The Garlic Farm is proud to be one of four Isle of Wight businesses to receive the prestigious King’s Award for Enterprise in 2025.

This honour is a testament to the dedication of the entire team and feels especially meaningful in light of His Majesty King Charles III’s lifelong advocacy for environmental stewardship, organic agriculture, and soil health - concepts that have also guided The Garlic Farm’s mission over the last few years.

Our journey has been guided by the principles of ‘Efficiency’ and ‘Respect’. These values have become deeply embedded in our culture and are now formally recognised through B Corp Certification, Soil Association Organic Certification, and Pasture for Life Accreditation. These are all part of a bigger action plan which came as the result of a thorough internal workshop to investigate where our actions could deliver the greatest impact and align with what is most important to our team, customers, community, and the planet.

These efforts are structured around two central themes: People and Planet. They touch every aspect of our business - from the way we design our packaging to how we reduce food waste in our restaurant, manage logistics, and care for the land. As a working farm, we are uniquely positioned to improve both environmental and social outcomes through an agroecological approach and practices, such as organic agriculture, agroforestry, sustainable woodland management, educational outreach, and our closed-loop WETland wastewater system.

Crucially, we concentrate on an approach that leads to measurable results, not sustainability buzzwords. Carbon reduction is just one element of our wider strategy, but it illustrates our commitment to rigorous data and practical change. We aim for an overall ‘insetting’ of our environmental impact without relying on carbon or other environmental credits. Instead, we aim to reduce direct emissions across Scopes 1, 2, and 3 as well as working to improve other environmental measures such as biodiversity, soil organic matter, water use and quality, through specific land management practices. Our use of the Farm Carbon Toolkit ensures ongoing tracking and transparency.

Packaging of our products is another vital area we identified for actionable improvements. We’ve eliminated 90% of plastic from our dispatch process, replaced polystyrene with biodegradable corn-starch pellets, and prioritised recyclable or reused materials wherever possible.

Caring for the people impacted by the businesses is just as central. We offer our team benefits including a profit-sharing bonus scheme, private health cover, a cycle-to-work scheme, an inclusive workplace supported by equality policies and a buddy scheme for people with disabilities. We are an accredited Living Wage employer. Regular surveys and open feedback help us to understand where improvements can be made and gauge satisfaction levels.

Sharing our learnings with others through guided farm walks, school visits, supplier events, and our biannual Garlic Press is all part of our commitment to improvement beyond our own business boundaries. As active members of networks such as B Corp and Pasture for Life, as well as local business and farming groups, we collaborate locally and nationally to learn and share knowledge across the sector. We can’t achieve anything alone and strongly believe in collaboration between suppliers, customers, community and everyone impacted by our business while we strive to improve.

Winning the King’s Award is more than recognition - it’s encouraging validation of our underlying belief in business as a force for good.