Glastonbury farmer ‘makes extra money from weddings than farming’ | EUROtoday

Farmers have confronted a tough yr, with the longest moist winter since information started adopted by the driest spring on file.

Meanwhile, the Labour authorities’s resolution to start out levying inheritance taxes on farms has sparked protests throughout the nation and additional outrage has adopted with ministers’ sudden closure of the favored grants for sustainable farming practices.

Three quarters of farmers now depend on non-farming enterprises to complement their meals manufacturing. From falconry and helicopter rides to spas and photo voltaic farms, farmers say these further companies now kind a vital a part of the enterprise.

I spoke to some about what they’re doing to maintain their household companies afloat.

Mike Churches, a sixth-generation farmer close to Glastonbury, Somerset, stated the “atrocious” revenue from farming had prompted him to diversify.

He now makes considerably extra money from weddings and occasions than from elevating sheep and cattle.

He stated: “It’s about 30% from farming now, 70% from weddings, falconry, helicopter rides, glamping, you name it.”

Tom Collins, Wiltshire chairman of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), stated these additional enterprises had been important.

“It’s no longer just a bolt-on, it’s a crucial part of the business,” he stated.

Many farms have began providing weddings, however few can boast their very own on-site church.

A number of miles down the highway from Glastonbury, the small village of Godney had a church, constructed subsequent to Godney Farm.

As the inhabitants of the village fell, it was deconsecrated, so Mr Churches and his spouse Jenny determined to purchase the constructing.

“Yes, plenty of people tell us we have the right name,” chuckled Mr Churches.

They spent some huge cash restoring the outdated constructing, and utilized for a licence to carry civil ceremonies.

Meanwhile, like many farmers, they watched their revenue from the farm’s sheep, cattle and haymaking steadily fall.

Mr Churches advised me his return on funding from farming is “about 2 or 3%, which is nonsensical for the hours that you’re doing”.

He stated he might get 10 occasions as a lot from weddings, “so it is a far more lucrative business to be in”.

Last yr, 34 {couples} tied the knot at Godney Farm, together with Paul and Michelle Chorley, from Street in Somerset.

Mr Chorley defined the attraction: “We’re quite outdoorsy people, so we wanted something that would give us that country feel.

“When we turned up and also you see the view out the entrance, that’s precisely what we would imagined.”

Mrs Chorley added: “It was actually relaxed, the kids had been working about, the canines had been working about, the sheep and the cows had been round, it was simply what we needed.”

The Churches are obviously unusual in having their own actual church, but earning more from non-farming business is not that rare.

Research for the UK government found a quarter of farms, 26%, earned more than half their income from diversified enterprises.

In the heart of north Wiltshire, I bump down another farm track, past a pond and a field of a dozen young brown calves.

In the yard there are tractors and hay bales, dogs running around.

An unusual setting, you might think, for an immaculate beauty salon.

But Michelle Stead thinks it sets the “good tone for any aesthetic magnificence or wellbeing remedy”.

Mrs Stead set up her beauty clinic, called Perfection, more than 10 years ago.

Vigorous social media marketing brings clients from Malmesbury, Cirencester and the villages around.

“You can not help fall in love with the situation,” she smiles.

I asked if being utterly off any beaten tracks has been a problem.

“Why would not you come right here?” she replied.

“There’s no parking points, no visitors jams, no air pollution, it is stunning.

“It literally sets the scene – and that’s what makes us different.”

Her landlord is Tom Collins or ‘Farmer Tom’ as she calls him.

He runs a conventional combined farm, with cattle and pigs, alongside fields rising wheat, barley, peas and beans.

But his outdated Cotswold farm buildings at the moment are too small for contemporary farming, and he has allow them to out to Mrs Stead and several other different small corporations.

“Without diversification we’d really be struggling. I don’t know a single farm business that isn’t diversified,” he stated.

Nearly three quarters of farmers (71%) now depend on some further enterprise, based on the federal government analysis, and this has risen from 61% since 2015.

So what do most farmers flip to?

The report for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) analysed farm incomes.

Letting out buildings was the most typical, adopted by farm retailers and B&Bs, tenting and glamping websites.

Spas, wellness clinics, sports activities and well being retreats additionally function.

A brand new, extra controversial, supply of revenue is letting out fields to solar energy firms.

The report laid naked how a lot farmers depend on these new revenue streams.

More than one in 4, 28%, reported revenue from precise farming was unfavorable.

In different phrases, they misplaced cash rising meals.

While Mr Collins salutes the enterprise farmers have proven, he says it’s only taking place as a result of producing meals is such an unreliable enterprise.

He stated: “The finances aren’t good, the margins are wafer thin. It’s a lot of sawing for not much sawdust, as my grandfather used to say.”

Ministers insist their assist for farmers is “steadfast”.

A spokesperson for DEFRA stated: “This government is investing £5bn into farming, the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history.”