Fundraisers to buy part of organic farm
BBCAn appeal which sought £1.4m to buy an organic farm has reached £260,000, enabling the fundraisers to buy a section of the land.
The campaign started in 2024, offering shares in Babbinswood Farm in Shropshire to people who pledged money.
Casha Bowles-Jones, who works there with her husband Adam, had said they wanted to ensure it remained an organic operation.
The couple are the fifth generation of the family to farm at Babbinswood, but said it had to be sold because of a family break-up.
The Save Babbinswood Farm Campaign, which was set up to support them, originally wanted to buy the whole farm, but failed to meet two deadlines to raise the full money necessary.
It said reaching £260,000 was a "major breakthrough" however, because it exceeded its minimum fundraising target.
The campaign said reaching the milestone had allowed it to start the process of purchasing some of the land, "securing it into long-term community ownership".
The farm had a "longstanding reputation of being a community-orientated family farm", the campaign group said, and it was "known for its organic practices, care for soil and animals, and commitment to environmental education and wellbeing".
The aim of the fundraising was to ensure this continued.
It said it would continue selling shares while the purchase went ahead, in the hope of acquiring more in the future.
Casha Bowles-Jones said: "We have been shown extraordinary kindness and generosity."
She thanked everyone involved in the campaign and the people who had bought shares.
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