I think those of us running rural businesses, farms and estates knew that there were some hard-hitting changes coming from Westminster’s Autumn Budget. What was delivered was brutal and has created a wave of anger and worry, at a level that I haven’t seen in the 30...
Trust and transparency are becoming evermore important for consumers making their buying choices. For farmers this creates complexity, but also opportunity if people are prepared to pay for proven animal rearing or crop growing practices. Retailers, manufacturers...
A portion of 80g of carrots costs around 5.5p to put on our plates, and, if I ate them daily until Christmas, this iconic British vegetable would still cost me less than a Big Mac. But growers believe that its low pricing by retailers means that carrots are not valued...
There’s a book called Nomad Century that is haunting me. I pick it up periodically until I can read no longer. Its author, Gaia Vince, is a broadcaster, a writer and an honorary senior research fellow at UCL. She predicts that over the next 50 years, hotter...
Earlier this week I was in Kent filming a soft fruit grower for a client. Marion Regan, and her husband, Jon, now lead the family business, which started in 1893, growing strawberries, raspberries and blackberries, as well as vines. The visit was such a powerful...
Two farming brothers, Paul and John Cherry, and their wider family, set up one of the world’s most influential events in regenerative farming nine years ago. The Groundswell Event ran on Wednesday and Thursday of this week in Hertfordshire. It is a lovely example of...
Every other day, or so, when I’m out walking my dog, I meet a farmer neighbour on the road. Almost always, they stop, turn off their engines, and ‘hae a news’. Mostly it’s about the weather, farming, what I know, where I’ve been and what I think about beef, barley or...
When I was studying for my agricultural degree at Seale Hayne in South Devon, some fellow students had attended a dedicated farming school in Somerset – Brymore Academy. Instead of going through the usual secondary system, pupils learnt to milk and calve cows, lamb...
Ploughing their own furrow: From finding time to take the dog out for his birthday to imposter syndrome and not baking cakes for the office, International Women's Day is an ideal opportunity to celebrate leaders in the field of agriculture and rural enterprise. With...
Another TB test approaches, which doesn’t seem as logistically challenging when cattle are housed, but still spices up the growing ‘to do list’ and offers the usual apprehension. Youngstock have done well on the cover crops, which they have devoured, so they are now...