Organic farming is only for the rich, claims Prue Leith

Prue Leith has hit out at the “bureaucracy” of sustainable farming and said only the rich can afford it.

The 84-year-old believes the reason the Cotswolds has a greater density of organic farms is because it is inhabited by wealthy landowners who can afford to go organic.

The South African-born restaurateur, who owns a mini organic farm, described the grants that are used to encourage sustainable farming as “impossibly confusing”, and said they often only cover half of the material costs and nothing else.

Discussing sustainable farming in The Oldie magazine, Ms Leith said: “The Cotswolds probably has a greater density of organic farms than anywhere because it’s where the rich, who can afford to go organic, live.

“It takes at least two years to convert. During that time, you cannot use chemicals to boost crop growth and the soil is not yet good enough to produce a profitable crop.

“You plant nothing but clover, to fix nitrogen, and borrow sheep to eat it and to manure your fields. You cannot sell anything you raise or grow as organic.

“So, right now, the only farmers converting to sustainable farming are huge landowners or rich hobby ones.

“Small family farmers – the majority – cannot afford what’s good for the planet and good for the soul.”

According to a government website, 509,000 hectares were farmed organically in the UK in 2022.

The novelist continued: “There are over 500 grants to encourage sustainable farming practices such as relaying hedges, mending gates and fences, ensuring wide strips of uncultivated field margin, leaving stubble unploughed and providing wetland for waders.

“But it’s mad. You have to apply for one grant for the fence, another for the gate and a third for the hard standing under the gate.

“Grants might amount to half the cost of buying the material, but don’t cover the labour. And it’s impossibly confusing: you can get grants for forests of trees, but not for small copses.

“There’s a grant for fruit trees such as elder, but not for native walnuts. The bureaucracy defeated us, so we hired someone to cope with it. Her fees wipe out the grants.”

Leith and her husband, John Playfair, run a mini organic farm at their Cotswolds home.