Meet our Farmers
Richard Tomlinson – Organic Farmer
Richard wants to be in charge of his own destiny and be involved in what happens to his milk, hence being part of a local Welsh organic co-operative. He wants to be as close as possible to the consumer so he can produce the type of products people want to buy.
Richard is a founding member and chairman of the board at Calon Wen, which is made up of farmer directors elected by members.
Richard and his family are big cyclists and like to take off at least once a month in the camper van to go mountain biking in North Wales.
Dai Miles – Organic Farmer
Dai learned the organic dairy farming trade at Ty Gwyn, an experimental organic dairy farm run by the Institute of Grassland Environmental Research in North Wales. He then received a welcome opportunity to run his own organic dairy farm as a tenant farmer.
He farms a herd of 90 cows in Pembrokeshire with over 300 acres of land in total, is married to Sharron and they have three children, one girl and two boys.
Dai believes the modern farmer shouldn’t just produce milk and forget it. The farmer needs to produce products that people want to buy and be close enough to the consumer to do that. He is an avid believer in supporting the local economy by processing locally.
Dai enjoys walking and likes to involve his family on the farm as much as possible.
Iwan Jones - Organic Farmer
Iwan Jones farms 100 cows on 250 acres near Denbigh. He started conversion to organic in 1999 and was registered in 2001. His farm was reputedly the birth place of a 19th century astronomer who was the first to take a picture of a galaxy outside our own.
In his own words: “Something I dream of doing is going abroad and not having to explain where Wales is! Or I would like to have enough money to fund an agri school or college in Africa.”
Owen Lort-Phillips - Organic Farmer
Owen runs the Knowles Farm and their B&B with his family. He’s married to Laure and they have four young daughters.
The farm sits above the Cleddau Estuary in Wales’s Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. Their herd comprises of jersey cows, including cuddles which is a firm favourite. You can see some of Owen’s nosey jerseys on our homepage.
Owen is a firm believer in organic farming and sustainable living, so much so his aim is to establish the first farm run according to the principles of One Planet Living, a blueprint for a low-carbon lifestyle created by WWF.
David Ward – Organic Farmer
Roger and Moira Ridgway - Organic Farmers
Allan Rogers – Organic Farmer
Allan and Heather farm a tenant farm with a herd of around 150 cows. Allan choose to convert to organic farming having realised that they weren’t really intensive farmers and that organic practices fitted better with his farming ideas and methods. They both also love the increase in wildlife that they have experienced on their farm since converting to organic.
Robert Tomlinson – Organic Farmer
Robert is the fourth generation in his family farming the family farm with Christina. They have two children who were educated through the medium of Welsh and are now in their twenties.