Beyond Supermarkets
Rebuilding the foundations of Welsh food security, farming and rural livelihoods.
One farm at a time.
Beyond Supermarkets
Rebuilding the foundations of Welsh food security, farming and rural livelihoods.
One farm at a time.
What is Beyond Supermarkets?
A programme to reorganise partner Welsh dairy farms into integrated farm-villages, where a resident workforce lives on the land, processes food on-farm, and supplies surrounding households with a complete weekly diet.
Why This, Why Now?
Four key, deeply connected problems.
Their shared causes demand a shared response.
How It Works
A Beyond Supermarkets farm unit is built on an existing dairy holding of 120-150 hectares. The farmer keeps their herd and their land, what changes is the embedded community, and what else the farm produces.
The Numbers
Per Farm Unit:
Land required
120-150 hectares (existing dairy holdings)
Resident Workforce
10-12 people
Households fed
~600
People fed
~1,400
Weekly household cost
~£60
Annual farm revenue
~£1.87 million
Affordable homes created
~7
At Regional Scale: 200 Farms
Households fed
~100,000 – 110,000
Rural green jobs created
~2,000
Affordable homes built
~1,400
Annual CO₂e removed
~18,000 tonnes
Agroforestry established
~4,000 hectares
Who Makes It Work
Built together, by the people who live and breathe it
For Farmers: A Route Through The Volatility
You keep your farm, your herd, your identity as a dairy farmer.
Beyond Supermarkets adds a resident workforce, processing capacity, diversified income, and a locally embedded market. You don't leave dairy, just reorganise around a broader, more resilient model.
Under current conditions, if your milk leaves the farm at 40p a litre, the Beyond Supermarkets model values that same milk at an indicative 60p when it's directed into on-farm processing, reflecting its role as an input into higher-value products.
Applied to the 11,400 litres per week redirected into the farm unit economy, that uplift alone generates significant additional annual revenue. No increase in herd size. No increase in land area. No increase in total output.
For Those Who Want to Build Something: Live on the Land
A Beyond Supermarkets farm enterprise runs on a mix of skills. The trades that keep it standing: electricians, plumbers, welders, mechanics. The disciplines that keep it solvent and visible: accountants, marketers, communicators. The hands that grow and make: horticulturists, livestock keepers, food processors, bakers, cheese-makers. The people who measure and verify: ecologists, carbon verifiers, soil scientists. Those who hold the community together: nurses, carers, educators.
In return: a home on the land, a stake in a working farm enterprise, and a secure livelihood built alongside others.
For Partners and Investors: A Regional Food Grid
Beyond Supermarkets is an investable model that aligns food security, carbon removal, rural housing, and regional economic development within a single replicable structure.
Each farm enterprise is self-capitalising through pooled resident investment of approximately £300,000. Land acquisition is not required & revenue begins with the first milk processed on-farm.
The model aligns with the Sustainable Farming Scheme, the Well-being of Future Generations Act, One Planet Development, and Net Zero Wales.
Whether you're a financial institution, a public body, or a food system funder, get in touch.
in detail
The Full Model
The complete economic model, including financial projections, dietary benchmarks, production capacity, labour requirements, and transition pathways, is set out in the Beyond Supermarkets founding paper.