 35 acres

• Will produce 4,500,000 KW hours/year of renewable energy into the National Grid

• Enough to supply the equivalent of 1350 homes (based on the average household consumption of 3300 KWh p.a. (OFGEN)

• Additional direct supply to The Woodhorn Group’s grain stores, workshops and offices

• Estimated carbon saving of 55000 tons over project lifetime

Conservation Scheme

• Species rich grassland

• Wild flower and pollen and nectar strips to encourage pollinators and insects

• Bird seed mixes to provide winter feed for birds

• Grassland to provide all year round ground cover habitats

• Bird and mammal friendly site management by sheep grazing

• Sheep grazing will mean the whole site is still producing food!

• New Hedgerows: 80% hawthorn and blackthorn, 20% other native species

• Tree Planting, all native species e.g. English Oak, Ash, hazel

• Hedging species will provide bird feeding and nesting sites due to berry and flower production and protective thorns

John Pitts (M.D. The Woodhorn Group): “ Today is an exciting day for us. We are a business that is trying to follow a path of both economic and environmental sustainability. The Woodhorn Solar Farm is another piece in the jigsaw”

“Renewable energy is not the answer to all our energy problems but it is certainly part of the solution”

We are introducing a number of measures (see conservation scheme above) to benefit wildlife and we will manage the site with sheep.

“The sum of this should be a site producing genuine renewable energy in a nature reserve that is still farmed and producing food!”

“I would like to thank all the members of our local community who were extremely supportive throughout the planning process and beyond”

“We are harnessing the ultimate form of renewable energy in the sun. If the sun goes out then its ‘game over’ anyway!”

Further Information:

About The Woodhorn Group www.woodhorngroup.co.uk

About Vogt Solar www.vogtsolar.co.uk

The Woodhorn Group Office: 01243 789284 Email: Ashley@woodhorngroup.co.uk

Work starts on chichester solar farm

Work starts on chichester solar farm

Chichester Organic farmers and recyclers, The Woodhorn Group, are delighted to announce that work has started on their Solar Farm near Oving.

Planning consent was granted in April 2011 with considerable support from the local community but the project was put on hold due to the Government’s change in support for renewable energy schemes. John Pitts, Managing Director of The Woodhorn Group said: “We have found a way forward without using the Government’s Feed in Tariff Scheme and are delighted to finally get this project under way.”

The solar farm will produce 5 Megawatts of electricity from the sun which is enough to power around 1400 homes via the national grid, as well as the Woodhorn Group’s offices, workshops and grain stores.

John Pitts said: “ Being organic farmers I am delighted that we will be producing a source of green power which fits in entirely with our overall ethos,”

The Woodhorn Group recycles green garden waste and wood waste from many of West Sussex County Council’s household waste sites and garden waste collected by Chichester and Arun District Council’s ‘green bin’ schemes.  As part of an overall commitment to environmental issues The Woodhorn group has a long term goal of achieving a zero carbon footprint.

John Pitts added: “This will be another significant step in the right direction. I am pretty sure that we will also be the first recycling business in the UK to be using solar power. I hope that is something that everyone in West Sussex can be proud of!”.

About The Woodhorn Group

An organic tenanted dairy farming business based in Oving, now run by John Pitts, has been managed by the Pitts family since 1882. John diversified into composting and recycling in 1998.

The compost site now recycles some 40000 tons of green and wood waste,

 that would otherwise be landfilled, on behalf of West Sussex County Council, Arun and Chichester District Councils under the Reclaim West Sussex partnership in conjunction with Viridor Waste Management. Waste for recycling also comes from local horticultural nurseries, landscape gardeners and many other local businesses.

Woodhorn subsequently produce a range of peat free composts and soil conditioners, which are retailed under their Earth Cycle range.  For more information on these products visit www.earthcycle.co.uk or telephone 01243 781730

Energy saving per cow!



The Woodhorn Group

The Woodhorn Group, near Chichester, operates a 1500 acre organic arable and dairy farm, a green and wood waste recycling site and a business centre comprising offices and workshops. With such a range of activities, the company implements an Environmental Management System (EMS) to help them identify, manage and improve their environmental impacts.

Measuring utility usage is a key part of their EMS. Co-ordinated by Environment Manager Bill Newell, regular water, electricity and diesel meter readings are recorded. Bill explains the benefits, “Tracking usage helps us budget more accurately, set targets and spot irregularities. By reading our water meter, we recently found we had a leak. Had this gone unnoticed until our next bill it would have cost an additional ￡1,200."

 Monitoring consumption also highlighted the milk cooling unit as a significant water user. A recycling system was installed to collect the wastewater to wash the yard, saving 2,500 litres and ￡1,600 per year.

To reduce energy usage, lighting in the office, farm buildings and business centre was upgraded from T8 fluorescent tubes to more efficient high-frequency T5 tubes, annually saving over 20,000 kWh of electricity, 10 tonnes of CO

Employees are trained to switch off lighting and IT equipment in the office and tractors and machinery on the farm when not in use. Sensors are installed to automatically switch off lighting in the dairy buildings when neither employee nor cow is present. Timers were fitted to control the office water heater and the system temperature turned down by 10ºC.



