Award for agroecological farm

AN AGROECOLOGICAL farm in the region has won a £40,000 prize from the Royal Agricultural University (RAU).

Lochhill Agroecological Farm is a 75-acre farm near Castle Douglas won the prestigious Farm491 Challenge Prize for its nature friendly and multifunctional land use approach to farming.

Owned and managed by Richard and Jane Middleton for the last 15 years. Now in their 80’s, and wishing to leave a legacy, Richard and Jane reached out to friends last year through the Regenerative Farming Network to rethink the future of the farm.

A Community Interest Company was formed in February last year with an aim for the farm to be a living, working, example of diverse and mixed enterprises, combined with a centre of excellence for training and skills development.

Abi Mordin, director at Lochhill Agroecological Farm, explained: “Lochhill uses an enterprise stacking approach to boost biodiversity, to improve ecological health, to create resilient and sustainable livelihoods and to have a programme of education, training and learning built into that.”

And the transformation has paid off with Lochhill impressing the RAU’s panel of judges to win the 2025 Farm491 Challenge Prize.

More than 15 companies entered the competition and, after a shortlist of six pitched to the judging panel.

Praising Lochhill’s new approach judge Stephanie Morren, funding manager at Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, commented: “Lochhill set out an incredibly clear business plan and we particularly liked their approach to enterprise stacking and being rooted in the local community.”

Looking ahead to the future, Abi added: “This award is going to make such a difference to launching the business into 2026/27 and making a real success of everything that we’re trying to do. It’s incredible!”