The Duchy's rural estate is home to many farmers and farm businesses. The Duchy also has an amazing breadth of habitats, from the high moor of Dartmoor to the glacial ponds in Herefordshire.

Our shared goal is the sustainable management of land that provides integrated outcomes for agriculture, nature, climate and rural communities.

Our Future Farming team work closely with farmers and growers to deliver our ambitious goals together, and at scale. We seek to produce high quality agricultural products from farming systems that regenerate soils; we aim to protect and restore special habitats, and empower Duchy farmers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on their journey to net zero carbon.

We have seven Focus Farms across the estate who play an important role in pioneering new technologies and sharing their learnings as a blueprint for sustainable agriculture in the UK.

We have an expert team including ecologists, land agents and soil specialists who work alongside our farm tenants who manage the land, to identify where opportunities exist and provide practical support to enable effective and ambitious delivery.

Find out more about what the team have been up to.

Previously farmed by HM King Charles III, Broadfield Farm is a 1,000 acre organic mixed farm in Gloucestershire. Combinable crops and vegetables are grown on the arable land with pasture providing grazing for a pedigree Ayrshire dairy herd; a suckler herd of Aberdeen Angus, British White and Gloucestershire cows; plus a flock of sheep.

The farm offers a wide range of biodiversity and landscape features including original and newly created hedgerows, small mature woodlands, parkland trees and newly established herbal leys.

Brimpts Farm is a 700 acre upland farm and has been an integral part of the Dartmoor National Park’s landscape for generations. The farm has an unusually high number of species-rich and semi-improved pastures and meadows, good numbers of veteran trees, a rich historic interest especially from its tin mining legacy and provides high quality visitor and educational facilities which are strongly centred on its environmental assets.

Underpinning all activities at Brimpts is the prime South Devon cattle which are crucial in managing the wildlife rich landscape. In 2009, ‘Betsy’ the Biomass Boiler was installed on the farm to provide renewable energy which led to a local group of local Dartmoor residents collaborating to launch the Dartmoor Woodfuel Co-operative.

Huccaby Farm covers over 1,000 acres of Dartmoor National Park and has a herd of South Devon cattle, North Country Cheviot sheep and pedigree Dartmoor Ponies. Huccaby Farm contains a wide array of natural capital features. These include upland heathland, mires, native grassland habitat, broadleaved woodland and extensive mosaics of wood-pasture that are inter-mixed with the rare and unique habitat of Rhos pasture, along the River Dart corridor and valley slopes.

In 2024, farmers David and Shirley Mudge were awarded the John Whetman Devon Bronze Otter Award in recognition of their achievements to improve biodiversity alongside their passion for upland farming.

Park Corner is a 300 acre beef, arable and contracting enterprise in Wiltshire that has moved away from dairy and now rears beef cattle grazed on herbal leys. Peas and barley are grown as a dual bi-crop and maize is grown as part of the arable rotation and is sold as a standing crop.

Recent trials have included wider use of a strip till and direct drill, plus under-sowing maize with grass and clover mixes. New ponds and wetland features have recently been created don the farm to slow the flow of water and improve habitat for invertebrates and farmland birds.

Wilmington Farm is a 430 acre mixed livestock and arable farm near Bath. The arable crop rotation includes Winter Beans, Winter Wheat, Oilseed Rape, Spring Barley, Maize, and Rye Grass. Farmer Matt Kealing, alongside his son Joe, are also trialling grazing herbal leys and increasing the number of hedgerows and trees on the farm including planting a large riparian buffer along a watercourse. Wilmington rears approximately 200 Aberdeen Angus weaned calves each year and is also host to Bath Harvest, the farm's own brand which produces bottled rape seed oil.

Tregooden Farm is a 340 acre beef, sheep and arable farm near St Tudy, in Cornwall. Farmers Malcolm and Catherine Barrett were awarded the Best Sustainable Farming Initiative at the 2022 Cornwall Farm Business Awards and have transformed the management of Tregooden Farm to align with regenerative farming principles.

The farm is also part of the Farm Net Zero project in Cornwall and often hosts farm walks and trials with a passion for farmer-to-farmer learning. Recent trials include direct drilling, strip till and under-sowing maize, plus different cover crop mixes. In 2025 a large area of new woodland will be planted on the farm to compliment existing habitats including ponds, scrapes diverse grasslands managed by holistic grazing practices.

Lower Blakemere Farm is a 630 acre mixed farm growing crops for seed production alongside a suckler beef herd, pigs and the occasional sheep! The farm has 22ha of permanent grassland, with the remaining areas in a nine year arable rotation of winter wheat, winter barley, forage rape, grass and peas. Other farm diversifications include an event space the Bad Harvest Barn, Wriggly Wrigglers, and UK Mini Trucks.

Improving soil health is a key aim of farmers Phil and Heather Gorringe, with their son Monty. They have altered their cultivation practices and crop inputs to improve soil organic matter and soil microbiology, including using a Johnson Su to create a compost tea rich in fungal and bacteria life, and are also using bokashi in the cattle sheds to help break down cattle manure into a better compost and soil conditioner.

HRH The Duke of Cornwall recently visited Lower Blakemere, find out more.