Patrick Holden is a dairyman and farmer at Bwlchwernen Fawr (Farm & Dairy) in Wales, UK.
After a London upbringing Patrick Holden trained in Biodynamic farming at Emerson College in Sussex before moving to Wales in 1973 to establish his mixed organic dairy farm near Lampeter. The 250 acre farm with which he is still actively involved, it is now the longest established organic dairy holding in Wales, producing a raw milk cheddar style cheese from the milk of 70 Ayrshire dairy cows.
He was founder and first chairman of British Organic Farmers, a producer group which along with the Organic Grower’s Association developed the production base for the organic food movement before merging with the Soil Association in 1995. After serving as Director of the Soil Association between 1995 and 2010, he stepped down to establish a new organization, The Sustainable Food Trust, which is working to promote increased international cooperation between all those involved in sustainable food production.
Patrick is an advisor to The Prince of Wales’s International Sustainability Unit, Patron of the Bio-dynamic Agricultural Association, the Living Earth and the Soil Association’s Land Trusts and International Ambassador of the Soil Association.
He received a CBE for services to organic farming in 2005.