By Jack Bosworth, Director, FJ Bosworth & Sons. Published 4 December 2023.
I hope everyone is well.
Where on earth has this year gone? It feels like very little time has passed between my article at the beginning of the year and now. As we enter the final month of 2023, I thought it would be good to reflect on the year and think a little about what 2024 may have to offer.
A follow-up on mental health
At the beginning of the year, I spoke about mental health and my own experiences. After several months of speaking to my “mental health PT”, I felt in a much stronger position. I am now looking to bring a coach in to help guide, support and challenge me further.
It is not a job that is ever truly finished, and I am okay with that. Recognising it, and working on it consistently, is the point.
Freddie
March was by far the best month of the year for me: the birth of our first, Freddie.
He is growing so quickly. He is just starting to crawl around, and has a new party trick of pulling himself up to stand in his cot. Not yet with full conviction, mind you, much like myself after a few too many drinks.
I am genuinely excited to watch him continue to grow and develop into his own character.
Better pig prices, and what they need to do
Pig prices have been better for us this year. They really did need to be, after the period the industry has just come through.
They also need to continue at these levels if we are going to keep investing in all the resource that goes into the job we do, including in our team. The team deserve enormous credit for their contributions throughout the year. We will be having a meal out together before Christmas.
A growing team going into 2024
We have recruited two more people and will be kicking off 2024 staffed at a good level. After a few thin years on labour across the industry, that is no small thing.
I am genuinely looking forward to wiping some of the jobs off the to-do list that have very much overstayed their welcome.
The plans for the business next year are, first and foremost:
- Get everyone settled in and aligned with our expectations and our ambitions across both the pigs and the arable.
- Focus on what we can actually control.
Things like team alignment, performance discipline, and the standards we set day to day are inside our control, so they should steal the focus. Where prices are heading is something we have to be mindful of, but it is not something we can massively influence in the main.
Continuing to add value: the butchery
I say “in the main” because we are continuing to try and add further value to what we do by taking more control of our pork from farm to fork.
We have submitted a planning application for a butchery here, and we continue to navigate other avenues that may help give us the footings we need to lay this new resilience-building block for the family farming business.
If we can pull this off, the value chain from our fields, through our pigs, through our mill, through to a finished product carries our name from one end to the other.
That is the ambition.
A happy Christmas
I wish everyone a very happy Christmas and best wishes for 2024.
Editor’s note (May 2026)
The on-farm butchery planning application Jack mentions here was, in January 2024, recommended for refusal. Rather than continue pushing for a build, in 2024 FJ Bosworth & Sons acquired Procters Sausages, an established sausage maker. That acquisition completed the farm-to-fork chain Jack had been building toward across his articles, under a recognised existing brand. You can read more on the Our Pork section of this site, or visit procters-sausages.co.uk.
In the same year, the farm won the National Pig Awards Sustainable Farming Award 2024, and was a finalist for both National Pig Awards Pig Producer of the Year 2024 and Farmers Weekly Mixed Farm of the Year 2024.
If anything Jack has written about mental health has resonated with you
Two charities in the UK farming community offer free, confidential support:
- YANA (You Are Not Alone) — supporting anyone in agriculture and rural businesses affected by stress and depression. yanahelp.org
- The Farm Safety Foundation (Yellow Wellies) “Mind Your Head” campaign — practical resources on mental health in agriculture. yellowwellies.org
In an emergency, or if you are in crisis, please call 999, or contact Samaritans free, day or night, on 116 123.
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.
Fourth-generation farmer at Spains Hall, Willingale. Runs the contracting team and writes most of what appears here.