More and more farmers are finding it hard to make a living via traditional farming. This is a result of factors including decreasing food and drink prices, increasing energy costs and the undeniable uncertainty of Brexit, and because of this, farmers are seeking to diversify their revenue streams.

There are many different routes farmers can take when it comes to diversifying: setting up a glamping or camping site, farm retail, wedding/event venues, renewable energy and tourism, and many farms open their doors to the public providing a fun day out for the family or an education visit from local schools.

The need for farmers to diversify has never felt greater. Many farmers and landowners can use their land to diversify their business while keeping their love of farming at the heart. Dartington Dairy in Devon, used their FOLK2FOLK loan to diversify their cow dairy into a goat dairy, venturing into retail and ice-cream production. Now they sell award-winning goats’ milk, kefir and ice-cream to local retailers across the country, employing six local people.

Glamping has become an increasingly popular diversification. Our customers in North Yorkshire rear Aberdeen Angus Cattle, although successful, it wasn’t bringing in enough income. Their idyllic Yorkshire location provided the opportunity to diversify into glamping where they now a run a luxury 5* glamping experience, The Private Hill, which opened its doors earlier this year.

If you’re thinking of ways to diversify your current farming business, come along to the Farm Business Innovation Show on 6^th & 7^th November at NEC, Birmingham where you can find free inspiration and advice on how to kick start your diversification journey. You’ll find FOLK2FOLK on stand FR750 where we’re always happy to discuss how you could fund your diversification plans. To book in a meeting with us email enquiries@folk2folk.com.

You’ll also be able to hear from our Head of Farming and Rural Engagement, Ian Bell, who’ll be showcasing some of the different ways our customers have diversified. Ian will be speaking in Keynote Theatre 1 on Wednesday 6^th November at 11am.

If you’re itching to discuss your ideas now, give us a call on 0333 455 1902 or find out more about our peer to peer loans.

Like the weather, politics are outside the control of farmers, so how can farmers hedge their bets in the current climate?

Having been a farmer, I feel comfortable admitting that we’re renowned for moaning about the weather (always), prices (often) and regulation (every time a form needs completing)!

The weather app on a farmers’ phone is used daily and hourly.  It has been a frustrating early August with rain hampering the harvest but since the hotter, dry weather has come in the combine harvesters are out in full force.  In fairness the weather has generally been kind to farmers and growers so far this year.  It has been a tremendous grass growing season and as a result we will produce more milk this year than any other in the last 30 years.  For a variety of factors, including the weather, our wheat crop is estimated to be 1 million tonnes higher than 2018.

In some places the weather has not been so kind and we should spare a thought for the farmers in the Yorkshire Dales; one man lost hundreds of bales of fodder and had 200 North Country Mule Gimmer lambs washed away.

We can’t control the weather or the actions of our legislators, but we can mitigate some of the circumstances.

For example, have you noticed how quickly the harvest has progressed since the onset of the better weather?  Investment in machinery and infrastructure reduces the risk to a farming business.  Greater combine capacity means a quicker harvest, increasing storage capacity reduces the risks of selling on a buyer’s market.  Better drying and cleaning facilities can increase sale values.

And when it comes to the ongoing uncertainty of Brexit, an increasing number of Farmers are hedging their bets through diversification.

At FOLK2FOLK we understand farming and allow you to use your existing assets to grow, develop or diversify your business. Why not talk to us about your funding options.

Ian Bell is FOLK2FOLK’s Head of Farming & Rural Engagement

Ian Bell, FOLK2FOLK’s Head of Farming & Rural Engagement, considers the coming winter

“Otto is missing!”  We arrived home after less than twenty-hours away to find our dog-sitter had ‘mislaid’ my wife’s springer spaniel.  Three hours of panic ensued until a red-faced lady appeared at the front door with said canine on a lead, explaining she had not realised Otto had joined her walk!  An hour later I am in trouble, again, for not charging the battery on the electric fencer that keeps our five chickens safe from Mr Renard, who sits in the field every morning licking his chops.  Living in a household with horses, dogs and chickens I am in no doubt whatsoever where I come in the hierarchy.