Savings & Achievements

Lighting Upgrade:

20,109 kWh, £2,089, 10.9 tonnes CO2

Early Water Leak Identification:

1,900 litres, £1,200

Water Re-use: 2,500 litres, £1,600

Accreditation: STEM - Silver level

Bill feeds back to employees the results of their efforts in a format relevant to the company’s business activities. For example, energy usage at the dairy is benchmarked against the number of cows!

The Woodhorn Group have achieved Silver level of the STEM EMS accreditation scheme and are working towards the British Standard BS8555.

The Woodhorn Group,

Woodhorn Business Centre,

Woodhorn Lane,

Oving,

Chichester,

PO20 2BX

info@woodhorngroup.co.uk

http://www.woodhorngroup.co.uk/

Bill attended a free UTILISE Workshop run by the Sustainable Business Partnership. UTILISE helps businesses save money by reducing energy, water and waste. Contact for details.

Farm Update

It is all quiet on the farm as we prepare for Spring.

Thanks to the mild winter, we have made good headway on the drilling of cereals.

Looking to the future, we will be trialing compost tea on a hectare of wheat crop, as well as gearing up to start drilling Spring Barley next month.

On the dairy farm, calving is finished and we had around 250 calves this year, 50 of which will eventually become members of our dairy herd.

Milking is better than ever; we are hoping to hit the 2 million litre mark this year. The cows are in good shape due to diet change, good silage, a lot more crimp maize and the mild weather; all contributing to an increase in milk quantities.

Going to be interesting to see what the weather has in store for us this Spring and how it affects the farm.

Visit Woodhorn here

1882: West Sussex Gazette Thursday 12th January 1882

The Museum

The experiment of opening the museum, in South Street on Thursday evenings, not having proved successful, it has been decided to abandon it.

A Shocking accident to a Felpham man

Information received at Eastbourne, on Monday night, that a person had been fearfully crushed by a train on the Eastbourne and Polegate Line ... the sufferer was still alive, proving to be one of the porters, named William Medhurst, who is stationed at Polegate Junction. As far as can be learned, he was in the act of leaving Polegate for his home, going along the line, when the Eastbourne train came upon him unawares, and ran over his body. Medhurst (who is native of Felpham) ... 21 years old ... When found he presented a shocking sight...

...amputated lower high of his body, but brain undamaged.

Today in 1882: Articles from ‘West Sussex Gazette’ (Paper Dated Thursday 5th January 1882)

CATTLE MARKET AGAIN CLOSED

By order of the Privy Council, dated December 29^th, severe restrictions have again been placed upon holding of fairs and markets in certain counties among them being Sussex and Surrey.

No market is to be held except under special license from the Local Authority and all animals exposed must be slaughtered within six days of the holding of the market, and not exposed for sale elsewhere in the interim. The order reached Chichester on Monday [2^nd January], and was received with surprise, the authorities being quite unaware of the existence of any cattle disease to warrant so extreme a measure. The Mayor promptly summoned a meeting of the Cattle Market Committee of the Town Council, which was held on Tuesday morning. The matter was discussed, and it was felt that to be useless to attempt to keep the market open under such severe restrictions as those imposed by the Privy Council. It was therefore decided to close the market altogether until further notice.

A POSTMAN IN DANGER

Yesterday morning [4th Jan] a young man named Ayling, a letter carrier, who had only recently entered the service of the Post Office met with a somewhat alarming accident, which happily however, has had no serious consequence. He was on his way either to or from South Bank, and was walking along the edge of the Canal Basin, when probably owing to the frost, he slipped and fell into the water. His cries attracted the attention of some men employed by Messrs. Cover, Bros., who were somewhat surprised to find the representative of Her Majesty’s Postmaster General executing a variety of gymnastic performances in the water, with his precious burden of love letters and what not floating about in various directions. He was promptly fished out, and as he lodged at no great distance he quickly ran home and, we hope, got into bed. The letters were also fished out, and later in the day were delivered at their respective destinations.

CHRISTMAS TREE AT THE WORKHOUSE

On Tuesday Evening [3^rd January] the children at the City Workhouse, who now number between 40 and 50, were entertained to a Christmas tree – a treat for which they are annually indebted to the energy and kindness of Miss Molesworth. The delights of a Christmas tree need not be enlarged on here. Children know them well, and we hope all the juvenile population of Chichester have experienced them this year; elderly people look back upon them with fond recollections. All will imagine therefore what a delightful evening was spent by the poor children at the Workhouse.

Why are we so obsessed with 1882: see our earlier post here

More to come: watch this space!

Visit Woodhorn's Website here

Why is 1882 important to us?

2012 marks the start of another year, but it also marks a milestone for The Woodhorn Group and Earth Cycle's history: 130 years since the Pitts Family started farming on Woodhorn Farm in Oving, Chichester.

We will spend this year looking at the diversification of the business since 1882, Sussex History through newspaper headlines and the general heritage of our company!

Hopefully you will enjoy our findings, posts and look back over history.

Watch this space ...

Happy New Year from Everyone at Woodhorn and Earth Cycle

Visit the Woodhorn website here