The Hazelurst Agricultural Co-operative

Date: 11/05/2012. Story submitted by: Ben Hastie

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On the very outskirts of the city, just beyond the Bochum Parkway, the Hazelhurst Agricultural Co-operative is undertaking a remarkable project to reclaim the land, re-define the links between food consumption and production and provide a sustainable, healthy alternative to a destructive and impersonal way of life.

Back in 2008, members of the Transition movement, a nation-wide think tank established in 2005 to combat the increasing reliance on diminishing fossil fuels and associated climate change, began meeting at The Meersbrook Park Pavilion to formulate a plan of action.

“We would meet and watch the Transition films”, explained volunteer co-ordinator Stella Hunt, who’s been involved with the project since the beginning. “We began discussing peak oil and how we would cope without electricity and gas, and the collapse of the transport infrastructure”.

“We realised that what we really needed to do was to group together and buy a piece of land, so we’d be able to provide a local, sustainable source of food.”

Like most farmers struggling against the current economic tide, John Rose found the next generation unwilling to pick up the baton, and was reluctant to sell his Moss Valley land to a leisure horse-riding company, hoping instead to see it used more productively.

“A group of us came out here in the autumn” added Stella. “I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it”.

In January 2010 group member Huw Evans purchased the land at Big Pond Field and gave the fledging co-operative two years to raise the necessary funds to take ownership of the nine acre site.

Soil samples were taken from the land to assess potential for growth, with the group finding that years of industrial farming and chemical fertilisation had left the ground somewhat barren.

“We found very little humus, the organic matter” said Ronin Barkshire, aka Ronin Flux, also with the project since its inception. “There was a lot of shale, and clay, it was almost like concrete".

"We needed to allow the land to re-establish some semblance of a natural system, and allow the bio-diversity to emerge”.

It soon became apparent that it wasn’t practically or financially viable to take on the entire site, so Mr Evans agreed to divide the field into four separate sections of 5000 square metres, with Hazelhurst agreeing to rent the top plot in September 2011.

Successful test crops of potatoes, tomatoes and squash were produced, utilising a rotation system of eight 70 metre beds, and on February 2nd, 2012 shares were made available to the public.

The following month saw the arrival of organic growth expert Matt Holborow, and the erection of several poly-tunnels.

“One of the main parts of the whole idea is to be able to communicate with each other in a consensual and non-violent way”, said Ronin.

“Also to work in an ergonomic and ecological fashion, in harmony with nature, and to find the optimum way of fitting in with the world we live in.”

There are weekly volunteer days, on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and Hazelhurst have also hosted permacultural training sessions and special events including walks, children’s days and working weekends, with camping on the land and early morning yoga.

“People have come together here to give their time and money, to grow high quality food for local people”, he added, “and to be part of a society that they can care for, and that cares for them.”

Follow the web-link to find out more.

Additional info

Address: Shirebrook Road Sheffield S8 9RF

Tags: Hazelhurst, Transition

Web link: http://www.hazelhurst.coop