We run our farm business efficiently, safely and profitably to high standards of environmental and social responsibility.
Blackbird Farming (the trading name of G H Dean and Company Ltd) is a privately owned family business. Today the company farms 1891 hectares of land including arable cropping, cherries, plums, apples, pears and a flock of sheep that graze grassland bordering the Swale Estuary. We manage a number of residential and commercial properties which are occasionally available for rent.
Cherries are our passion and we pride ourselves on the quality fruit we produce. Our cherries are jam-packed full of flavour and through careful selection our chosen varieties grow well outdoors offering the best taste.
Through Innovate UK a new plum research orchard was established in 2018. FAST (Fruit Advisory Services Team), NIAB (National Institute of Agricultural Botany) with Sainsburys and a number of other growers.
Our Gala apples and Conference pears are handpicked in the Autumn at optimum maturity when their flavour is at its best. Crop husbandry, field work and science are all important when producing an outstanding crop but we like to think that the British climate adds to the crunch.
Just bought some of your Korvic cherries. They were so delicious I thought I would look you up to say thanks!
We have 1,500 breeding ewes grazing marshland along the Swale estuary which help to manage grassland for the benefit of breeding wading birds, insects and other wildlife. We strive for the highest standards of animal husbandry. The sheep enterprise is fully integrated in the arable system which offers the ability to control grass weeds, while the grazing activity returns valuable organic matter back to the soil and is often referred to as ‘golden hoof’.
