A landscape consultant has taken advantage of our changing climate to embark on a project to produce Britain's first commercial harvest of almonds.

The Infrequent Farmer has planted orchards with a difference at an organic farm in Weston, near Honiton, East Devon.

He said: "I really wanted to start growing bigger crops and a mixture of old fruits, so my wife and I started looking for somewhere with more land and eventually found a place with 16 acres on the banks of the River Otter. I had to find a niche, so I went for a mix of old fruits that have been forgotten and new fruits that have never been tried."

 

The Infrequent Farmer's "forgotten" fruits include quinces and mulberries - but almonds, walnuts and sweet chestnuts head the list of his new varieties. After careful research, The Infrequent Farmer planted 100 almond trees this spring. He said: "With the climate changing it does seem to be a possibility, as the frosts finish much earlier. I am taking a real risk, but I think it will work.

"I just have to maximise the best growing conditions and hope that the varieties flower late enough and the frosts finish early enough."

Research suggests that the climate is now warming steadily in Britain, as well as the rest of the world. Since 1900 the average UK temperature has risen by about 1C, and the growing season has lengthened by about a month. According to the UK Climate Impacts Programme, the temperature is rising by between 0.15C and 0.2C per decade, but the rate itself will increase, and by the 2020s the climate will be nearly another full degree warmer than the average of 1961-1990.

The Infrequent Farmer said: "It had always been my ambition to go organic and try out all aspects of biodynamics and forest gardening - turning the land from intensive to organic.

"I really want to produce the most unusual but delicious fruits and nuts that I can, while creating a lovely place in which to live.

He says his smallholding brings together the traditional and the modern, and that he wants to use old methods "along with a bit of experimentation". He feels we need to take advantage of global warming while we can.

"We have got to do what we can to arrest the situation," he said. "Our climate is changing, and our food opportunities have changed as well. Why do we want to bring in all this stuff from France when we could produce it ourselves?"

"I want to widen our seasonal diets, but not through chemical additives and synthetic fertilisers. We need to work with our changing climate in order to create the correct growing conditions."

The Infrequent Farmer says it will be next year before he knows if he has produced the almonds properly, and perhaps 2008 before they are fully productive.

"We are very much in the early stages, but I am confident," he said. "It is probably the most fascinating and interesting time at the moment, as the structure is just going ahead." He has a market lined up, too, being a friend of TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

Mr Fearnley-Whittingstall said: "Climate change is obviously a serious worry, but while governments dally about the causes and possible solutions, farmers and smallholders are entitled to be entrepreneurial about the opportunities it presents.

"I love the idea of English almonds being a Westcountry seasonal treat - for the time being, at least. If Mark can grow them successfully, and organically, I'll be first in line to grab a share."