Purpose in Practice Series
This month we are showcasing a selection of Triple Bottom Line Accounting’s purpose-driven business clients who are taking a lead in environmental stewardship. This is third in a series that embodies our company’s mission “to support clients in achieving financial success alongside positive social and environmental impact.”
Good Small Farms: Proving That Regenerative Agriculture Can Be Profitable
We’re proud to support Good Small Farms, a pioneering regenerative farm near Stroud that’s challenging everything we thought we knew about what makes farming viable. This partnership exemplifies the kind of purpose-driven business we exist to support – one that refuses to compromise between profitability and positive impact.
Redefining Success in Farming
At a time when small farms across Britain are struggling, food prices are rising, supermarkets are driving down farmers’ margins, and our countryside is being stripped of biodiversity, Good Small Farms decided to go back to the drawing board. Their ambitious vision is simple yet transformative: to prove that small, mixed, regenerative farms can be economically viable whilst enhancing the land and community around them.
Founded with the mission to support 100 small-scale farms on their regenerative journeys by 2030, Good Small Farms operates as a testing ground for a new model of agriculture – one built on three interconnected pillars that mirror our own triple bottom line philosophy.
The Three Pillars Approach
Biodiversity: Rather than relying on conventional farming methods that often degrade the land, Good Small Farms actively works to reverse biodiversity loss. Through wildflower meadows, expanded hedgerows, and pollinator borders integrated throughout their system, they’re demonstrating that farming can regenerate ecosystems rather than deplete them.
Social Capital: The farm challenges the stereotype of the isolated, overworked farmer by building a flexible team approach. Their twelve-person team brings diverse backgrounds – from NHS nursing to Fair Trade agricultural finance to aeronautical engineering – creating built-in resilience and meaningful employment whilst proving that farming can attract talent from unexpected places.
Profitability: Good Small Farms is unequivocally a for-profit business. As they put it themselves, relying on charity or unpredictable government grants is risky and unsustainable. They’re proving that regenerative methods can deliver ecological and health benefits whilst maintaining viable profit margins.
Walking the Talk
As a young company, building an authentic reputation, establishing historical baselines and demonstrating achievements proved challenging. However, in 2024 alone, Good Small Farms:
- Achieved full Soil Association organic certification
- Grew their team by four people
- Delivered around 600 vegetable and meat boxes
- Sold produce at 85 local markets
- Welcomed 120 people to their first open day
- Brought 100 primary school children onto the farm for education programmes
- Started new enterprises including egg production, tree nursery sales, and mushroom cultivation
Building a Regenerative Food System
Good Small Farms operates multiple complementary enterprises that exemplify regenerative agriculture in practice. Their Pasture for Life certified beef comes from cattle raised entirely on grass, whilst their market garden produces seasonal organic vegetables without any artificial inputs. They’ve established a tree nursery growing native broadleaf species, run a thriving egg enterprise, and are developing agroforestry systems that will benefit the farm for generations.
Their food reaches the local community through weekly boxes, farmers’ markets across Stroud, and wholesale partnerships with cafés and farm shops who share their commitment to regenerative food systems. It’s a model that keeps food miles low, builds community connections, and ensures customers know exactly where their food comes from and how it was grown.
Why Good Small Farms Chose Triple Bottom Line Accounting
When Good Small Farms needed accounting support, they didn’t simply look for technical competence – they sought a partner whose values matched their own. As founder Eric Walters explains:
“We try and think carefully about who we work with, both in terms of farming suppliers and customers but also when it comes to support services. It may seem tricky to distinguish between firms when it comes to accounting but, following a recommendation from a friend, we decided to go with TBLA when we started Good Small Farms because of their beliefs and ethics which closely aligned to ours. It is clear that Pete and Fran live and breathe the ethos of doing the right thing and believing that business can be a force for good.”
This alignment isn’t superficial. Both are proving that purpose-driven business models can succeed financially whilst creating positive impact. And both are working to transform their respective industries – farming and accountancy – into forces for good.
Looking Ahead
Good Small Farms represents more than just one successful regenerative farm – they’re building the blueprint for a movement. Their goal of supporting 100 small-scale farms on regenerative journeys by 2030 reflects an understanding that systemic change requires collaboration and knowledge-sharing.
We’re honoured to support Good Small Farms as they continue to demonstrate that farming in harmony with nature isn’t just an idealistic vision – it’s a viable business model that benefits people, planet, and profit simultaneously.
Their work reinforces what we’ve always believed: that investing in people, planet and lasting impact isn’t just possible – it should be the norm.
If your organisation is ready to align its financial management with its values, we’d love to hear from you. Whether you need accounting services, carbon accounting support, or fractional CFO guidance, Triple Bottom Line Accounting is here to help purpose-driven SMEs thrive. Contact us here.
Visit Good Small Farms:
- Website: goodsmallfarms.co.uk
- Find them at local markets – check their schedule
- Order a food box – shop.goodsmallfarms.co.uk
Fran leads TBLA’s sustainability services and HR function, delivering Net Zero Workshops, decarbonisation and ESG consultancy for SMEs and organisations. She develops and delivers sustainability education across multiple frameworks, notably as tutor for ESTU Global’s Sustainability Manager and Carbon Manager programmes, teaching sustainability managers and leaders from diverse corporate backgrounds. In her dual role at TBLA, she obtained B Corp certification and drives the company’s ongoing ESG momentum, while supporting TBLA’s commitment to environmental and social responsibility through practical sustainability solutions and a focus on inclusive team leadership through the company’s HR function.
