I’ve been thinking

Flipping the definition of farm diversification on its head

“I’ve been thinking” is always a dangerous phrase round here, and much to my husband’s amusement and mild discomfiture, it’s one I use a lot. Its use means he knows that I’m about to launch into something that involves work, sometimes lots of work, and quite often work for him as well as me. So I launch into the phrase with appreciation and understanding, because sometimes it’s suggesting something life-changing – “let’s get cows” or “we should run courses on the farm” – and sometimes it’s much simpler like “I’m going to get some picnic tables so we and our course participants can eat outside in the farmyard in comfort”.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve turned away from as much news as I can, sanity being the better part of valour, as it were, but it’s impossible to ignore the fact that we have a new prime minister (relax, this is not a party-political broadcast, although I’m feeling more optimistic at the moment, so that’s good). And this change of scene and face has had me thinking about the fate and future and status of farming and farmers in a fairly gentle fashion. And those thoughts have been revolving around the concept of farm diversification.

Gorgeous blankets from Dodgson Wood - one of the best examples of farm diversification

Farm diversification is not new. Farmers have invented ways to stay afloat financially since time immemorial. This is because it is one of the few entirely bonkers sectors that cracks on, doing what it does, and then hoping (and praying and crying and rarely rejoicing) that the price dictated by the abattoir or the dealer or whoever, will cover their costs and bring in some actual income. Can you imagine going into a supermarket and telling the cashier how much you’re prepared to pay and that they have to accept that or let the goods rot on the shelves? Or paying a shop £5 less than the ticket price on a pair of trousers and expecting them to just suck it up? Well, that’s the reality of farming finances for the majority of farmers.

In order for there to be some certainty of income (you know, to pay the mortgage, keep fuel in the vehicles, have something to wear other than wellies and ripped t-shirts and put food in the bellies underneath said t-shirts), farmers have looked at what they are rich in which might be land, barns, gorgeous landscapes, and set up glamping, camping and caravanning sites, holiday lets, farm experiences, wedding venues, metal detecting days, alpaca trekking, you name it. There are some amazing, inventive examples and my short list doesn’t even touch the surface.

As good as these things are, and we engage in this ourselves to a significant degree (meat boxes, smallholding courses, selling our own lambskins, writing books for smallholders etc) so I am not being critical about these necessary endeavours, but what I would really like to see is an entirely different definition of diversification.

I want to see the diversification of the market, where, just like all other retailers, farmers dictate the price of their goods so that there is no danger that they are losing money with every sheep, every crop, every new wildflower meadow planted. The average Joe and Joanne has purchasing options – you can buy your clothes at Prada or George at Asda as purse and priorities dictate – that should also be true in farming. Farmer Tom’s vintage multicoloured tomatoes too fancy and expensive for you? Buy some good old Gardener’s Delight from Farmer Ben. Devon Ruby grass fed vintage beef dry aged for seven weeks before butchering or 14 day hung beef from dairy bulls reared on barley; the choice is yours. Switching the market suppliers into the market deciders seems like a good idea to me and then you pays your money and takes your choice. And all this of course has to be ring-fenced to stop poor quality imports with lower farming standards completely skewing and skewering the UK market. Because food security for an island is not a concept, it is a necessity. Good healthy food that works with nature and doesn’t come with a list of ingredients I can’t interpret is something that farmers produce, whether it is asparagus, raspberries and clotted cream or spuds, cabbage and swede. From edible luxury treats to necessities, farmers produce it all and need to keep producing. So let’s switch the financial model. We should be safeguarding farming’s future because it is fundamental to all of our futures and our health.

15 year old vintage Devon Ruby beef