Wales’ female farm
The number of female farmers in the UK jumped by nearly 10% between 2010-13 to more than 25,000, according to the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra).
Of course, women have always played a big role in what is, after all, the ultimate family business – and no farm could survive without every member of the family mucking in.
Here, six women open up about life on the farm.
TELERI FIELDEN
Teleri is spending a year working as farm manager on the 600-acre Llyndy Isaf farm in Snowdonia after being awarded the Llyndy Isaf scholarship at this year’s Royal Welsh Show.
She says the industry is still maledominated, but adds: “However, compared to other countries, I think our men take great pride in their daughters being involved in farming.
“Apparently Ireland is still incredibly traditional in its attitudes to their sons taking over the farm. But people here love seeing a girl farming, and I’ve probably had more offers of support and assistance than my male friends starting out in farming.
“The main thing that frustrates me within the practical aspect of farming is my size more than gender – being a petite 5ft girl isn’t always very helpful when there are sheep to wrestle and bales to carry.”
Teleri, whose grandfather farmed at Meifod near Welshpool and who has wanted to work on a farm since she was four, enjoys being a farm manager and is very grateful for the help and support she has had from her National Trust mentors.
“The National trust team over the road on the much larger Hafod y Llan farm have been immensely patient – they’re ridiculously experienced so I’m learning lots just being around them.
“I probably get in the way more than help at the moment, but hopefully that will start to change. It’s been a steep learning curve for both me and my dog, but it’s great fun learning new things,” she said.
With no prospect of inheriting a farm and no pot of cash to buy one, her ambition remains to become a tenant farmer.
“I’d definitely still like to try and find a tenancy and I’ll be in a much better place to apply for one after this year,” she said.
“I’m still really interested in the policy side of agriculture too, especially with Brexit going on, so I’m trying to stay involved in that too through FUW and being on the AgriAcademy programme. I went to Brussels with them recently – it was so bizarre dressing up and wearing make-up again after the last two months of raincoats and wellies.”
RACHEL SAUNDERS
Rachel gave up a career as a solicitor for a life on the farm.
“To be honest, it was something I’d fallen out of love with anyway, the way it was changing. I couldn’t see myself doing it for the next 40 years,” she said.
Now she and her husband have 250 ewes and 100 suckler cows at their farm near Bonvilston in the Vale of Glamorgan. She also works for the Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) as county executive officer for Glamorgan.
Her work at the FUW can involve anything from helping farmers fill out subsidy forms to dealing with tenancy and right of way issues. Every day in her work she sees how the role of women in farming is changing.
She added: “The stereotypical view of the farmers’ wife being at home, especially in south Wales, is gone. Most of the farmers’ wives work, not just on the farm, sometimes with their own business.
“They’re still in agriculture but they’ve diversified into something else to help support the farm and do something for themselves as well. We couldn’t have the farm without me working. My husband’s doing well but my income is a steady income and his fluctuates, especially with Brexit and not knowing what’s going to happen.
“But I think women want to do more for themselves as well nowadays.”
ABI READER
Growing up on her family’s farm, Abi – last year’s Wales Woman Farmer of the Year – was never encouraged to go into farming but chose nevertheless to attend agricultural college.
“The day I got there I felt that I’d come home. I knew that was everything I wanted,” she said,
After a degree in agriculture and a postgraduate degree in farm management, all she wanted to do was return to the family farm where she is a partner along with her father and uncle.
The farm comprises 650 acres near Wenvoe in the Vale of Glamorgan, with the main enterprise being the 180-strong dairy herd which she manages.
“I have never felt any different for being female in farming than anyone else, I’ve always been completely accepted in the farming community – I was always my father’s daughter.
“Eventually as my role changed on the farm and my responsibilities went up, it was, ‘This is Abi Reader and she’s a farmer’,” she said.
She insists women have always played a central role in farming.
“Even just the hallowed farmer’s wife is so important, because there’s nothing more important than coming into the house and having a meal ready for you if you had a long day,” she added.
One thing that has changed, though, is the way in which women are increasingly seen as equal partners with their husbands – or sometimes as leading the business.