Meet the Farmers
Insights into Dartmoor Farming Throughout the Year
Farming on Dartmoor
Through these video interviews, members of Dartmoor Farmers Association share insights into their farms – from managing livestock and conserving the landscape, to diversifying farm businesses and educating the next generation about where their food comes from.
Discover how our member farmers combine traditional farming practices with environmental stewardship to produce exceptional food whilst preserving Dartmoor’s unique landscape.
Spring at Greenwell Farm
Mat Cole - Greenwell Farm
Founding director • Southwest Dartmoor
Mat farms at Greenwell Farm in partnership with his brother and family, keeping beef and sheep traditionally on the commons and edges of the moor in southwest Dartmoor. As one of our founding directors from nearly 20 years ago, Mat has been central to our vision of working collaboratively to create sustainable markets and a sustainable future for Dartmoor’s farmers.
March brings the intensity of lambing season—early lambs in the barn, later ones outside as the robust native breeds cope with Dartmoor’s weather. For over 15 years, Mat has opened Greenwell’s gates during lambing through the Lambing Live event, which now spans two weeks and welcomes hundreds of visitors and school groups. Mat talks about the Devon Banks that create wildlife corridors, the permanent pastures alive with earthworms and microbes, and why moorlands need managing with grazing animals. “We must never forget that we’re only looking after this place for the next generation,” Mat reflects. “It belongs to the next generation.”
Autumn at Great Dunstone Farm, Widecombe
Pete Mann - Great Dunstone Farm
Fifth-generation farmer • Widecombe, Dartmoor
Pete farms at Great Dunstone Farm alongside his family, where they’ve been for five generations. As both commoners and in-by farmers, they use the commons surrounding the farm, keeping traditional white-faced Dartmoor sheep—a breed Pete’s grandfather helped establish by founding the society—alongside Scotch Blackface on the hill and Romtex commercial sheep in-by. Their cattle include South Devon Cross, Angus, and South Devon Galloway breeds suited to Dartmoor’s terrain.
Pete serves as one of our directors, helping to grow the Association to over 100 member farms working collaboratively. November marks a time of renewal on the farm—rams join the ewes ahead of spring lambing, whilst cows come in off the hill as weather changes. Recent challenges from dry summers to policy uncertainty have made working together more important than ever. Through initiatives like the Dartmoor Farmers Health Club and collective approaches to reducing input costs, the organisation demonstrates how collaboration strengthens Dartmoor’s farming community. “Dartmoor Farmers is ultimately about working together collaboratively,” Pete reflects, “to benefit Dartmoor and this beautiful landscape and protect it, improve on it for the next generation.”
Summer at Callisham Farm, Meavy
Scott and Jaime - Callisham Farm
Third-generation farmers • Meavy, Dartmoor National Park
Scott and Jaime farm at Callisham, just outside Meavy within the Dartmoor National Park. They keep pedigree red and white Herefords alongside a suckler herd of Angus and Hereford cross cattle, and maintain a breeding flock of 250 Lleyn sheep. Jaime’s granddad bought the farm in the late 60s and early 70s, making Scott and Jaime the third generation to work the land.
As members of Dartmoor Farmers Association, they’re actively involved in the Farm to Fork educational programme, which has welcomed over 1,000 children from local schools onto Dartmoor farms. The visits help reconnect children with nature and farming, showing them that farmers aren’t just producing food—they’re environmental stewards managing hedgerows, woodlands, wetlands, and the diverse wildlife these habitats support.
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