Farm of the week: Inner-city farm feeds need to reconnect with country

However, located just south of the city centre and just a short distance from Sheffield United's Bramall Lane football ground, is Heeley City Farm.

As the feeders of the nation and guardians of the countryside, farmers are one of the corner-stones of life in Britain.

However, today many in the farming community find themselves with a new vocation – that of an educator and teacher, someone who spreads awareness of how our food is produced and how it should be produced.

It is a role that Heeley City Farm has been performing with great aplomb for more than three decades.

Starting out with just a few animals it now attracts 100,000 visitors a year – providing employment and volunteering opportunities for many people in the area.

It has been featured on national TV programmes and has been visited by more than one member of the Royal Family.

However its most important achievement is arguably the fact that it has connected hundreds of inner city people with agriculture.

It is all a far cry from the farm's humble beginnings, as John Le Corney its chief executive explains.

"The then county council wanted to build a road through this area," he told the Yorkshire Post. "A move which attracted considerable local protest.

"They won the battle and ended up with this piece of land available. Local people decided it should be made into a city farm.

"The idea was to give children and school parties contact with farm animals and learn about the countryside. Thirty years down the line we are still here – I think even the people who started didn't expect it to last this long."

The farm is home to several breeds of sheep, including Blueface Mules, Southdowns and rare-breed Badger Faces. Elsewhere there are pigs, cattle, goats, horses and poultry.

Also growing on the site is an array of vegetables and herbs which are sold either on site or via local farmers' markets.

A replica Iron Age roundhouse is used on the site too, providing a glimpse into farming's past. Its future meanwhile is represented by the South Yorkshire Energy Centre, a renewable energy site which is home to solar panels currently producing enough electricity a year to power a standard sized home.

Mr Le Corney said: "It is very easy in the middle of a city to just go to a supermarket for your food. You do not get to see the countryside and you do not get to see food growing. This place can connect people with food and with the countryside."

This connection is helping overcome the increasing problem facing the nation's farming industry – that of the lack of understanding about food production.

Alarming studies are published seemingly every year in which high percentages of children are shown to be of the opinion that milk comes from plastic cartons and meat from supermarkets.

This balance is redressed in abundance at Heeley City Farm – a fact manifested by the fact that it has begun selling young vegetable plants to customers from around the area to allow them to begin growing their own.

The farm also works with local schools directly to help them develop their own vegetable patches and crops for their school dinners, getting the message across at a very early age.

It also provides a huge community resource for the district, with Mr Le Corney joking that the farm is a "community centre with animals".

Work, experience, opportunity and training is provided on the farm to the vulnerable.

People with learning difficulties and mental health problems, as well as those out of work, are given the chance to be involved with the farm which also does work with youngsters who are struggling to stay on the straight and narrow.

Mr Le Corney proudly recounts a tale of a young man who 10 years ago as a youth had been in trouble inside and outside of school who came to work on the farm for a period of time as part of an attempt to clean up his act. He recently revisited the farm with his family, having grown up to be a productive member of his community to thank those who had helped him out.

"In the late 1980s, during the last recession, youth unemployment just shot through the roof in Sheffield. We were able to get grants that allowed us to provide work experience for these young people in areas such as animal care.

"We realised soon that we could not just rely on donations from charitable trusts and grants – we would have to generate out own income."

To this end the farm makes a decent earning from the produce it makes on site, as well as from its onsite cafe which serves food predominately sourced from on the farm or the local area.

Separate sites at nearby Meersbrook Park Walled Garden and Wortley Hall Walled Garden also augment the farm's local food project.

As well as the cafe the farm produces food which is sold to the sellers of vegetable boxes, at farmers markets and to restaurants around South Yorkshire.

While modestly claiming the Heeley City Farm is "not in the same league as the likes of Castle Howard or Temple Newsam" the farm does attract significant visitor numbers.

While a far cry from some of the large scale Yorkshire farms operating in 2010 and certainly some distance from the spectacular countryside seen in the Moors, Dales, East Riding and Wolds, Heeley City Farm represents a vital contribution to Yorkshire's farming community

As well as using what is best about agriculture for a common social good, it is creating a well informed consumer and a passion for local food in areas most farmers cannot hope to reach.