Our Impact

We are a homegrown British farm and a family of award-winning ice cream makers. We believe that we are one family, one farm, one herd working together to make people smile.

Every drop of fresh milk in our ice cream can be traced back to the fields we call home. We want to make ice cream the way it should be made: with minimal environmental impact and maximum flavour.

Our mission

Our mission is to be the most loved ice cream of British families. We encourage moments of homegrown happiness for our community by making deliciously indulgent ice cream on our family farm while being committed to reducing our environmental impact.

B CORP CERTIFIED

We are extremely proud to announce that Marshfield Farm Ice Cream is now officially B Corp Certified, joining an incredible community of businesses promising to balance people, the planet and profit. We are continuously aiming for higher environmental and social standards, making sure every scoop is a step forward.

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OUR IMPACT REPORT

We are so proud to issue our latest Impact Report, measuring the calendar year of 2023.

It's been a big year for us, becoming B Corp Certified, establishing two official charity partnerships with Bristol Zoological Society and Jamie's Farm, and also working hard at the farm to achieve our ESG Goals created in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

To us, every scoop is a step forward and we want to continue to champion sustainable farming and ice cream making. We know ice cream can't save the world on its own, but we hope by doing our bit and helping our community to do theirs too, we can make a real difference.

READ OUR IMPACT REPORT

OUR FARMING

The farm has been certified Organic for over 20 years, meaning the highest possible standard of land management, sustainability and animal welfare is- and always has been- at the heart of what we do.

HAPPY COWS

Animal welfare is the highest priority for our farmers and herdsman. Our herd receive a routine health check at every milking to clean their udders, check their hooves and ensure they are in good health. To further this, they receive a fortnightly visit from the vet, who takes extra measures to ensure our cows are happy and healthy.

Organic cows spend most of their lives outdoors, grazing naturally on a diet of grass and clover full of nutrients and sugar.

Testimonial

"Working with James, Will and the team it is clear the welfare of the cows is always their first priority. As the vet for Marshfield it is so satisfying to work with a team who actively work to prevent disease; healthy cows produce good quality milk and that is exactly what happens at Marshfield.

The team at Marshfield are always striving to achieve the best for their cows. Their hard work and dedication is clearly visible in the health and welfare of their cows. Milk at Marshfield is produced in a sustainable way using grazed grass as the primary source of food.

As a veterinary practice we produce monthly benchmarking data for our dairy farms. This is on a range of health, welfare and performance parameters Marshfield ice cream are consistently in the top 5% of farms."

Chris Warren, Clinical Director

The George Veterinary Group

REGENERATIVE FARMING

We farm our land in a sustainable way, increasing wildlife bio-diversity, growing our own crops to feed the herd and managing the land to have the smallest environmental impact possible.

CLOSED LOOP FARMING

We grow 95% of the food our cows eat on the farm, including oats, barley, wheat and grass, as well as silage for winter feed.

In the colder winter months, our cows are housed in roomy barns and our farmers spend the year planting and harvesting crops ready to feed the cows in winter when our grass fields are too muddy to graze on.

We farm eleven hundred acres of Cotswold pastures and approximately half of these fields are reserved to grow crops.

BEES & BIODIVERSITY

Because of the complete absence of manufactured herbicides and pesticides, organic farms are havens for wildlife; on average, plant, insect & bird life is 50% more abundant on organic farms, creating homes for bees, birds and butterflies.

In 2021, we housed two bee hives on our farm; that’s approximately 20,000 bees! Not only do we welcome our bumbling friends onto the farm to help fertilise our crops, but these little pollinators will also hugely increase and sustain our surrounding pastures' biodiversity.

OUR FARMING FOOTPRINT

Farming organically has a smaller environmental footprint than conventional farming as there are no oil-based sprays or fertilisers in use. We use lots of different herbal leys and planting techniques to help improve our soil – encouraging soil fertility, worm counts and improved nutrient content.

