Will’s World: One man’s inspiring journey from woe to grow

Good lord, it’s September already. My numerous daughters, much to their collective indignation, are back in school, I’ve started splitting logs whenever I get a spare hour or two, and the nights are rapidly drawing in. Winter, as they say, is coming.

As a keen reader, it’s at this time of year that I really ramp up my efforts so I can get my book count for the year up to a respectable total.

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I’m always astounded when people post pictures on Instagram around Christmas of the 100+ books they’ve got through in the previous 12 months. As a knackered farmer and dad, I’m chuffed to bits if I’ve hit double figures.

We’re living in a golden era for farming literature. Whether it’s the meaningful prose of James Rebanks, the gritty realism of Bella Bathurst, or the hopeful optimism of Jake Fiennes, Sarah Langford and many others, there really is something for everyone out there.

And if you prefer the classics, I recently re-read I Bought a Mountain by Thomas Firbank, and enjoyed it more than ever.

Big Ben

Into this exalted company now comes Herefordshire farmer, Ben Taylor-Davies, perhaps better known as “Regen Ben”, with his cleverly titled book, More-On, Less-On. For clarity, Ben is a good friend of mine who I respect enormously.

He’s a big man with a big personality and an even bigger heart, and to be in his company is to be simultaneously exhilarated, challenged and inspired.

I’ve witnessed people moved to tears and queueing up to hug him after he stood on a stage at Groundswell to tell his and his family’s story, and even as someone who already knew it I wasn’t far off being one of them myself.

He has that rarest of gifts in being able to connect with people on the most human of levels, while also seeing the world differently to almost everyone else.

At its core Ben’s book is a journey of redemption, the catalyst of which was the terrible accident that befell his toddler son Jobe.

Every parent’s worst nightmare, it’s even harrowing to think about, so I can’t begin to imagine living it.

Thankfully Jobe did pull through, and he’s now the beating heart of their wonderful family.

You’ll have to read it yourself to understand the full context, and you might just find yourself believing in ghosts afterwards, too.

Open book

Ben’s openness and honesty shines from every page, and never more so when he describes the deep depression he fell into after the accident, which he describes as “a thousand days of darkness”.

It was his wife Helen (enter “force of nature” into Google and a picture of Helen appears), who encouraged him to do a Nuffield scholarship, and that was the beginning of his long road to recovery.

Looking into the control of blackgrass brought him into contact with farmers round the world who were doing things differently and, as he describes, “having fun” – something he’d long since ceased to experience as both an agronomist and farmer.

He started to realise it was biology, and not chemistry, that leads to a profitable farming business, and quickly began to implement widescale changes on the home farm, transforming it into the vibrant, diverse and joyous place it is today.

Ultimately, this book is the most tender of love letters to farming and family, written by one of the most remarkable men you could ever meet.

If you want something to warm the cockles of your heart this winter while challenging you in a positive way to look at farming differently, then look no further.