In last week’s newsletter, I questioned who would do the work to regenerate our rural landscape, which has been degraded by a century of extractive farming. How can we welcome those who want to be part of the solution, but may lack the skills and understanding needed for the task in front of them?
If you live in the East of England, most of the leeks, cabbages, and broccoli in your boxes come from our own Sacrewell Farm, Cambridgeshire. For many years, our farm manager, Nigel, was supported by a team of skilled, reliable Bulgarians and Latvians. In the years after Brexit, despite having the right to remain, they felt increasingly unwelcome in the UK – and last autumn, they returned home. They are proving hard to replace. There is some truth in the oft-quoted moan that “Brits just don’t want to do the work.” The gulf between modern expectations of work, and the brutal reality of an eight-hour day in a wet, windswept field with mud clinging to your boots, seems almost unbridgeable. But equally, a food system that depends on an underclass of labour, flown in to do the jobs we are no longer willing to do, is unsustainable and morally questionable.
There is a new, purpose-led generation of Brits who want to join our industry, but are put off by the commercial challenges of farming at scale – as well as a lack of training opportunities and access to land. Interestingly, very few new entrants want to be commodity food producers, supplying the supermarkets. Instead, with the benefit of an outside perspective, they often spot different opportunities, which those who grew up on isolated farms may miss. Some of the most innovative and inspiring modern farms have arisen from combining the skills and expert insights of those born to farming with the challenging vision of new entrants. British farming can only be strengthened by the diversity of this new generation – however impractical some may seem initially, before they have a chance to learn.
Farming too often provides poor financial returns, but many of us enjoy our daily autonomy, and the pride and sense of purpose that come with such tangibly useful work. I hope that in the future, more new entrants are able to discover these privileges, with the support and guidance of experienced farmers. We all – including our landscape – have a lot to gain from the partnership.
Our News from the Farm posts come from Riverford. They are the digital versions of the printed letters which go out to customers, every week via Riverford’s veg boxes. Guy Singh-Watson’s weekly newsletters connect people to the farm with refreshingly honest accounts of the trials and tribulations of producing organic food, and the occasional rant about farming, ethical and business issues he feels strongly about.
You are so right. I have become increasingly concerned about the numbers leaving the land in every country in the world. Even in less developed countries, too many don’t want to take on the hard conditions and uncertainty of farming with the income too low as well. My mother worked with Eve Balfour and saw the flight from the land after WW2 only too clearly. It’s even greater now. Governments need to wake up to the likelihood that countries won’t be able to just plug gaps with imports.