This month we\u2019re meeting some Lincolnshire families who have dedicated their lives to the custodianship of the countryside, and we\u2019re meeting the next generation of farmers keen to preserve Lincolnshire\u2019s reputation as the county that feeds the country…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Across Britain, agriculture utilises 17m hectares or 69%\u2008of the UK\u2019s total land area. There are 102,000 farms, of which 41,506 farms are arable\/horticultural, and 52,000 are for livestock or grazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are 3,431 farms in Lincolnshire, collectively 492,046 hectares in size. And of those, 2,348 farms are arable\/horticultural, whilst 826 are livestock or dairy farms (257 are mixed\/unclassified). Growing cereals takes up nearly 270,000 hectares of land in Lincolnshire and the county has a population of nearly 71,000 heads of cattle, 103,000 pigs and over 135,000 sheep, plus 15m chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys… not to mention an agricultural workforce of 12,000!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lincolnshire\u2019s produces 11% of the country\u2019s crops and livestock, valued at \u00a32bn, including 30% of the country\u2019s vegetables, 20%\u2008of the country\u2019s sugar beet and over 10% of the country\u2019s wheat. As a county, Lincolnshire grows, processes and transports 30% of the nation\u2019s food, \u00a313.6bn worth, supporting 75,000 jobs in agriculture and allied sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s easy to be proud of Lincolnshire\u2019s contribution, but a little more tricky to put our hand on our hearts and say we\u2019d be happy for our children to pursue a career in farming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After all, the work is hard \u2013 even you\u2019re assisted by the latest technology and machinery \u2013 the hours are long and even good judgement and expertise can be undermined by events in an international supply chain or a run of bad weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On paper, farming is a difficult sell to youngsters, but for those who dedicate their lives to a career in arable farming or working with livestock, it goes beyond a job, a career, or even a vocation: it\u2019s a way of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This month, we\u2019re meeting three families in farming who are contributing to preserving rural Britain, protecting the countryside and securing our domestic supply of food, we hope to prove that despite all of its aridity and disenchantment farming is also as perennial as the grass. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\ufeffGenerations of Farming in Bardney<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For three generations now, the Armstrong family have been keen custodians of their land near Bardney. What\u2019s changed in that time and could they still put hand on heart and recommend that little Archie \u2013 aged just eight months old and on his little John Deere \u2013 devote his life to becoming the fourth-generation of farmer?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ufeffArchie is on his little John Deere, complete with its squeaky horn and lift-up bonnet. It\u2019s very much in keeping with the rest of the kit used in the fields surrounding Abbey Farm near Bardney. Just eight months old, he arrived on the very day that his mum, Kate, was due to talk about the rally held by farmers in Westminster back in November concerning the Labour party\u2019s inheritance tax changes for farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back in 1957 Bob Armstrong, now 92, left Stirling for a new life in Bardney, with wife Margaret, where their four children would eventually grow up. Also on the train \u2013 although hopefully not in the same carriage \u2013 were Bob\u2019s 22 dairy cows, who arrived in Lincolnshire just a couple of miles from the farm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the time Bardney Station closed in 1970, Bob was running a successful farming operation, and his sons, David and Jim, were enjoying growing up on a family farm, with all the joys that such a life can bring. \u201cWe did everything with horses back then, although we did have a little grey Massey tractor, but with metal wheels, not tyres. You\u2019d never drive it on the roads!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n What does Bob think now, with monster combines and enormous tractors? Impressive, he reckons. Nowadays one man and a decent-sized machine can do the job of a dozen men or more. Although he does miss seeing lots of people busy on the farm at harvest time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking of harvest time, we turned up when rain stopped Bob\u2019s grandson, David\u2019s son Ross, from getting back on their Claas Lexion combine and getting stuck into about 700 acres of cereals harvest… which with modern kit constitutes about a week of work, should the weather be a little kinder to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The machinery may have become a lot larger, the cows have now left the farm in favour of the family pursuing a purely arable operation, but those aren\u2019t the only changes across the generations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The third generation of the family, Ross and his sister Kate (Archie\u2019s mum), started The Spud Barn in the spring of 2020, with Covid ensuring a healthy contingent of customers keen to purchase potatoes from the farm gate. The idea of the new business was to sell some of the family\u2019s potatoes directly to the public, putting them back in touch with their food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today they\u2019re delivering several tonnes of potatoes a week in 10kg bags to customers\u2019 homes, around a 15 mile radius, as well as selling them at the farm gate. The family\u2019s potatoes are better than any spuds they\u2019ve had before, say many of their customers, and they\u2019re available from September right up until summer the following year. In addition to selling their potatoes at the farm gate though, another customer of the farm is Branston Potatoes which handles around 350,000 tonnes of potatoes a year \u2013 about a trillion potatoes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, as David acknowledges, so many things can impact the fortunes of a farmer, despite their good judgement and expertise; the Ukraine and Russia conflict (which has had an impact on fertiliser prices and international grain prices) or more obviously, the weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And of course, the current government\u2019s determination to push ahead with its policies of inheritance tax is continuing to put the family\u2019s plans for succession in jeopardy. It\u2019s meant they\u2019re reluctant to make any investments in the farm, like new machinery or additional land, for fear that they could need to raise a six figure sum for the Chancellor \u2013 in addition to the corporation tax they already pay \u2013 from a business whose value is not realised in free capital, but in land and machinery, without which the business can\u2019t generate revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s a joy to live in the countryside, and to experience the environment just as it\u2019s meant to be, with the changing of the seasons. We love the idea of feeding the nation. The idea of farmers being paid to grow wild flower and SFI crops instead is much less appealing than producing really good quality, high yielding British crops.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA much as farming is a pleasure, it\u2019s also really hard work and it can make you feel isolated with so few people working on farms today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As a profession it\u2019s a bit like playing tennis. If you\u2019ve had poor weather or a particular crop isn\u2019t yielding well, you\u2019ve different crops in the ground so it\u2019s like playing different games or sets. There\u2019s always hope somewhere across the farm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ultimate question, then is as follows. If, in a few years, Archie says he wants to be a farmer when he grows up, will the family be keen to encourage him to make his living from the land?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was always keen for Kate and Ross to get a good education, and I love having my family around me,\u201d says David. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t push him into farming, but to see him one day taking on the farm and becoming the fifth generation of the family farming the land would be wonderful!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n