Science shows that farming organically reduces greenhouse gas emissions more than any other agriculture system. This is because healthy, organic soils are one of the biggest carbon sinks. We tend to over eleven hundred acres of farmland and these fields lock away (or ‘sequester’) carbon, keeping it out of the atmosphere.

OUR TREE PLANTING PROGRAMME

We have accelerated our tree planting programme on the farm and since 2019, we have planted over 2,500 whips, hedgerows and trees including Beech, Wild Cherry, Field Maple, Oak and Crabapple.

As well as increasing biodiversity and providing a home for wildlife, trees absorb CO2 from the atmosphere and as such, we are reducing our company’s carbon footprint.

Naturally Sourced Water

We have a borehole on the farm; a natural water source similar to a well. We harvest some of this water, filter it and test it to ensure it is certified safe for consumption. Approximately 52% of the water we use on the farm is self-sufficient.

OUR PRODUCTION

The entirety of our ice cream production happens right here on site on our family farm. This unique position allows us to constantly evolve and aim to implement more sustainable practices throughout the whole process, from cow to cone!

SOLAR POWERED

We have over 1,400 solar panels across our barn roofs, accounting for approximately 42% of all our electricity requirements.

Solar panels are one of the purest ways to harness energy as solar is a truly renewable energy source - we even generate energy on cloudy and rainy days!

Over the years we have been able to invest further in this form of green energy: we now generate up to 300kw of solar energy which helps to power our factory and freezer capacity.

woodchip boilers

We use a wood pellet boiler which provides 5.4% of the power needed to heat the water that we use in the factory and helps us to rapidly reduce the carbon footprint of our factory. The pellets we use are sustainably sourced from UK forestry.

In an aid to further reduce our energy output, we installed a Heat Exchange Unit in our factory to recycle lost energy during pasteurisation. We also use inverters in the milking parlour which reduces electric consumption by up to 80% and all our light fixtures use LED bulbs.

HAPPERLY TRANSPARENT

With transparency being one of our core brand principles, we are
Happerley Transparent with Gold status. Our supply chain, where our ingredients come from and the impact those ingredients have are areas we will continue to measure and strive to make more sustainable ice cream.

LOW FOOD MILES

“Local is best” and the provenance of all our ingredients is important.

We have a policy of sourcing products from the UK where possible and keep our food miles low with our primary ingredient travelling only metres from the milking parlour to the factory. On average, we believe over 90% of every base mix is made with British ingredients.

CARBON FOOTPRINTING

We are actively reducing our business’ carbon footprint and will continue to make positive changes on our own farm fields and in our factory. We are uniquely placed in the industry, not only as ice cream makers with our on-site ice cream factory, but as farmers who produce the primary ingredient in our ice cream. Because of this, we can build upon sustainable foundations to further reduce our carbon
footprint.

Working with 3Keel, a sustainability consultancy, we have undertaken thorough investigations to measure our entire company’s carbon footprint. From the commute into the farm by our staff, all the way through to shipping the finished tubs across the UK, every chocolate chip and drop of milk is accounted for in our carbon calculation. We can use this data as a benchmark to work from and improve upon.

OUR PRODUCT

100% recyclable packaging

We are constantly improving our waste infrastructure to reduce our impact. We have moved away from single-use plastic in our packs, meaning our impulse 125ml & 180ml tubs are now made with a card lid and FSC-certified wooden spoon.

Learn how to recycle your tubs here!

We are striving to reduce plastic altogether, however due to worldwide card shortages, it's just not possible at the moment. It's something we're working on and hoping we can move towards in the future.

NAPOLI RECYCLING SCHEME

We are trialling a returns scheme here on the farm, encouraging traders to recycle napoli tubs after use in their parlours by returning the material back to us where we will send them to be recycled and reused.

ECO TUBS

Here at Marshfield Farm, we are incredibly proud to offer an edible ice cream tub alternative. In fact, we reckon it’s the world’s fastest-decomposing ice cream tub!

