Friend Sykes (1888–1965) was an English organic farmer and writer.

Life

Sykes was a breeder of livestock and racehorses.Conford, Philip. (1988). The Organic Tradition: An Anthology of Writings on Organic Farming, 1900-1950. Green Books. p. 151. In 1935, he purchased the Chantry estate, near Andover. The land was poor quality and sold for only £4 per acre. Sykes wanted the challenge of transforming the land for fertility without the use of artificials. Sykes was supported by Albert Howard who taught him methods of humus farming. Within a few years his farm land had produced outstanding wheat and prize-winning racehorses.Conford, Philip. (2001). The Origins of the Organic Movement. Floris Books. p. 237.

Sykes was a founding member of the Soil Association.Hart, Robert. (1968). The Inviolable Hills: The Ecology, Conservation and Regeneration of the British Uplands. Stuart & Watkins. p. 227Lockeretz, William. (2018). Organic Farming: An International History. CABI. p. 189. Sykes, Lady Eve Balfour and George Scott Williamson organized a founder's meeting on 12 June 1945, in which about a hundred people attended.Conford, Philip. (2001). The Origins of the Organic Movement. Floris Books. p. 252. The Soil Association was founded a year later. Sykes and Albert Howard have been described as founders of the organic movement.Scialabba, Nadia; Hattam, Caroline. (2002). Organic Agriculture, Environment and Food Security. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. p. 141. The use of compost and manure to improve soil was important to Sykes' approach to farming. Sykes and Frank Newman Turner's organic farming emphasized ploughless soil cultivation, green manure, organic soil cover and ley farming.Lockeretz, William. (2018). Organic Farming: An International History. CABI. p. 25.

Friend Sykes was sometimes confused with Frank Sykes, a farmer who also wrote books on agriculture for Faber and Faber.

Selected publications

Humus and the Farmer (Faber and Faber, 1946) Food, Farming and the Future (Faber and Faber, 1951) Modern Humus Farming (Faber and Faber, 1959)

Notes

References