Balcaskie Estate opens gates to food, drink and rural businesses

Why grow a business alone when there’s land, resources, investment and know-how to tap into?

That’s the message from Fife’s Balcaskie Estate, which is opening the gates to its organic and regenerative-focused farm to sustainable businesses and start-ups looking for a leg-up to help them grow, as part of Pitch Up! 2025. 

Pitch Up! is a farmer-led movement that invites businesses at all stages to share land and space on organic and regenerative farms at a low cost.

From today, entrepreneurs and businesses can submit an expression of interest, ready for the Pitch Up! Applications season, which returns in November.

Growing together

Pitch Up! is a positive story about farmers working together, independently of government initiatives and funding bodies, to create a different model for farming and food businesses.

The initiative connects organic and regenerative farms with sustainable businesses needing access to land/ space. They then share resources, knowledge and land to feed one another and grow together. 

Sam Parsons, Balcaskie Estate Manager said:

“Fertile land is at the core of everything we do at Balcaskie and we have grown a community of businesses around that. We really want to hear from both new and established enterprises with a view to them to joining us here as part of our network. It’s a brilliant way to share expertise, distribution and staff and to support innovation. For us, this is a really useful way of developing a sustainable rural economy.”

Pitch Up! welcomes businesses at all stages – supporting established enterprises with relocation, renovating space customised to their specific needs, or readying land for use. For start-ups, it could be more about experimental space, trialling packaging and dispatch, or support developing their pricing models, product offer or production processes.

In return, Pitch Up! farms gain partners, not tenants. Each agreement is different, shaped to be fair to both sides – whether that’s profit share, turnover rent, produce use/ reuse, or longer-term regeneration goals. It’s about helping farms diversify in a future-focused way. 

Successful pitchers will join and work with an existing community of Balcaskie businesses already focusing on a circular economy approach that ‘stacks’ enterprises to make the best and most sustainable use of the land including:

• Scotland the Bread, a collaborative farming, milling and bakery project to grow better grain and bake better bread with the common purposes of nourishment, sustainability and food sovereignty. It also supplies Baern Bakery at Bowhouse who specialise in naturally leavened bakes
• East Neuk Market Garden, a 4 acre agroecological farm growing vegetables, salads, herbs and fruit, which supplies the local community as well as Stocks Kitchen, a catering business, food shop and cook school that focuses on produce grown on the estate including The Butchery at Bowhouse. 

The Balcaskie team is particularly keen to hear from those involved in pastured dairy, leather processing and design and those who can make use of the organic grains grown on the farm.

Balcaskie Estate covers 4,500 acres in the East Neuk of Fife. With an organic and regenerative focus, farming practices include mob grazing, improving soil health, native wildlife conservation and the reintroduction of heritage breed livestock for a more sustainable future for food production and rural communities. At the heart of the estate is Bowhouse, a growing community of producers, which work to transform local ingredients into artisan food and drink. The Bowhouse Market Weekends have become a well-established fixture, welcoming around 4,200 members of the public every month. 

Interested businesses can take the first step and fill out an expression of interest form today.

To find out more, visit  pitchupandgrow.com – and follow @pitchupdandgrow on Instagram for the latest updates.