famrs

This story from Scotland paints a positive picture of how young people can get into farming. It is relatively uncommon for someone without any background in agriculture to establish their own farming enterprise. Established family farms are normally passed from one generation to the next. New entrants need land and capital to get started – barriers that are simply insurmountable for many budding farmers.

At the same time, the prospect of rearing animals, producing food and spending more time in the great outdoors are attractive propositions for office-bound wannabe farmers.

For many it will remain little more than a pipe dream but there are a determined few “new entrants” to the industry who are set on establishing their own successful farming enterprises. How easy is it to build a farm from scratch?

When James Baylis graduated from university in 2013, he quickly found himself a comfortable office job and a steady income.

But within months, he was disillusioned and miserable. He felt he was “wasting his life” in the lengthy daily commute, just to spend the rest of the day sat in front of a computer screen.

So he made a life-changing decision: he swapped the rat race for the great outdoors. Fast forward to 2016 and the 25-year-old says he has no regrets.

In little over a year since moving to rural south-west Scotland, he has bought a small flock of sheep and he is preparing for his second lambing season. In the next few months, he is expecting to lamb 75 ewes which – with luck – should produce 129 lambs.

The transition from office to farm was particularly remarkable for the bearded Welshman who, until two years ago, had never even mucked out a shed or sat on a tractor. But after taking on some part-time work at a local farm, any romantic image of agricultural labouring quickly disappeared.

“I’d always thought I’d just end up with a wee smallholding later on but the final decision to actually go for it and try and find a farming job was made while mucking out a cattle shed over Christmas,” he said.

“I think it’s very easy to have an idyllic view of farming, like something from of the pages of a kid’s book, but that image can be so far from the truth.”

Farm work can be gruelling, spirit-crushing hard labour in rain, snow, wind and – in Scotland at least – only occasional sunshine. For many even the financial reward is limited.