How much Land for 'agricultural viability'?

Some rural resettlers make the move into the countryside with the, aim of not just wanting to be self-sufficient in food but, in fact, wanting to make a living - including a reasonable cash income - off their land. This is, of course, quite an ambitious undertaking. The average farm size in this country is 137 acres but farms of this size can usually provide a living for no more than one or two families. It should be stressed, however, that farming in Britain tends to be rather extensive and that, with more intensive land use, smaller farms can be economically viable, even if you don't want to go in for battery chickens, or intensive pig rearing. Intensive horticulture is a case in point and there are some horticultural holdings where people make a reasonable living on little more than six acres. Unfortunately these tend to be in climatically favoured areas and within easy access of urban retail outlets and the cost per acre is consequently very high.

To convert former grazing land into a productive and economically viable horticultural holding will take quite a number of years and is, in any case, beyond the scope of the average rural resettler. For the story of such a horticultural holding see 'Successful Organic Growing in Worcestershire'.

									So how are you going to find a place? Well, it isn't easy and it seems to be getting more difficult every day. It can't be done by just sitting at home leafing through Dalton's Weekly and Country Life, it is necessary to travel round and find out about places in the more isolated areas, in the deep country where there are still large comparatively cheap houses and small cottages. The best way in which a small farm of, say, between 15 and 50 acres can be made economically viable is by intensive mixed farming, in which the first aim is to be self-sufficient in food; surpluses can then be sold, if possible, direct to the consumer.

Marketing would be an important aspect of such an operation and it would be very desirable to share marketing efforts with other small farmers.

Sharing tools is another essential but more about that later.

A small holding, of say, between 15 and 50 acres can be cultivated as a part-time or as a full-time farm. A part-time farm of this size would probably be mostly grazing land for sheep/beef cattle/cows. With an additional small acreage under crops. On a full-time holding of this size there would be a much greater emphasis on high value crops, including vegetables and/or fruit, but this would require a considerable investment in tools as well as in time. An enterprise of this nature should certainly not be started by someone who hasn't been to an agricultural college and/ or hasn't got considerable practical experience.

The official yard-stick for agricultural viability in this country is the average agricultural worker's wage which is now in the region of £55.00 per week. Agricultural workers, are in fact, about the lowest paid group of workers in all sections of industry. (They also happen to be the longest lived group of people in society, though this may change as the full health effects of the use of agricultural chemicals find their way into the population statistics). But, regarding agricultural viability, officialdom considers few farms below 50 acres to be economic. Only very intensive units are considered to be exceptions. For our purposes we can add intensive mixed organic holdings, providing there are direct outlets to the consumer, tool sharing and help from friendly groups like WWOOF. It also helps if you have a caravan or two that you can let out during the holidays.