One of the things that I most enjoy about writing articles for the Farmers Journal is the feedback that I get. Some of it is positive and, probably like anyone else, I’m more than delighted when people agree with my views.
However,on other occasions the comments can be challenging and, while not always disagreeing with me, can come with a different slant on what I have written about.
I should point out that all feedback (positive or negative) is welcome and I have never professed to knowing everything or that I am doing everything right.
All I have ever done is be open and honest about what I’m doing and my reasoning behind doing it.
After my last article (New enterprise adding to business income – edition dated 22 December) I was contacted anonymously (normally people are more than willing to identify themselves) with a suggestion about the way forward for myself and my sons.
The suggestion was that one or more of my sons should go to university and get a degree, with a view to obtaining a well-paid job while continuing to farm part-time.
I would have no objections if university education was what they wanted to do, but farming part-time – I’m not so sure about that.
Structure
This got me thinking about the whole structure of farming and what it’s going to look like in the future.
My own view is that if I had a good well-paid job, I wouldn’t be very interested in just farming in the evenings and at weekends.
I probably would become a hobby farmer.
By this I mean that I would keep a few cattle that were easy on the eye and simple to look after.
With a good job I would not have to worry if they were going to make money or not.
There are a lot who are using their well-paid jobs to subsidise their farming hobby
I certainly wouldn’t be too concerned about grassland management, cow fertility and calving indexes.
But thinking this all through, I realise that the country already has people like this.
As a matter of fact, there are a lot who are using their well-paid jobs to subsidise their farming hobby.
Then there are other people who are in full-time employment and trying to farm on a full-time scale as well.
Going to work for eight hours and coming home and working at either end of the day, what kind of a life is this going to be?
If you are married and have children, I cannot see where the family time is going to come from.
The children will be grown-up before you know it and you will have missed it all.
There are times of the year when I work 16 hours a day and I find it very stressful. I certainly wouldn’t want to work 16 hours a day for the whole year.
To the anonymous person who contacted me I would have to say that this is something I would never encourage my sons to do.
You need a life, you cannot survive on working long hours all the time.
Future
There were a few other things that I thought about since receiving this feedback, and I wonder is this the general feeling in the farming community? Is the only real future for farming going to be on a part-time basis? Has farming got any future if it is solely reliant on part-time farmers?
In my experience, few sons or daughters of part-time farmers are willing to do what their parents did.
The next step beyond a part-time farm is that it is sold or rented out.
Granted, having part-time farmers, and therefore lots of people still working the land, is important for local communities including schools, churches, shops and health services. But if this means people working long, unsociable hours, it is coming at a high cost for the well-being of these part-time farmers and their families.
I will fully support my sons in their quest to become full-time farmers. I believe this is what the farming industry needs to survive into the long term.