A Farmer's Fight
"Every hour - all the time - there is no break."
Josiah Jones has spent a large part of his life on a farm. It's a lifestyle he said, "you either have it in you or you don't".
Trekking through the mud, amongst livestock and iron cladding, I knew exactly what he meant. Caring for 600 acres of land at the tip of Kent has produced angst, fear, and stress. His life, as a result, has been full of twists and turns in recent years.
Combining blows dealt by Brexit, Covid-19, and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, have all translated into turbulent times for British farmers. For years, the industry has been engrossed with uncertainty, and farmers like Josiah, have been left to fend for themselves. But, is the future shrouded with uncertainty? how many issues does a farmer have to deal with? Is there hope for a brighter future?
This is a story of a farmer's life. With 45 years of heritage resting upon the shoulders of Mr Jones, the work he does, day in and day out, consumes his life, body, and soul. This is an account of his life and how he copes.
Josiah Jones, 38, and his family make a living out of farming. Located in Harvel, a small village nestled at the tip of Kent, the 600-acre farm has been passed down through the generations. 45 years of harvesting crops and caring for livestock have led to this moment.
Before Josiah became a farmer, his father urged him to try other things. And so he did. Josiah went to study at the University of Brighton, earning a degree in mechanical engineering.
"Both Trevor [His brother] and I were quite careful to go to universities in major cities," he said.
"It's so easy to end up staying on a farm all your life and surround yourself with people that are just like you."
The conversation continued, as we strayed into the dawn of social media -
"Social media is an undeniably good thing," he said, "But you only hear your own opinion - all the time."
We quickly got back on track.
Josiah always knew he'd be a farmer:
"I always wanted to be a farmer, my nan and mum and dad discouraged me."
"Because there's no money in it, no thanks in it, no praise in it," He said "Every hour - all the time - there is no break."
"I think they went, well you go to a grammar school, you got a chance to go and do something good for yourself - and then I ruined it, and I went and became a farmer anyway," he says as he lets out a laugh.
Josiah and his brother, from a young age, would work on the farm alongside his parents and grandparents. To this day, Mr jones and his family use the same techniques his grandparents used.
Farmers have been the topic of much speculation throughout recent years. With the rising popularity of climate activism bringing attention to the many contributing factors of climate change, the agricultural industry has been critiqued by many.
"Live it!" Josiah says "You hear a lot of media reports of how we destroy the planet, well I just don't believe it, 'cos - I live it."
As the government pushes to cut down greenhouse emissions by 2050, the agricultural industry's new 'post-Brexit' payment schemes incentivise farmers to conserve and rehabilitate their land.
On January 26th, 2023, the government announced the Environmental Land Management Schemes.
Replacing the previous policy - the 'Common Agricultural Policy' - the ELMS' will be the new way in which the UK government subsidises farmers and land owners after leaving the EU.
If farmers are eligible for the new schemes, they will receive government funding for up to 280 'actions' that protect the environment.
The 'actions' qualify under the ELMS' if they increase biodiversity and rehabilitate land, transitioning more farmers into 'regenerative agriculture'.
"It's got a label - regenerative agriculture - but this is stuff my grandad use to do," Josiah said.
"The actions will do things like increase biodiversity - it will be interesting to see how it is policed - for a long time farmers have wanted a results-based system rather than a targets-based system."
Being a part of the EU meant that Josiah and all the other farmers in the EU were on the same payment scheme.
"It was one of the things with the EU, a frustration for farmers, that the likes of my farm were being treated the same as a farm in the Alps... or a farm in the flats of Germany."
"They wanted the same results using the same methods - so yeah - it will be interesting to see how they police it."
"We'll have to apply for one - we'll have to apply for something, just basically to keep the farm running."
According to studies and surveys, UK farmers are left with a very small percentage of income on their produce.
A report from a charitable farm and food organisation known as 'sustain', says that UK farmers are often left with far less than one percent of the profit on the food they produce.
