A new biochar business set up with Business Wales’ support in West Wales is hoping to contribute to a carbon-neutral Wales.
With business and farming experience respectively, Carys Taylor and husband Hemi decided to diversify and supplement their farm income by launching a new business, developing biochar products – a charcoal based probiotic suitable for gardening/horticulture, agriculture and hydroponics. With support from the Welsh Government’s Business Wales service, Carys and Hemi successfully launched Dad's Farm Ltd., and are already looking to grow and recruit as their markets develop.
- Successfully started and created 2 jobs.
- General business support with starting up.
- Specialist advice on sustainability and tendering.
- Adopted the Business Wales Green Growth Pledge focusing on the use of raw materials, packaging/end of life, branding and marketing.
Introduction to business
Dad’s Farm Biochar helps farmers, gardeners and home growers to improve their soil, increase yield and contribute to reducing CO2 emissions in a simple and natural way.
The business produces affordable, 100% natural activated biochar that is carbon-rich and made from UK sustainable woodlands. By sequestering CO2 from the atmosphere and incorporating it into soil, their biochar products help to reduce our carbon footprint and our dependency on chemical fertilisers while re-nourishing the soil naturally.
We caught up with Directors Carys and Hemi to learn more about their business journey and find out why sustainability is so important to the business:
Why did you decide to set up your own business and focus on sustainability?
15 years ago, we made a lifestyle choice moving from Cardiff to Ceredigion to buy a coastal farm of just under 120 acres. Prior to the move, we both had jobs, enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle and travelled the world.
At the same time, we became conscious of the extreme climatic changes happening due to the planet warming up, through over-dependency on fossil fuels and CO2 emissions damaging the Earth’s ozone layer.
We started to keep beef and sheep, and decided early on that we would like to farm as self-sufficiently and sustainably as possible, so started looking into a number of renewable energy and diversification projects: we invested in ground source heating for a holiday cottage as well as solar power and a biomass boiler for the farm itself. Our biomass boiler is fuelled by woodchip, which we source from a local sustainable supplier.
Then, one day, our young daughter was watching me clean out the burner and asked: “what are you going to do with that, Dad…?” which was a good question. Being a frugal farmer, I’m often recycling materials around the farm, and this got me thinking. I had heard of biochar when I did my research on biomass, so I went back again and actually looked to see what was going on in this field in the UK. At that time, around a couple of years ago, there was hardly anyone producing biochar here. So, I widened the net and looked at Sweden, Holland, the US and New Zealand as they tend to be very innovative with environmental solutions.
Any farmer will tell you that one of the most expensive products they buy on an annual basis is chemical fertiliser. Apart from cost-savings, our research identified multiple environmental benefits from producing biochar for agriculture, including vastly improved carbon sequestration when added to soil, reduced greenhouse gases when added to livestock feed and sustainable land management leading to improved biodiversity with far less dependency on chemical fertilisers. The potential of biochar as a carbon store is immense.
What challenges did you face?
The challenges we have faced are:
- Awareness – whilst biochar production is not completely new, it is undoubtedly a niche market and awareness in the UK is quite low.
- Competitors – there are other direct online sellers. Although we may not be the first to market, we are one of the early entrants and our biochar product range is different to that of the competition. We are already thinking of other, new products that we could introduce to the market.
- Establishing key retail partnerships.
- Raising our online profile and brand awareness.
Business Wales support
Following a referral from the Superfast Business Wales service, Carys and Hemi worked with a Business Wales Relationship Manager Catherine Orton, who helped them with pre-start advice, planning, product and market research, business development strategies, relationship brokering and funding avenues. Cath introduced the entrepreneurial couple to BICInnovation for advice on manufacturing processes and supply chain opportunities.
Carys and Hemi also benefited from a sustainability specialist, Gareth Davies, who appraised their business proposal and examined its sustainability impacts from raw materials to end of life. Gareth also provided advice on packaging, business opportunities and environmental accreditations, and encouraged their participation on the Aberystwyth University’s AberInnovation BioAccelerate 2020 programme.
Outcomes
- Successfully started and created 2 jobs.
- General business support with starting up.
- Specialist advice on sustainability and tendering.
- Adopted the Business Wales Green Growth Pledge focusing on the use of raw materials, packaging/end of life, branding and marketing.
We’ve been fortunate to get expert advice from a few specialists at Business Wales, who helped us make the most of the opportunities for start-ups during Covid-19. The advisers helped us with setting up our company structure, sustainability, IP, tendering, online presence and social media.
Future plans and ambitions
We have already achieved so much in the last 12 months:
- We have managed to bring our products to market.
- Received positive customer feedback.
- Set up a limited company.
- Launched our website and online shop.
- We are raising awareness of the benefits of biochar.
- We have participated in the AberInnovation BioAccelerate Programme 2020.
- And we are working on a number of collaborations with partners.
Our aim now is to continue making carbon-rich biochar products that produce better, healthier plants, vegetables and animals at an affordable price, and be an active part of the circular economy in Wales.
If you want to read more success stories of how Business Wales has helped other people like you to start or grow their businesses, visit https://businesswales.gov.wales/case-studies or follow @_businesswales / @_busnescymru on Twitter.