CLA highlights sharing as key for future of farming

CLA Rural Surveyor Jacqui Stoddart, who helped compile the new share farming report and handbook

A wider uptake of share farming could enable thousands of young people to get their first foot on the farming ladder according to the CLA.

The CLA says that if just a quarter of the country’s farmers aged over 65 entered in to a share farming agreement it would allow more than 3,000 new entrants to start working the land.

Launching its major new drive to encourage share farming at today’s Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate, CLA President Henry Robison said: “This is a simple solution to one of the industry’s most pressing problems – that of an ageing profile.

“Share farming not only offers older farmers a way of reducing their workload while maintaining an income but also gives new entrants an increasingly rare opportunity to start a career in agriculture.”

Share farming differs from traditional contract farming in so far as both parties share the risk and the profits on a pre-agreed percentage. The existing farmer simply provides a proportion of his farmland for the partner to work.

Mr Robinson added: “The problem with traditional farming arrangement is that a farmer is either in or out. Share farming provides a middle ground whereby an ageing farmer, who cannot afford to retire, can start to wind-down without having to worry about paying the bills.

“A share farming agreement really is very straightforward and we have produced an easy-to-use advisory handbook that guides farmers through all the basics they need to get up and running including a template agreement.”

CLA Rural Surveyor Jacqui Stoddart, who farms with her partner in Teesdale and helped compile the handbook said: “With the limited availability of farmland, share farming offers a real hope for the thousands of talented young people desperate to get into the industry.

“It’s a very exciting project for us and we have already started working with the Federation of Young Farmers to look at ways of pairing up older farmers with younger people in their area, who are ready and willing to work.”