Sustain argues that the low profit margins have made it difficult for farmers to make the transition into environmentally sustainable systems.
The charity is asking ministers to force supermarkets to publish more information about supply chains and to also implement regional 'structural funds' to invest in more agricultural infrastructure. Furthermore, they are calling for for legally binding supply chain 'codes of practice' which would force supermarkets to give farmers a better deal.
As well as this, due most likely to Brexit and Covid-19, labour shortages are majorly disrupting the UK agricultural industry.
A survey released by the National Farmers Union (NFU), found that in 2022, £22 million worth of fruit and vegetables went directly to waste as a result of labour shortages in the first half of 2022 alone. The survey estimates that the overall value of food and vegetable produce wasted throughout 2022 adds up to more than £60 million.
The new ELM schemes will bring a new set of challenges for Josiah. His systems and techniques mean that he does produce a sustainable product, but he wasn't sure whether the new schemes will affect his live stock.
"I don't know if the ELMS' will affect this lot [the sheep] and that's a big problem isn't it, the uncertainty."
"We've had a lot of uncertainty, and price rises and price falls - any business can't afford to sustain the uncertainty - never mind when it's your life as well."
The horrendous events that happened in the summer have stuck with Josiah.
"I'm still not over it," he said. "Every time I see something like that happen, I think, I would take that over cancer any day."
"I occasionally have to euthanise, however, I'm incredibly fussy with the slaughterhouse I go to," he said, "I struggled watching them die the way they did this year more than at any slaughterhouse."
Mr Jones says that a quick painless death is ideal.
"The way I see it is, if they are gonna do what they do for us [the cows], I owe them a good life, and more importantly, a good death."
"But like I said, we're lucky."
As the interview came to an end, Josiah spoke about how the issues affecting him were not just affecting him, but everyone else, and that, in some ways, he was better off than others.
Josiah is forced to drive to Ashford market - a 60-mile round trip - after the one in Maidstone shut down due to the falling numbers of farmers - "With people that are farming becoming fewer and far between" he said.
He gave an account of what other farmers were saying on his last visit to Ashford's market.
"If you go to the market, there are people giving pigs away. Last time I was there, Pigs were going for 10p a Kilo," - a staggeringly cheap rate as, for context, the EU rate for pigs finished off last week at 188.64p per kilogram.
"But people go - well I'm not taking it home because I can't afford to feed it. It's horrible, isn't it? a horrible place to be in."
The war in Ukraine has had a devastating impact, farmers are unable to afford the feed required for livestock as the war in Ukraine has driven the price of grain up through the roof.
"A lot of it's to do with Ukraine, the price of the grain's going up, of course, it's all cereal based this food - so yeah - it all from feed prices."
"But like I said, we're lucky" he states "Because we produce a lot of our own food anyway, ours is a bit more of a round farm you know. "
Josiah's farm has benefitted from the rounded system, as a farmer with a sole focus in one sector could see fatal circumstances.
"It must be heartbreaking for some people - especially dairy farmers - you know, we were talking the other day about this statistic that's come out about the whole suicide rate amongst dairy, or most farmers, and farmers mental health, and I don't really blame them really."
"You got dairy farmers that have been producing the same cattle that their great great grandfather has produced, or here's a lineage there, and now they're going I can't afford to do it," he said "They're gonna feel like a failure."
"Even though they're not, it's not their fault, you know, and then couple that with TB, Ministry comes in and goes 'half your heard - got to shoot 'em' - It's brutal isn't it?"
TB - Bovine Tuberculosis, is an infectious disease of cattle. The government website says that "Transmission can occur through nose-to-nose contact and also through contact with saliva, urine, faeces, and milk."
Josiah says that TB isn't a threat for the moment to his farm, as he is located in a TB 4 zone, but eventually, it will get here as "there is no resolve for it."
Josiah finished the interview by telling me this:
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