FARMER FOCUS- MARK MCFERRAN
FARMER FOCUS- ARABLE PRODUCER
THINGS ARE certainly different on our farm this winter. We would normally have sheds filled with home-grown potatoes to be sold to our chip shop customers over the following six months. Now the most we ever have in store at any one time is about 12t of English-grown Maris Piper.
The only other produce under cover is wheat straw, stored in the form of 4×4 bales for customers who either asked me to store straw for them or haven”t got round to collecting it yet.
About a year ago, the local sea cadets contacted me to see if I had any sheds I would be prepared to let for storing boats. Although I hadn”t much room, I cleared a bay of the hay shed that was the right size and agreed a price for a year”s rent. We are now into a second year with both parties very happy with the arrangement.
It’s interesting how one change in farming activity opens the door to a completely different enterprise.
I’ve been advertising the sale of all of my potato equipment over the last few weeks, some of which I have already sold. My plan is to store my remaining machinery in one or two sheds and let the rest of the shed space. We”ll have to see how my recent advert in the “sheds to let” section of a local paper goes. Another example of one change leading to another is regarding the land I have set aside for environmental schemes in the springtime. A shooting syndicate recently approached me in relation to the shooting rights of the ground. Hopefully I will have so much good wild bird cover I can use it to my advantage when striking a deal. As we enter a new farming era, I hope all the changes we experience will have positive knock-on effects.