I also recently ran a training day for a group of government employees who work for DEFRA and Natural England on behalf of the Hill Farm Project and Dartmoor National Park. I had 10 of them here to give them a taste of a Dartmoor hill farm and the challenges we face. It is often the case that these civil servants are experts in their field but know very little about a real farm and perhaps why we do what we do, how we are set up and have evolved. It was a very rewarding day and I think they got a lot out of it. I led an introduction to the farm, opened my books and was quite honest about the challenges of running a seasonal business with tight margins. Once I had given them the hard sell we got up close to a few cows, explored a small piece of Dartmoor, looked at a peat bog and a hut circle and had a good wander around our farm buildings, generally allowing conversation to flow. They were a very engaging crowd and very interested in how farms affect rural communities and the environment. We also spent some time talking about what agricultural policy may look like in the future and that support should be for public goods. My concern is that food is not on the list of public goods and I believe all sections of society should be able to afford to buy good quality British food. Without some sort of support this is going to be very difficult to achieve although I am sure we will evolve and survive. So I hope the window into my world helped these guys understand how policy changes affect real people on the ground.
A farm like ours only works because of the skilled team we work with. We may look like a scruffy, grumpy bunch of straw chewers flying round the parish on the quad bike, tractor or land rover swearing at the sheep dogs. But believe it or not we possess a certain set of skills which are increasingly hard to come by. Angus has been with us now for 4 years and has been a great member of the squad, running the farm at Princetown with my brother Neil. Sadly for us, Angus is leaving to take a job on a local estate which is a really great opportunity for him. He will be missed and hard to replace, but we all wish him well and are proud of what he has achieved.
Mat Cole, Greenwell Farm