Bremenda Isaf

Bremenda Isaf is a 100-acre lowland farm in the village of Llanarthne at the heart of the Tywi valley that belongs to Carmarthenshire County Council. This public land is now being used as a trial location for an exciting initiative to grow fresh, high-quality and affordable fruit and vegetables for the public plate – schools, care homes and cafés.

Currently, much of the food we eat in Wales has been produced and packed elsewhere – sometimes halfway across the world. But to reduce carbon emissions and increase local employment, we are looking to return here to an older model of processing locally where possible. Historically everything from apples and eggs to bacon and beer were produced here to feed people in the towns and there are real benefits in freshness, quality and food security from doing so again.

This farm has long been a vibrant home to people, nature and a wealth of food, and now it is on a journey to becoming a model of mixed, nature-friendly farming that draws on the past to feed future generations.

The farm has been part of Carmarthenshire’s County Farm estate since the 1970s, one of many such farms that provide an important route into farming for aspiring farmers who might otherwise be unable to get a foot on the ladder. Now, the county council, with support from the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity fund has set apart a portion of the farm to grow fresh vegetables and fruit for schoolchildren and people in care, with scoping exercises currently underway into how the entire farm could become a model holding of mixed, nature-friendly farming.

This would involve once more producing a wide variety of foods from this land and supplying as much of it locally within the county as possible. The nature on this farm, from the shingle banks of the Tywi to the ancient oak trees, is already invaluable. By minimising or eliminating the use of bought-in fertilisers and pesticides and farming in a way that regenerates the soil and nature’s cycles, the farm could become a model of both economic sustainability and natural regeneration for Carmarthenshire as a whole.

Bremenda Isaf is a project supported and delivered by Bwyd Sir Gâr Food.

More information on Bwyd Sir Gâr