The New Harvest: Roger Saul on the Future of Somerset Farming
The fashion founder turned farmer on Somerset’s growers, climate change and the future of British food
Last updated 28th Oct 2025
Roger Saul owner of Sharpham Park, near Glastonbury, says he has had a season of unexpected abundance. “We’ve had our biggest crop ever, about two and a half tons from 300 trees” he says. “Last year we barely managed a quarter of that. The only difference was the weather. Last year was cold and wet; this year, hot and dry which is perfect for walnuts.”
Saul, the man who once built the Mulberry fashion empire before turning to farming, has spent two decades transforming his Somerset land into an organic haven for spelt and now walnuts. Yet his story, he insists, is about more than one farm. It is about how Somerset, one of the UK’s most fertile counties, could lead a new era in British food production, if only government policy and investment would keep up.
“We import half our vegetables, 80% of our fruit, and nearly all our nuts” he says. “That’s madness when you see what’s happening here in Somerset. We have farmers growing salad, vegetables, berries, apples — all thriving despite the challenges. But they get very little support. Everything is stacked toward livestock and large-scale arable farming.”
Across Somerset, small-scale fruit and vegetable growers are already experimenting with what Saul calls “the farming of the future.” From community orchards preserving traditional apple varieties to veg-box farms like Two Acre Farm near Wells or Capland Acre near Taunton, the region’s producers are proving that sustainable, local food is not just possible but profitable if customers and policymakers back it.
“These are the people doing the hard work” Saul says. “They’re adapting to climate change, growing in smaller patches, finding ways to sell direct to customers. It’s what I learned in fashion: to survive, you have to get closer to your audience. Farmers have to do the same — farm shops, veg boxes, direct sales. We can’t just grow and hope someone else sells it for us anymore.”
“We’ve had twelve food and agriculture ministers in ten years” he says. “No one stays long enough to understand what’s really happening on the ground. Meanwhile, small farmers are selling up because they can’t make it work or they’re afraid of inheritance tax. Once that land goes, it doesn’t come back.”
For Saul, the conversation about farming must move beyond subsidies to strategy what Britain actually wants to grow. “We devote more than 70% of farmland to animals sheep, cattle, dairy, feed crops. That balance is all wrong. With climate change and diets shifting, we should be investing in vegetables, fruit, nuts, and cereals. Somerset could lead that change if we just had the right incentives.”
For all his concerns, Saul is optimistic “People want local, healthy, traceable food and Somerset can deliver that...but we need to act now. The soil, the climate, the farmers they’re ready. The question is whether the country is.”
A government spokesperson says the UK is investing in “nature-friendly farming” and supporting fruit and vegetable growers through extended visa schemes and grants. But on the ground in Somerset, farmers like Roger Saul believe the future of British food will depend less on slogans and more on planting, patience and the power of local soil.
The government says it’s backing farmers with the largest nature-friendly budget in history. It’s extending visa schemes and investing billions in innovation, and says it’s helping producers grow more food here in the UK.