Life Under Lockdown

Coronavirus has changed British life, causing heartbreak, isolation and financial ruin for many. It has also shaken up the food chain in a remarkable way and, looking on the brighter side, it may have created new opportunities for smallholders. Charlotte Cooper finds out how smallscale farmers are coping, and where the sector can look for assistance

- Charlotte Coope

If you are lucky enough to have been untouched by ill health and job loss, life on your smallholding this spring may not be so different from usual. Animals still need to be fed; calving, farrowing and lambing continues; and you may have more hands-on-deck thanks to school closures. It may also be that the forced return to the simple life the Covid-19 outbreak has prompted across the UK could prove an opportunity for you to promote your produce to a wider market.

Shops finding it hard to keep up with demand for bread, eggs, meat and other staples are turning to local producers to keep their shelves stocked. From my own experience, sales of the free-range eggs and honey I provide to our local shop have rocketed.

A national run on eggs, with shelves stripped in shops around the country, has coincided with the spring glut. This means that many more of us have started selling from the farmgate (see News). And for those of us who have more products to sell, a return to more local supply chains is a real opportunity.

HOME DELIVERY

Blacker Hall Farm near Wakefield is implementing a phone and collect drive-through service, where customers put in orders for their meat, veg, fruit or salad boxes and pick up from the farm.

“We're trying to ensure a safe and steady supply of fresh products to our community at this difficult time,” said Edward Garthwaite.

Gerald Miles, who runs Caerhys Organic Community Agriculture (COCA) from his farm at St Davids, Pembrokeshire, thinks that the current crisis may change buying habits and result in longterm support from consumers for local businesses, not just when they can’t get key items at the supermarket.