About Jane

Jane is passionate about living lightly and has gardened organically for over 30 years. She and her husband manage a 13 acre smallholding in west Wales, growing as much of their own food as they can.

She is a patron of the UK Chartered Institute of Ecologists and Environmental Managers and Pro Vice-Chancellor Emeritus at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. From 2000 - 2011, she was Cabinet Minister for Education, then Environment and Sustainability in Wales where she proposed legislation to make sustainability the central organising principle of government: the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act came into law in 2015..

“‘Why garden organically?’ is a question I’m often asked – particularly by visitors with neat lawns and borders kept rigid by weedkillers when they come and see our smallholding! Actually, it’s an easy question to answer, when we can see the benefits all around us - in the soil with the number of earth worms; in the air with the songs of the birds and the bees; in the taste of what we grow – knowing we can eat directly from plants as we use no pesticides. We are able to grow more than enough of our own food to keep us all year round. So, really, the question should be ‘Why wouldn’t you garden organically, when you can get all these benefits, gardening for yourself and nature too?’ That’s why I accepted the role of Vice- President for Garden Organic and that’s why I hope more people will use the excellent resources and support it provides to find out its benefits for yourselves. You will see, hear and smell the difference!”