Opinion: A small acreage can yield a big result
© iStockphoto I am painfully aware that for most of us this has been a pretty rubbish arable harvest.
After long hours in the combine, with relatively few trailer loads to empty, you don’t need the business instincts of Lord Sugar to deduce that it’s not going to be one to remember.
But there’s always next year – and maybe the opportunity to take on some more land.
Another 500 acres would surely make a difference – or maybe an extra thousand, to really scale things up and guarantee eternal prosperity?
See also: Opinion – all my organic preconceptions have been overturned
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Recently, I was privileged to be given a tour around a nearby community agriculture project.
On 18 acres, with only two-and-a-half under cultivation, the group produces more than 800 vegetable boxes a year and also manages to include agroforestry, public access, several Sustainable Farming Incentive and stewardship options and hosts educational visits for hundreds of local schoolchildren.
It is amazing how much thought and dedication has gone into a plot of land about the size of just one of our farm’s average-sized fields.
My late father was something of a renowned amateur asparagus grower.
When we took on the tenancy here eight years ago, I happened to remark to a neighbour that I thought the soil was ideal asparagus ground, and thereafter this enthusiastic individual never let me forget it.
To shut him up, last year we went shares and put in 1,000 crowns, on one-fifth of an acre of one of my poorer fields. I only put it there because it’s right next to the house so I don’t forget about it.
I also know the precise range of every frond from my kitchen window, should some impertinent vermin attempt to interfere with it.
However – and it’s got a season or two to go yet until full production – one year’s full harvest on this piddly corner should return more money than an artic load of wheat – with a fraction of the growing costs.
Of course, there’s manual labour involved, but this project should keep producing, with minimal inputs, for 20 years. And, to his credit, my newfound business partner really seems to enjoy weeding.
I have another friend who for years has made a good living as the tenant of a 60-acre county council farm, which is no mean feat.
She has worked hard to monetise her passion for breeding pedigree sheep and regularly hits top prices at the various ewe and ram sales.
It is easy sometimes to admire all these endeavours, but also to reject them for taking up too much time, or marketing, or just general hassle. But recently I’ve stopped to think – what if I’m wasting my misdirected efforts?
I know I can drill straight lines in fields, fix broken machinery and calve cows. I can cover loads of acres in a day and keep ordering inputs and chuck them about with the best of them.
But none of these things is really going to make you rich, unless you have a massive farm and a lucky year.
Maybe, rather than dreaming of expansion and taking over the parish, my time would be better spent paying attention to every bit of land I am lucky enough to farm.
As Leonardo da Vinci apparently said: “Details make perfection, and perfection is not a detail”. Although it probably helps if you’re a visionary genius in the first place…