Yorkshire Pig Farm Leads the Way in Sustainable Agriculture – Here’s How

in Shipton, North Yorkshire

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Farming has always been about working with nature, but today, it’s also about making sure that nature can keep up with us. A Yorkshire pig farm in Shipton is proving that sustainability and profitability don’t have to be at odds. By taking part in a major environmental baselining survey, Shedden Farms is showing what the future of farming could look like.

A Landmark Agricultural Survey

This isn’t just any survey. Funded by Lloyds Banking Group in partnership with Soil Association Exchange, it’s one of the biggest ever in the UK. It covered 238,000 hectares across 685 farms, measuring six key areas of environmental impact:

  • Soil health
  • Biodiversity
  • Carbon footprint
  • Water usage
  • And more

For Shedden Farms, run by second-generation farmer Hugh Shedden, this was an opportunity to fine-tune their approach. Hugh isn’t just any farmer—he’s also a Nuffield Scholar, meaning he’s all about innovation.

A Bold Business Model Shift

Farming is never easy, but Hugh realised early on that the traditional farrow-to-finishing system (where pigs are raised from birth to market weight on the same farm) wasn’t working financially. So, in 2019, he made a big move:

👉 Switching to contract rearing for Karro Foods, finishing up to 25,000 pigs a year.

This wasn’t just about making money—it was about making the farm more efficient and sustainable.

Reducing Emissions with Smart Feeding

One of the biggest environmental challenges in pig farming is feed. Many farms rely on imported soya, a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Shedden Farms took a different approach:

✅ Investing in straw-based finishing facilities
✅ Setting up on-farm feed milling
✅ Replacing soya with liquid co-products like whey and wheat distiller’s syrup

Why does this matter? These liquid co-products come from human food waste, meaning their carbon impact is already accounted for. In other words, they’re carbon-negative. And because pigs grow faster on this diet, they leave the farm sooner—further reducing emissions.

Strong Scores and Future Plans

After the survey, Shedden Farms scored highly on:

✔️ Soil structure
✔️ Water management
✔️ Carbon balance

But Hugh isn’t stopping there. Based on the survey’s recommendations, the farm is planning:

🌱 Planting herbal leys to boost soil organic matter
💧 Installing rainwater harvesting systems to improve water efficiency
🌾 Expanding hedgerows and wildflower corridors to enhance biodiversity

Much of this is backed by the Sustainable Farming Incentive, which rewards farmers for improving their land.

Making Green Finance Work for Farmers

One of the biggest takeaways? Sustainability doesn’t have to be expensive. Over 80% of the farms in the survey, including Shedden Farms, received financial support from Lloyds Banking Group.

Lloyds is also backing initiatives like the Clean Growth Financing Initiative, which helps farmers invest in:

🌞 Renewable energy
🚜 Green technologies
♻️ More sustainable farming practices

According to Lee Reeves, UK Head of Agriculture at Lloyds Banking Group, this is about giving farmers “the tools and finance they need” to make sustainability profitable.

Farming for the Future

For Hugh, it all comes down to practical changes that add up over time.

“The data from this survey is a starting point,” he says. “We’re working through the recommendations and benchmarking against other producers. It’s about making the economics stack up while doing what’s right for the land; often, the two go hand-in-hand.”

And that’s the key—balancing profit with sustainability isn’t just good for the farm. It’s good for the planet too.

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