Dog exercise field helps keep farm alive

Mr Williams said about 20 people a day rent the dog paddock

A farmer who diversified his property with a dog exercise patch and pick your own pumpkin field has said the industry is facing "pressures from every angle".

Mark Williams said he and his family have introduced six new ventures at the farm in St Agnes, Cornwall, to counter the loss in subsidies they experienced after the UK left the EU.

"We thought we needed to create something that's resilient for the future so we can pass on to the next generation a farm that is in a healthy state," he said.

The 200-acre (81 hectares) farm also has pick your own sunflowers, a tree nursery, a lavender field and camping site alongside crops and heritage pigs.

Mark Williams said farmers are in a period of strategic change

"We stopped the cattle enterprise, we sold our herd of 120 South Devons in 2017 and invested that back into improving crop production," Mr Williams said.

"We're in a period of real strategic change, so we look at how farmers are contributing to reducing and saving carbon or do we look at how we grown non-food crops like energy crops?

"Do we look at how we reduce intensive farming which UK farmers have been operating very sound business models for quite some time?

"But we're still heavily impacted by price."

Mark Williams said diversification had been necessary subsidies were lost when the UK left Europe

Mr Williams said the family had needed to diversify the farm for financial security and the new enterprises had paid off.

He said the 20 dog owners a day rent the paddock for their pets and the pick your own pumpkins and sunflowers have proved popular in their respective seasons.

His daughter and son-in-law planted about two million trees planted last year for the tree nursery, called The Grower, which Mr Williams said was the only tree producer on such a scale on an ordinary farm in the region.

"I think farmers will have to diversify with the change in climate, the change in markets and the change in the political situation," he said.

"There are pressures on farmers from every angle."

Tina Bessell makes essential oil and firelighters from the lavender crop

Just down the road from Mr Williams is Tina Bessell, who has a 20-acre (8 hectares) farm called Cornish Lavender.

She said the land had originally been home to subsistence farming - cattle, sheep and a small amount of produce - but she had made the decision to grow lavender.

"Lavender is a Mediterranean herb and this is old mining land, so it's not good for growing the brassicas that are grown around this area," she said.

"We're really blessed with lots of sunshine in this field but we're not blessed with good soil.

"Lavender, luckily, is a crop that likes rubbishy old ground."

Ms Bessell extracts essential oil from the Old English lavender flower heads and makes firelighters from the stems.

In addition to the products, Ms Bessell runs experience days, craft sessions and a tearoom, and employs 12 people in the high season.

"It's a small enterprise... but it's a lovely crop," she said.

"The lavender is not yet commercially viable, but it provides diversity for nature and for people."