'We are sleepwalking into a food shortage... we need farmers working the land'

Alex Ross hears from farmworkers and owners on how the 'tractor tax' could leave the agriculture industry on the brink.

- Alex Ross

"I got into farming because I love it. But it's got so hard now to make enough money, I'm looking to get a second job." Chris Callow started raising livestock as soon as he left school, aged just 17. Now, aged 37, he and his wife, Jaz, own a small farm raising cattle and sheep near Axbridge in Somerset. The couple have ambitions to expand the business and pass it on to their six children – but all is not going to plan.

Sat outside the cafe at Frome Livestock Market, Mr Callow told The Independent: “We came here to buy a few cattle to raise on the farm but they cost too much. So, we’ve come here and all we’ve got is lunch.”

The price of calves used to be around £50 to £60 each, Mr Callow explained. But now, he said, the breeds he wants for his farm cost between £150 and £160. It’s the same for sheep, he added. In the past, he’s bought around 1,500 lambs to “fatten up” over the winter on the almost 200 acres of land he rents, but this year he can’t afford the price of them. Mr Callow said costs had soared after Brexit.

Latest Defra figures show that the price of calves rose 4 per cent between 2020 and 2022, while production, including labour and feed, increased by 27 per cent. “It’s getting so difficult,” he said. “The boys on the large-scale farms have the means to buy up huge stock, but we just don’t have the money to even get started properly. I don’t know what we do. We want to build up the farm, but it’s hard. We’ll keep going at it, for the time being, I’m looking at another job in tree surgery alongside this.” Mrs Callow added: “With six children aged up to 12, Christmas will be more difficult this year when buying presents.” The couple’s story isn’t isolated.