Customers can simply enjoy their ice cream, peel off and recycle the paper label and eat the tub itself.

If they don’t fancy a nibble, the tub will naturally decompose as food waste.

OPRL Labels

We have introduced widely recognisable OPRL recycling logos across all our retail packs. This simple, consistent recycling logo is now recognised by more than 3 in 4 consumers. We hope this new addition removes the barriers to recycling and keeps our tubs out of landfill.

OUR PEOPLE

We promise to encourage moments of homegrown happiness for our community: our staff, our customers, our suppliers, our local community and our charity partners.

SUPPORTING OUR STAFF

Our staff are the key to our success, here at Marshfield farm we are one family one farm one herd and their happiness is paramount to us.

We offer opportunities for both professional development through training and our lunchtime learns, while also supporting their personal wellness by offering our Employee assistance programme, we are a National Living Wage employer, provide flexible working when possible and increased annual leave for long service.

ONE BIG FAMILY

We are one family one farm one herd and doing things together is what makes us thrive.

Our team regularly come together to have fun, whether it's at the Marshfield Christmas party or our regular curry nights - there's always something going on!

CHARITY PARTNERS

This year, we launch two charity partnerships we are incredibly proud of.

The first of these is Jamie's Farm, a charity equipping young people to thrive by inviting them to one of their farms.

We have a long-established relationship with Jamie and the team (fun fact, Will and Jamie went to college together) and we love being able to support the incredible work they do.

Find out more

TUBS FOR CHARITY

We love to help local fundraisers by donating tubs of ice cream - whether that's to offer as a raffle prize or a competition.

In 2022, we donated over 500 tubs to support local charity raffles and causes and for 2023 we want to increase that.

LOCAL EDUCATION

In 2023 so far, we have welcomed almost 100 children from our local community to the farm to learn about regenerative farming, animal welfare and, of course, ice cream making! For each child who visits, we ask for a donation to our friends at Jamie's Farm.

Ice Cream

This year, we launch two charity partnerships we are incredibly proud of.

We are so excited to be working with the team at Bristol Zoological Society, specifically supporting the work they are doing to protect and conserve the UK’s native species.

As a conservation and education charity, the mission of Bristol Zoological Society is to save wildlife through conservation research science, the protection of species and habitats, while educating and inspiring a new generation of wildlife warriors.

Visitors to Wild Place Project (to be called Bristol Zoo Project from summer 2023) have been enjoying Marshfield Farm Ice Cream for almost 10 years.

Find out more about our 'Name it Native' ice creams.

WHAT'S NEXT?

We've got big plans to make 2024 our biggest, brightest most impactful year yet!

Have a scroll to see what we're planning...

Choosing regenerative farming

With the next generation of the Hawking family starting to take the reins, there is a real focus on using innovative farming techniques which keep our cows happy & healthy, while increasing the biodiversity of the farm and its carbon holding ability. We believe adopting Regenerative Farming practises is the best way forward.

Reduce our ingredients' carbon footprint

Based on our carbon footprint report from consultants 3Keel, we've made a plan to reduce our impact and make changes and improvements.

We've started this process by launching True Coffee with our friends at TrueStart Coffee who use carbon negative beans and later this year we will launch Plant Based Chocolate, made with Rogue Oat drink made right here on the farm with a whole oat plant based range to come!

Remodelling pasteurisation

We're remodelling our pasteurisation room to improve efficiency and sustainability when making our delicious ice cream.

staff volunteering day

Giving back is very important to us. We wanted to let our staff give back to a cause close to their own hearts, which is why this year we will be launching our new paid volunteering day!

Even more solar!

We've got even more solar panels on the way, increasing our solar capacity by 50%.

Impact Report 2024

Our Impact Report measuring the year ahead will have even more information as we will be measuring our carbon footprint again across 2024 to see how we've improved.