The farm that acted as inspiration for the popular BBC Radio 4 programme The Archers is seeking support to pursue a progressive new model of community farm ownership.

Rush Farm in the hamlet of Stock Wood, near Inkberrow, Worcester, has launched a community share offer, seeking investment from the community to support sustainable farming and preserve the farm for the future. Under the Stockwood Community Benefit Society, the family at Rush Farm aim to raise £1 million, to protect the long-term running of the biodynamic organic farm and its on-site Stockwood Business Park.

The Benefit Society was created by the farm's current owners, working with the Biodynamic Land Trust. Together they aim to turn the farm and its business park into a radical new community-owned sustainable enterprise.

The 150-acre (61 Ha) organic and biodynamic farm was the original inspiration for The Archers on BBC radio. The Archers was written and recorded at Rush Farm in the early 1950s and 'The Bull', which appears in the radio show, is based on the village pub at Inkberrow.

Current owner Sebastiean Parsons said the farm is run to the highest certified-Demeter biodynamic and Soil Association organic standards. It creates carbon-rich soil, encourages wildlife, uses low-energy farming methods, and respects the natural behaviour of farm animals.

So far, the Society has raised almost half of the £1m needed, but the Parsons and their partners aim to garner further investment through offering shares up until 31st October 2013. Family owners Sebastian, Sophie and Tabitha Parsons are seeking to transfer to community ownership in line with the farm's goals of progressivity and sustainability and to secure the benefits the farm and its business park carry for the local community.

Sebastian commented, "A traditional farm is not a line on a balance sheet. It is a rich and complex resource for our children's children. When a community of shareholders buys a family farm to be held in public trust, this ensures it will be farmed sustainably forever. We hope our model of community farm-ownership can inspire other farms to do the same."

The Parsons have taken inspiration for their community ownership bid from Charlotte and Ben Hollins, farmers of Fordhall Organic Farm, England's first community-owned farm. Sebastian said, "Fordhall Farm in Shropshire set the model for protecting land through community benefit societies."

He added that Rush Farm is still seeking ways to "protect the natural environment in a sustainable way for wildlife, human beings and the planet" and added that community ownership would also preserve the Business Centre, which has a novel model of operating, offering local people the opportunity to work in "in organisations that are driven by purpose rather than profit." 

Parsons said the community ownership bid, represents "ethical investment, [and] working with money in a different way"; he connected the scheme with the aspirations of the Occupy Movement. Sebastian continued, "Although it may appear not to be that radical, I believe that… it has the potential, as an idea, to power the transformation of the landscape. This could take banks out of the equation.  People could take control of their own destiny again."