A farm in Ingleby Greenhow has installed a vending machine to sell its own meat.
Mark and Louise Day have invested over £21,000, including £4,000 funded by a Farming in Protected Landscape grant from North York Moors National Park, to turn the old milking parlour turned into a facility for school visits which also houses the innovative vending machine.
The machine sells cuts of their home-reared grass-fed beef and lamb, as well as local cakes, drinks and other items from suppliers such as Botham’s of Whitby and Yorkshire Wolds Apple Juice.
Mark said: “It’s really important to us to keep moving forward and also to ensure that future generations understand farming and where food comes from.
“Like many farmers, we chose to move away from keeping a dairy herd and have found that diversification has enabled us to sustain the farm while also adding huge value to the local ecosystem.
“We are environmentally focused, using a biomass boiler to power the farmhouse, heat source pumps in the shepherd huts, and thanks to a grant, ponds and scrapes and a whole farm Albrecht soil analysis has been funded along with planting hedges.”
The couple have previously invested over £250,000 in installing shepherd huts to their farm.
They have also worked with Rivers Tees Trust to improve water quality in the River Tees from source, with North York Moors National Park on their Farming in Protected Landscapes, and planted a wildflower meadow to provide valuable habitat for pollinators – as well as welcoming five school visits last year with more planned for 2024.
The couple have also invested in infrastructure to make 20mb wifi available to the farm and shepherd huts via local company, Signal Telecom in Catterick, adding additional services such as ordering using QR codes in the accommodation as a result.
For more information on the vending machine, visit https://newsheepfoldfarm.co.uk
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