HE is well known for his unconventional but natural farming practices, which includes planting seeds to coincide with the Moon’s lunar cycle.

However, Prince Charles is now celebrating a farming milestone as the 800-acre farm at Dumfries House estate has been officially certified as organic.

The Ayrshire house, which the prince has helped turn into a Highgrove of the north, produces prime beef and lamb now carrying the coveted green accolade that is set to hit plates later this year.

Read more: The new royal baby's title and its links to an ancient Scottish kingdom

Highgrove’s own Home Farm – where the prince first showpieced his then-unfashionable organic practices – is only 100 acres larger than its Scottish counterpart.

The organic certification at Dumfries House is a major element of Charles’s vision for the East Ayrshire site he helped save for the nation 12 years ago.

The Kauffman Education Gardens, where thousands of school children each year learn about the skills involved in cultivating and cooking vegetables, was declared organic last year, and now Home Farm, a quarter of a mile away on the 2000-acre property, has followed suit.

The Prince’s Foundation, which is based at Dumfries House, said the organic status “mark[s] the realisation of a major element of the vision of HRH The Prince of Wales, who saved the estate for the nation 12 years ago.”

Read more: Royal bid to train heritage builders of the future 

Home Farm, a commercial venture, attained full certification from the Scottish Organic Producers Association in recognition of its commitment to good practice.

“Full organic certification is something we have been working towards for several years as there are countless benefits to organic farming and organic food. We are very proud to have achieved it,” said farm manager John Rowell.

“As an organic farm, you can’t use any artificial fertilisers or pesticides, and we are making better use of manure. The farmland contains more clover and improved soil. Animals typically take a little longer to get fat from grass, which means keeping them longer.”

As a result of the certification, Home Farm plans to bring organic lamb and organic beef to market later this year. Breeds on Home Farm include Cheviot and Border Leicester sheep and Beef Shorthorn and Whitebred Shorthorn cattle.

Read more: Harry and Meghan launch official royal Instagram account

The farm sits adjacent to Valentin’s Education Farm, which hosts school pupils to engage with animals and learn about the importance of a balanced diet as part of the Foundation’s farm education programme.

Produce of the Duchy Home Farm, part of the Highgrove House estate, is used in Duchy Originals vegetable boxes sold to supermarkets and restaurants.

Prince Charles is credited with using “pioneering agriculture techniques” to produce this organic food.

He converted the 900 acres at Highgrove to organic farming in 1986.

Many farmers initially criticised the prince’s methods, which eschewed modern techniques. Since then, however, a number of farms have switched to organic agriculture and visit Duchy Home Farm to see its methods.

In 2006 Patrick Holden, director of the Soil Association, said the prince’s influence could not be overestimated.

Home Farm is reported to use “biodynamic farming” methods. This includes planting seeds according to the lunar cycle and using homoeopathic potions on plants. The dairy’s roof is fitted with 400 solar panels that generate about 86,000kWh per annum.

“In farming, as in gardening, I happen to believe that if you treat the land with love and respect, in particular, respect for the idea that it has an almost living soul, bound up in the mysterious, everlasting cycles of nature, then it will repay you in kind,” Charles once wrote.

The prince has also warned that the “very future of humanity” may depend on organic farming.

Speaking as he celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Soil Association in London, the heir to the throne insisted that eco-friendly practices, which had once seemed so controversial, were now backed by “sound science”.

And he warned they may be our only hope of reversing the drastic damage being caused to the environment, which could see large swathes of farmland destroyed forever “within 60 harvests”.

Charles said his own road to becoming an organic farmer started in the early 1980s when he wanted to produce food at his Gloucestershire estate outside of “conventional, industrialised” agricultural practices which, in his view, have a “disastrous impact” on soil fertility, biodiversity, plants, animals and human health.

At the time, he said: “I expect you can imagine that when I first suggested organic farming should be taken seriously and, at the same time, rather cautiously managed to convert 40 acres of the Duchy Home Farm at Highgrove in 1985, followed shortly after with the rest of the acreage at Home Farm, not everyone was entirely comfortable with the decisions I had taken.”

“However, we must remain ever mindful that, despite 70 years of endeavour, change is not happening fast enough.”