subject: Pleasure In Growing Your Own [print this page] Starting a farm from scratch in the U.KStarting a farm from scratch in the U.K. is an extremely expensive and usually prohibitive exercise for newly qualified graduates from agricultural colleges.
Most of these graduates have come from farming families and can return to the parent's farm to implement and practice the new processes they have learned.
Others will be looking for junior management positions on established farms and others may join some government establishments like experimental farms or arboretums.
To start a farm from scratch is prohibitive as farm land has doubled in price over the past eight years and with projected yields of livestock or crops it will take very many decades to recover the cost of the education, the farm and all the farm machinery.
Although there are countless numbers of mixed farms it is a fact that most young farmers have a distinct bent towards arable or livestock. In Britain there is a rough geographic divide between arable and livestock.
The richer flatter land of East Anglia and other parts of the East lend itself to crops from wheat to sugar beet and potatoes as well as all other vegetables and fruit.
Northern England including the Pennines and places in the South West like Dartmoor and Exmoor and most of Wales has more hills with poorer soil and are better for sheep and cattle.
Pigs can exist about anywhere and there is a special breed of farmer who enjoys pig breeding above all other types of farming.
During the Second World War there was a propaganda movement designed to make ordinary people grow their own vegetables on any spot of land including the smallest of back gardens.
The slogan was to dig for Victory and the result was a whole generation who discovered the pleasures of gardening and eating their own vegetables. Oddly enough, the practice of growing your own veg has begun again of late.
Many people are now growing their own vegetables for a number of good reasons. Perhaps the first reason is that it is good for body and soul and keeps older people active longer. The second reason is the discovery that money can be saved.
A third reason is that with an allotment there is a sense of bonhomie and goodwill. Comparing notes on success or otherwise of growing certain fruit and vegetables can lead to a quick learning curve on soil types and care.
Obviously another good reason is that organically grown seasonal vegetables taste so much better than the homogenised rubbish one often finds in the supermarkets.
With congested cities and lack of land it is of course impossible for the majority to grow their own and the farms continue to provide increasing amounts of food from lamb chops to wheat for daily bread.
Farmers need farm supplies and it helps if these are coming from a supplier who is himself a farmer from several generations and understands the latest products as well as the concerns of the farmer.
