For all farming’s strife these days – from a deteriorating climate to the seeming impossibility of making a profit – Andy Cato wants to remind people there is still reason for positivity.
“What I wish came up more often was what an amazingly hopeful story this is,” he says. “That’s definitely what I’d like to shout about.”
Cato is referring to his business, Wildfarmed, now one of the UK’s most closely watched regenerative food ventures, supplying wheat and flour to the likes of Tesco, Greggs and Nando’s.
From DJ to farmer: the spark that led to Wildfarmed
Wildfarmed’s origins can be traced back to 2008 when, as one half of electronic music duo Groove Armada, Cato read an article on the way back from a gig that concluded with the line: “If you don’t like the system, don’t depend on it.”
“There was something that resonated with my free party, late 80s, early 90s background that really got me going,” he says with a smile.
Living in France at the time, Cato was inspired to transform his garden into a vegetable patch – a move that gripped him enough to expand further and start selling produce at local markets. The obsession only grew, eventually leading him to sell his publishing rights and use the proceeds to buy an entire farm.
Although he found success experimenting with regenerative techniques such as companion and cover cropping, he soon realised he would never earn a premium for growing this way due to the lack of segregated supply chains. His grain simply ended up “on the same pile as everything else”. The frustration pushed him into milling and then baking, setting up a farm bakery to sell bread made from his regeneratively grown wheat.
Over time, Cato honed his craft, winning the Lauréat National de L’Agro-Écologie in 2020 for “the most innovative farm in France”. And it was watching customers in that bakery, he says, that planted the seed for Wildfarmed: “This was everyday people using their food choices because they liked the taste and the way it was grown.”
Building a regenerative supply chain that actually pays
Cato began to wonder: how could that same choice be made available to British shoppers? And how could it help regenerative farming become viable for more than a handful of idealists?
A year later, he returned to the UK to establish Wildfarmed with former TV presenter George Lamb and finance specialist Edd Lees.
“What we’re trying to solve is a holistic economic model for farmers that allows them to do all the things which at the minute are off the spreadsheet,” he says – clean water, resilient crops, flourishing biodiversity.
A few years on, Wildfarmed is paying around 150 British farmers a guaranteed premium to grow regeneratively. It supplies bread to bakeries and supermarkets, and oats, barley and wheat to top restaurants and manufacturers.
Farmers must meet a short list of requirements on anywhere from their whole farm to just a trial field and can gain certification immediately. Wildfarmed has also struck deals with several major water companies, enabling growers to be paid for avoiding fertilisers and pesticides that pollute waterways.
Policy wins: reshaping the UK’s Sustainable Farming Incentive
Bringing government on board has been another major focus. Wildfarmed has spent dozens of hours with policymakers to successfully rework the UK’s Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), allowing farmers to be rewarded for combining food production and nature recovery on the same land.
“There’s this legacy that dominates all of private and public financing – that wherever you want nature, you don’t produce food,” Cato says. “We have to put that to bed, because the two things must coexist.”
Community as infrastructure: the Wildfarmed farmer network
Wildfarmed is not simply about financing. Cato and his co-owners place huge importance on connecting their network of farmers through open days, regional hubs, training sessions and constant peer‑to‑peer support. Its WhatsApp group – where growers share advice and experience – holds near‑legendary status in British farming circles.
Cato believes that community is essential for a counter‑cultural shift like this: “It’s no easier doing something different to everybody else as an adult than it is in the school playground.”
His prioritisation of community also stems from his own difficult moments. “In France, there were some difficult, lonely moments in the fields wondering what the hell I was doing. It left a real scar, to be honest. It was important to me that we create an environment where that doesn’t have to happen to everybody.”
Consumers, cost, and the case for spending 5p more
For a new food system to emerge, it must be supported by paying customers. Cato acknowledges that many people cannot afford to pay more for regeneratively grown food, but notes that “in a world of a £7 pint and a £1 loaf”, for many, it is a question of prioritisation.
“If people knew their food choices meant we could have fields full of resilient crops, we could have NHS waiting lists going down, all the stuff people love on the David Attenborough programmes… I’m certain there’s a significant number who would pay 5p extra for a loaf to say, yes, I want to support that.”
Supermarkets are beginning to agree. Tesco became the third retailer to launch Wildfarmed products last summer. While it’s in their interest to sell premium products with higher margins, Cato notes that valuable shelf space is only allocated to items proven to sell.
Proving the impact: biodiversity and soil carbon data emerge
Supermarkets and government alike have pressed Wildfarmed to substantiate its claims that regenerative methods can combat biodiversity loss and climate breakdown.
For a long time, the data was sparse. But last year, researchers from Bristol University measured almost four times as many bees and nearly twice the insect biomass in Wildfarmed fields compared to neighbouring land. A research partnership with Rothamsted also showed that a 1% rise in soil carbon could mean each hectare stores around a quarter‑million additional tonnes of greenhouse gases that would otherwise enter the atmosphere.
“Until you’ve got the data, you can’t make the case,” Cato says. “The potential for value is not just consumers. On a government level, the best investment they could make is to support quality food grown in nature‑rich, resilient landscapes.”
“The canaries are falling over”: why Cato says change is unavoidable
What still frustrates Cato is the assumption – implicit in many questions he receives – that business as usual remains a viable option. “It’s not,” he says.
“I’m from Barnsley and grew up when the pits were still open. When canaries in the coal mine fall over, my grandparents told me you pay attention.”
“And the canaries in the coal mine are now keeling over when it comes to the resilience of our food system,” he says – from flooded fields to barren harvests.
It is therefore only a matter of time before wholesale change occurs, he maintains. “On the one hand, it’s imperative. But also, there are just no downsides. It has to happen at some point.”
