The land of opportunity (From Western Telegraph)

The land of opportunity

France is the land of opportunity for aspiring Pembrokeshire farmers whose ambition to carve a career in agriculture is being thwarted by high land prices.

According to Clare Morgan, who farms in partnership with her husband, Stephen, at Fenton Home Farm, Crundale, the French are unique when it comes to encouraging young farmers. Clare, a chartered surveyor, was awarded a Nuffield Farming Scholarship to study opportunities for young farmers in New Zealand, Tasmania, Hungary and France.

Her reasons for applying for a scholarship were both personal and professional.

"On a personal level we are at a crossroads with our business,'' she said. Planning permission is in place to convert traditional farm buildings at Fenton Home Farm into residential lettings, but this development will have a major impact on their agricultural business, centred on the production of potatoes, cereals and livestock.

On a professional basis, part of her work at auctioneer and valuer, Edward H. Perkins, involves the purchase and sale of farms, retirement issues and the letting of land.

"One of the huge problems is the lack of farms available for expansion, but also the difficulty for young farmers to become established due to the vast capital sums required."

She believes that unless young people inherit a farm it is almost impossible for them to start farming.

Clare chose to look at New Zealand and Tasmania partly because of their similarities to the UK.

She found that New Zealand still had opportunities for share farmers but less so than five years ago. However there was still growth in the equity partnership route. Tasmania was also following this trend and had the cheapest land purchase value.

Hungary had opportunities for those already established in that country, but not for small scale operations or new entrants.

All the countries she visited experienced the same difficulties in agriculture as the UK - increasing legislation, the growing strengths of the environment and animal welfare lobby and a shortage of skilled labour.

But in France she found young farmers were encouraged onto the land with start up farms and favourable bank loans subsidised by the government, if they had not previously owned farmland.

Land purchase and rental prices were controlled and there was an encouragement of non-family farming partnerships to allow young farmers to start farming.

There is a downside, however. Expansion beyond a certain size is not encouraged and prior approval is necessary for the purchase of land.

Figures suggest that more farmers than ever are seeking opportunities overseas but crucial to their success is choosing the right country.

Clare believed France offered the best opportunities to farmers who lacked capital but she would still recommend New Zealand and Tasmania to those who had money to invest.

The young people who Clare interviewed on her travels had emigrated only after gaining experience in that country, mainly as a student.

"Air travel is now cheap. Take two to four weeks away from your business to visit other countries. It is likely to change your life,"' she advised those who were considering emigrating.

Some farmers rent out their land in the UK for 12 months to travel and work abroad. It allows them to experience the country without fully committing themselves, Clare found.

"All the people interviewed in each of the four countries were positive about the changes. Some only regretted that they had not made the move earlier," she said.

For those farmers who intend to remain in Britain, there would be opportunities thrown up by the Single Farm Payment, Clare suggested.

"It will take 18 months for everything to settle down but there will be opportunities," she said. "Some farmers will be quite happy to accept their entitlement but won't wish to farm."