Many of our readers know that I'm a farmer's daughter, my late father in his day both owned and rented land. I used to farm and now have a smallholding so I could probably be biased on the subject of keeping a farm in the family. So having noted that, I'd like to look at the generational shift of farming and smallholding. In a perfect world our children would want to follow in our footsteps, learn at our knee and we'd all be living in some sort of 50s eutopia. However, neither of my children are smallholders, or possibly even wish to be, also they will be treated equally when it comes to all my worldly goods, as in my opinion primogeniture is very much a thing of the past. Even so, I have to say that there are some serious problems with the production of food in this country. In common with many other places in the world there does, to me, seem to be an underlying agricultural economy that exploits some of those in the business of producing food.
KEEPING BRITAIN FARMING
Esta historia es de la edición Spring 2025 de The Country Smallholder.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición Spring 2025 de The Country Smallholder.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Share in the therapy sheep experience
The chance to win one of ten books in a series designed to empower young minds where 'Merlin finds his magic'
What uses are their for cockerels?
In this issue we want to touch on a subject that may ruffle a few feathers, but as a national charity helping 60,000 hens year in and year out we believe the topic merits some hard facts and an appeal for your support as readers of a popular poultry magazine.
All About Grafting - an historic form of propagation
Lee Senior explains the top technique for gaining increased vigour, disease resistance, yield and speed
Time to get seed sowing
Kings Seeds give a guide to a flourishing veg patch that starts in spring
Welcome to our feature on alpacas!
We've asked experts to share their knowledge with us on keeping alpacas, their handling and their fleeces.
Getting Your Bees!
Claire Waring looks at how you can obtain your first colony and become a beekeeper.
The springtime pecking order
Spring brings new life and fresh challenges to the coop. Cara Wheeldon discovers how to smoothly introduce new birds, curb bullying, and keep your flock happy and harmonious with help from expert advice.
Keep the date of Sunday 8th June free for an Open Farm Sunday near you
But could you open your smallholding or farm and take part in this event that brings farmers and consumers together?
A wheelbarrow is an essential tool on any smallholding, but what is the best choice for a smallholder?
Wheelbarrows come in all shapes, sizes (and price ranges too). After years of rusted tubs, flat tyres and strained muscles, Hugh and Fiona have distilled the right choice of wheelbarrow into five simple choices.
The Hamburgh, an old British light breed from the North
Victoria Roberts BVSc MRCVS tells how Yorks and Lancs came together to produce an attractive breed and a useful layer