Man’s strong relationship with domesticated animals reaches back to biblical times and, like me, you will no doubt know people who look after their animals better than themselves.  As we see the close of our glorious summer I ask you to give a thought for our livestock farmers.  The intense heat has parched the ground, regrowth for further cuts of silage is insignificant and we are already eating next winter’s feed stocks.  I was always told that you should still have half of your winter supplies of hay, silage and straw left at the end of February – not October!

For people of my age comparisons with 1976 will resonate.

For people of my age comparisons with 1976 will resonate.  In June of that year I moved to a farm in Lincolnshire to gain experience of growing peas, sugar beet, potatoes and swedes, arriving mid-month to get a grasp of the setup before we started pea vining.  Within four hours I was running the night-shift of four Mather and Platt pea viners, we had finished the cereal harvest by the end of July and ran out of water to irrigate potatoes.  Not dissimilar to 2018.

There is however one fundamental difference over forty-two years.  In 1976 we had ‘mixed’ farming where any single farm would have a mixture of arable and livestock enterprises.  They complimented each other; the cereals would provide feed and straw for livestock, manure from the livestock fertilized the potato ground, feeding the cattle in the winter used the surplus labour from the tractor driver, and so on.

Forty-two years of constant pressure on farm-gate prices by supermarkets and processors has forced specialization and intensification.  At the turn of the last century two dairy farmers ceased milk production daily, but the cows did not disappear.  They migrated to larger units and we started to see the 500, 800 or even 1000 plus herd, constantly attempting to gain the benefits of scale.  With straw at £200 per acre and standing maize crops up to £1,000 an acre the pressures are real; and getting through the winter of 2018-2019 is going to be an extreme challenge.

Habitat and wildlife decline are often blamed on farmers, but Ian Bell fights their corner.

It is a familiar routine on a Sunday evening: I shout at the screen during Countryfile, no one can speak as my spouse watches the Antiques Roadshow and then collectively we analyse Captain Poldark’s riding skills!  Nevertheless, I am very proud of Countryfile.  Having served on the BBC Rural Affairs Advisory Committee during the period it went from a half-hour Sunday afternoon program to an hour and then the move to prime time on Sunday evening; it was a huge achievement.

I particularly like ‘Adam’s Farm’ when Adam Henson gives us a snapshot of activity on his farm.  I will always applaud Adam for bringing the financial and emotional consequences of a breakdown in Bovine Tb to the attention of the public.  Every week, the program highlights some terrific conservation work be it habitat recreation or working to protect various species of birds and animals; and so, to my rant: there is often an undertone that these problems arise because of farmers!

Farmers are good conservationists.  Their farm is their pride and joy and they see themselves as custodians of the countryside.  Our beautiful rural landscapes have developed over centuries through the effects of practical farming, sport and the inclinations of wealthy land-owning families.  My first employment was on a large estate; as you stood on the balcony of the Hall which over looked the park, the positioning of the trees represented Wellington’s troop placings at Waterloo.  Contrary to popular belief, farmers do not rush out with the sprayer to obliterate wildlife at any opportunity; it costs money.  Spraying is an insurance policy to ensure as good a crop as possible not a speculative operation.  Ladybirds will always be a more cost-effective way of controlling an aphid infestation than any mechanical and chemical method.

Above all, for farmers to continue caring for the countryside they must make a profit.  Conservation costs, in labour and materials, it cannot be funded from an unsustainable business.  Farmers and land-owners contentedly plant an oak tree in the knowledge that they will never see it develop beyond a strong sapling, but in the hope that future generations will enjoy the aesthetics of a mighty oak and that, at some point, it will produce a financial return.

by Ian Bell OBE, Head of Farm & Rural Engagement