The management and development of Yorkley Court Farm has been entrusted to a co-operative known as the Yorkley Court Community Farm. It is their duty to act according to the principles of agroecology in any aspect of managing of the land and the principles of Food Sovereignty when deciding upon the future development of the farm.

The co-operative operates as a model of consortium. The consortium provides a co-operative means of facilitating the most equitable and efficient allocation of resources between its members and the wider community. The members can be self-employed individuals, partnerships or limited companies. The consortium therefore acts as an agency to help its members work together towards a common purpose. In the case of YCCF the main object of the co-operative is:

‘to develop, research, promote, demonstrate and educate as to how agroecology and low impact development can play a valuable role towards a more economically self sufficient and ecologically regenerative home.’

This model allows for a diverse group of self reliant individuals to collaborate in a way that is defined not by an abstract principle such as community, freedom or justice but rather by a practical understanding of what it means to be at home and a process through which we can work towards creating that home. First and foremost it is a pragmatic initiative that faces the challenges of creating a more self reliant and sustainable economy with a deep awareness of one’s own responsibility for creating that change.

That is not to say we are not guided by principles and values, far from it, but we realise that these values have to be embedded primarily in one’s own economic activities and practiced through our responsibility toward the ecological relations on which our economy depends. These ecological relations are not merely to be described in terms of physical and biological processes but also as social and cultural interactions between communities. It is with this in mind that we have agreed upon the aims and objectives of Yorkley Court Community Farm.