By Jack Bosworth, Director, FJ Bosworth & Sons. Published 4 February 2025.
I hope everyone is well.
It has been a busy start to 2025, and we look forward to seeing what the year is going to bring us.
A proper Christmas off, made possible by a fuller team
Everyone got the opportunity for a bit of time out over the Christmas period. That was important, and it is one of the genuine advantages of running with a few more people than we have had previously. Build the team properly and the team gets to switch off properly. It is one of the most underrated benefits of investing in people.
Why we time appraisals for early in the year
Our staff appraisals were purposely timed to be early in the New Year. That:
- Let everyone come into the discussions refreshed after the Christmas break.
- Gave sufficient notice for everyone to reflect properly in advance.
A rushed appraisal is a wasted appraisal.
What the conversations told me
All of our discussions went well. For me, it is as much about giving the time to listen to everyone in the team as it is about getting our own views across.
The last few months have been a real learning curve, trying to manage the requirements and demands of two businesses across two locations 50 miles apart. I was particularly interested to hear how everyone felt about the arrangement.
Honestly, the feedback has been more positive than I expected. People feel valued, looked after, invested in, and they seem to have good job satisfaction.
We are actively recruiting for four positions
With all of the above in mind, plus some other changes we are making, we are actively recruiting to fill four full-time positions, split equally across the two businesses.
The challenge of finding good people in farming has been magnified for me by going through this process across both sites at the same time, and the contrast is striking.
The numbers from this round of recruitment
| Type of role | Application response |
|---|---|
| Positions in Ipswich (Procters) | Up to 100 applicants per role |
| Administrative support for the farming business | Very high number to interview |
| Arable and contracting | Single figures, since October |
For the Ipswich roles, we have been getting up to 100 applicants per role. The administrative support position for the farming business has been similarly popular, with a very high number of people to interview.
The position we have available for arable and contracting has been a different story altogether. It has been open since around October, and we have only had single-figure applications.
That is a striking gap, and not one I think is unique to us.
Where I think we are going wrong as an industry
I am not entirely sure where farming is going wrong in attracting applicants for this kind of role. What I do know is that the results from our own appraisals show that when we get good people in, they feel valued, well looked after, invested in, and they have good job satisfaction.
I know this is an industry-wide problem, and my concern has grown after going through recruitment in a different sector for the first time. We need to do more as an industry, including:
- More of our levy investment getting into education earlier.
- Further development of working conditions and hours.
- Better sharing of the impact that people new to farming have had, and the exciting opportunities available across the industry.
An open invitation
If you are reading this with an interest in farming but have not yet been given an opportunity, please feel free to contact me.
I would rather hear from a candidate with the right attitude and no industry background, than have a role sit empty for months when there is good work to be done.
Editor’s note (May 2026)
Recruitment is ongoing at FJ Bosworth & Sons and at Procters Sausages. For current vacancies and to learn more about what life on the unit actually looks like, visit the Careers section of this site.
About the author
Jack Bosworth is a fourth-generation farmer and Director of FJ Bosworth & Sons, an arable and pig farming business at Spains Hall, Willingale, Essex. The farm has been in the family since 1919, and Jack farms alongside his father Stuart Bosworth, who was named Farmers Weekly Pig Farmer of the Year in 2011. In 2024, the business won the National Pig Awards Sustainable Farming Award and acquired Procters Sausages.
You can follow Jack’s articles on fjbosworth.com, or get in touch via the WhatsApp link on the site.
Fourth-generation farmer at Spains Hall, Willingale. Runs the contracting team and writes most of what appears here.