By Jack Bosworth, Director, FJ Bosworth & Sons. Published 12 February 2024.

I hope everyone is well.

Things on the farm feel as if they are going well, and I have some reassurance on that as I sit here looking through performance over the last quarter against the targets we had set as a team in our previous review. The numbers are tracking where we hoped they would.

Otley Pig Club

The last month has seen me spend a little time off the farm.

First, I had the pleasure of going to talk to Otley Pig Club. It was very enjoyable, and so nice to have positive feedback, mainly relating to my honesty and openness about the business. That is something I think is hugely important.

The last thing you want to be thinking when leaving a talk like that is that everything is wonderful in someone else’s business while not in your own. I would much rather people walk away thinking, “He is going through the same thing as us,” or, “How are they going to overcome that?”

It was equally good to have people compliment other areas, including our people management and some of our figures, and to walk away with easy-to-implement changes of their own that do not need to cost the earth. That is what a good industry conversation gives back to both sides.

Three days in Eindhoven

Towards the end of January, I went out to Eindhoven for three days. Thanks to our vet, Joe, and to Swinco for inviting me out there.

In my previous piece, I mentioned the contrast in how we value pig slurry here and how producers value it in the Netherlands. The trip put a number on that contrast.

We visited a farmer who was paying around €30 per cubic metre to have his slurry taken away. I believe that is fairly standard pricing in the Netherlands.

To put that into context: on our own farm, slurry is an asset we apply back onto our crops, replacing bought-in fertiliser. In the Netherlands, the same material is an expense significant enough to feature on any producer’s profit and loss account.

That single comparison probably tells you more about the policy environment producers operate in over there than any number of conference slides could.

What I take from trips like this

As ever, the trip was just as beneficial for the mind, getting off the farm and speaking with others in the industry, as it was for the educational side. Both matter, and producers underestimate the first more than they should.

Upcoming jobs

Plenty on between now and spring:

  • Further research into robotic pressure washers, with the plan being to apply for grant funding.
  • Linking two key programmes we use on the pigs, with the aim of halving the time spent on data entry.
  • Slurry application to winter wheats.
  • Continuing upgrade works across the farm.

If the SPP wants to start climbing back up again while we crack on with that, then I would say spring will have sprung.

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. The business is Red Tractor assured and runs an integrated farm-to-fork model, with home-grown cereals milled on site using solar-generated electricity.

You can follow Jack’s articles on fjbosworth.com, or get in touch via the WhatsApp link on the site.

Written by Jack Bosworth

Fourth-generation farmer at Spains Hall, Willingale. Runs the contracting team and writes most of what appears here.