9:00am Thursday 29th July 2010
THE number of people involved in agriculture fell by a staggering 22 per cent between 1996 and 2008.
Long hours, poor rewards and a perceived lack of opportunities have created a continuous drift from the land.
The average UK farmer is 59 years old. Locally, however, we have some exceptionally entrepreneurial young farmers.
As an example, I chose to visit one Essex farming couple who, at the start of the millennium, had four teenage children, all of whom wanted to enter the family farming business.
Robert and Mary Howie, at Wicks Manor, Tolleshunt Major, have four sons all striving to create their own remarkable enterprises.
Fergus is the oldest son. When he left college in 2000, he decided to take on the difficult pig enterprise.
Like all pig farmers, ten years ago, the Howie farm was losing about £20 each on 4,000 pigs a year, a plainly unsustainable situation. So Fergus decided to bypass the retailer and start selling direct to the public.
This brave move coincided with a much greater concern and awareness among consumers, who were beginning to take more interest in knowing exactly where food came from. Many people also prefer to “buy local”.
Today, Wicks Manor bacon, sausages and hams are in such demand that all the meat produced from the farm’s 5,000 pigs is cured, smoked and packed on site.
Twenty-eight local jobs have been created and father Robert proudly explained to me that the pig enterprise is even more productive than the 3,500-acre arable farming area which his second son, Hamish, is now expanding and diversifying.
About one-third of the cereals and straw grown by Hamish are used by Fergus’ pigs. Hamish also grows a large area of sweetcorn.
Next to leave college was third son Andrew. His love of pop festivals gave him a unique idea of how to join the family farm.
When he stated at breakfast one morning that he was going to buy an old burger van and sell milkshakes at the V Festival in Chelmsford, the rest of the family thought it was an April fool’s joke.
Four years later, Andrew Howie’s “Shaken Udder” milkshakes are being produced and sold in up to 30 different flavours, with this year’s Glastonbury Festival being his best-ever event.
Apart from the mobile production units used at events, a meticulously clean bottling plant at Wicks Manor is producing this new breed of milkshake containing no artificial colours or preservatives and is now sold nationally in farm shops and supermarkets.
Youngest son Duncan has just finished college and, after helping with this year’s harvest, he will be undertaking work experience with a local land agent.
But he will continue taking part in the family business meetings at 6.30am every Monday. It will surely not be long before another exciting enterprise starts up at Wicks Manor.
Locally, food production is in very safe young hands.
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