A Farmers Life for Me

[Mikey]

ISn't it about being in the right place at the right time. Jimmy may not be the most experienced farmer, but he is a very clever businessman. How many other farmers have turned their farms into such profitable business more so than say Jimmy and HFW. This group could do a lot worse than be mentored by him.

[reetnproper]

I thought the couple who wanted to have serviced plots should have gone too. If you are going to go into farming and you only have 1/2 acre, why on earth would you turn over some of that to allotments?

If you gave me 1/2 acre, I would be planning what I would do with it not what I could let someone else do with it. Plain lazy if you ask me.

We only watched about the last 10 mins of this programme and that was enough to drive me to drink .

OH and I were totally bemused by the thought of serviced allotments. We thought the whole point of an allotment was to pay for the land in which to get your own hands dirty, growing your own veg, harvesting your own veg, eating zero miles food and, ultimately, saving money into the bargain!

Shows how much we know

Reet
x

[Florence Fennel]

Mmm, might have to take a look at this, but if it drove Reet to drink, it'll probably send me the same way!

[RichmondHens]

ISn't it about being in the right place at the right time. Jimmy may not be the most experienced farmer, but he is a very clever businessman. How many other farmers have turned their farms into such profitable business more so than say Jimmy and HFW. This group could do a lot worse than be mentored by him.

I agree. Farming nowadays is about being able to diversify, as only the really huge farms can make money from farming alone. Jimmy's farm is a very small farm so he has to be able to make money from other things, TV programmes being one.

[Bren In Pots]

I've found the program on iPlayer so will watch it when I eat my lunch time sarnie, that way I wont feel like I've wasted my time if its rubbish.

[rana]

I agree. Farming nowadays is about being able to diversify, as only the really huge farms can make money from farming alone. Jimmy's farm is a very small farm so he has to be able to make money from other things, TV programmes being one.

I am a big fan of HFW and JD but their businesses would have struggled much harder for survival without their fortuitous financial backing and revenues from book sales and TV.

[Mikey]

If you consider them to be two separate issues then I think you are right Rana. I think they are linked though, they both realise that television is a very profitable way of plugging your business.

There is a voyeuristic nature in all of us, we prefer people to struggle rather than succeed easily as they are far more endearing. Both shows started off showing them struggling to make it work. Look at where they are now though, you don't see a chink in their armour these days, money makes the whole thing a lot easier.

[buzzingtalk]

Fair play to JD and HFW - farmers really, really struggle now. Its very hard to make ends meet, let alone a profit or a salary, for yourself as a farmer unless your either established, have a huge farm, or are a very savvy businessperson. A lot of people now farm stuff but then make 'gourmet' food items which make a LOT more profit than the raw crop itself - the advent of massive supermarket chains has pushed down the price of crops in the UK yet they are still damned expensive on the shelves. The wrong person is making the profit!

I really feel for people trying to make a living off food production - its not easy. A freind of mine owns a sheep farm up in scotland, he said in 2009, he made £10 profit. Yes, £10. He took it over from a dead relative, so he still has a lot to learn but he said its hardly worth the bother anymore and was thinking of using the extensive land for something else once all the last sheep are out to slaughter/die. What a shame that will be.

[rana]

I've now watched the whole program on iPlayer and in view of the stated objectives set by JD (Make your plot pay!) I consider the idea of serviced allotments as the most innovative approach, particularly as the pigs will be used to progressively clear and turn over the plot. Unfortunately the couple concerned seem very shy in applying themselves to any real work so unless they buck their ideas up they will be early casualties.

In the real world farmers need to be creative and diversify in order to make a decent living. It is no longer a matter of sticking a few animals in a field.

[Hilary B]

I've now watched the whole program on iPlayer and in view of the stated objectives set by JD (Make your plot pay!) I consider the idea of serviced allotments as the most innovative approach, particularly as the pigs will be used to progressively clear and turn over the plot. Unfortunately the couple concerned seem very shy in applying themselves to any real work so unless they buck their ideas up they will be early casualties.

In the real world farmers need to be creative and diversify in order to make a decent living. It is no longer a matter of sticking a few animals in a field.

It never was 'a matter of sticking a few animals in a field'. Any farmer who tried to do that soon went under. Farming always has been hard work, except on a massive scale, where there are enough profits to buy machinery to do a lot of it.
The reason farming struggles to pay is that in comparison with income food is A LOT cheaper than it has been historically. If you compare how many loaves of bread you can buy for a typical week's wages (one of the simplest ways of getting a reasonably accurate comparison), it is many times what our grandparents could buy!

[Jardiniere]

still going to watch it tho...............dont tell me who wins...........

[buzzingtalk]

i watched episode one the other day - man there are some idiots on there! But some very good ideas, and some hard workers too. If I had an oppurtunity like that I wouldn't be wasting a minute, that would be a dream berry farm here i'd come

[jojo2910]

We watched last night and did not agree with the result. I don't want to say what happened in case people haven't seen it. I just wanted to say that it was an obvious result but I didn't agree.