Paul. 60. Farmer. 

I grew up in St Erth Praze. And I was born at home, on the home farm. St Erth Praze is a very small hamlet. Not many people, probably about 7 houses altogether. We didn't all know each other because families are a bit isolated in agriculture. You’re down the end of a lane by yourself, and farming can be quite a lonely way of life because you are on your own a lot. I think because I was born where I work there’s a very strong bond. Not only to the farm, but also the surrounding area. I’ve not known anything else really. 

Growing up on the farm we had freedom, we had lots of places to go and play, so it was a very nice way of growing up. I suppose if there was a negative…you haven’t got masses of children around you your own age to play with, so that happened at school. I’ve got two brothers and a sister, so we used to make our own fun outside. It was tree camps, it was making bows and arrows, and we were helping out on the farm from a young age. We spent a lot of time at home, we had a fantastic childhood. We could do what we wanted out on the farm because we were safe, not a lot of traffic around. We were brought up to work, that’s for sure. Mum and dad would get us doing things that were…“totally safe”. Like “not driving tractors”.

I think Cornwall is a bit unique in itself, because we haven’t got a big population; it’s very rural, we’ve got one city. As you get further up-country there are bigger populations, and so children experience different things than what we do. I think if you’re in rural Oxfordshire or in the middle counties, then you’ll probably get the experience of going to see things that you see on the telly, whereas we down here growing up didn’t have that. I suppose the difference is we’re so far away, we’re down on a limb down here. It takes hours to get anywhere. Do I feel I’ve missed out? I don’t, because you don’t miss what you don’t know. 

I think Cornwall is very… You might say we could be blinkered, we don’t take on what’s going on outside. But it’s very loving, we’re very caring, and I think one big thing about Cornish culture is that people will help each other, we’ll take the time to help somebody. If someone’s in trouble then normally, especially in the farming community, they will step up and help. I’m not sure if that’s the same everywhere. I think because I do live down the end of a lane, you don’t meet a huge amount of people. Certainly when I started farming and you work a lot on your own, if someone is in trouble in a community, you’re only too glad to help. Because for one thing, you meet somebody! And that’s reciprocated, because they’ll help you if you’re in trouble. 

I think Cornwall’s changed massively since I was growing up, in many ways really. There are fewer farmers, unfortunately. I think the way that farming’s going, the young ones coming into the industry don’t want to do it so there’s less of us in the countryside. I think Cornwall now has become a massive tourism centre, so that’s how it’s changed really, really, really radically from when I was a boy. And you know, don’t get me wrong, Cornwall needs it, there’s not massive wages down here… But I think that’s the biggest way it’s changed. Now you’ll find that a lot of farmers have diversified and their barns are now holiday lets, so that’s brought a different level of income in. A lot of my friends have gone down that route. I still love Cornwall, my relationship with it hasn’t changed. But Cornwall has got a far busier place. I do question how much more the infrastructure can keep going down here until it breaks. But it’s still a beautiful place to come, and we welcome people.

I think what’s made me happy in Cornwall is the job I do. I’m out in the countryside, usually out in the fresh air… It’s just a lovely place to work. We’re very lucky where we live. [I love the idea of] earth-to-plate. We plant our crops, we tend them, we get them to a point of harvest, and it gives me great pleasure when it comes to that point. We produce very, very good food in Cornwall and always have done. The weather has a big bearing on it, so it’s been very difficult this year to get the crops to a point of harvest. The weather will always have the last word.

We’re also struggling, big time, to try and get staff. That’s my biggest problem. Getting enough of them to do the work that we need. Growing up as a lad it always used to be local staff, but now the locals…the wages are not good, so they’re moving up-country to get better wages. So we’ve had to go down the Eastern European route. And I’ve got to say, they have been fantastic. They’re really nice people – lovely, well-educated. But trying to get enough of them is difficult. Brexit has not helped us at all, definitely not. And I think more and more, their countries have gotten better. Their governments have realised that they’ve lost all their youth, and they’re doing something about it. So they’re staying there, which is what they want to do. So that’s our biggest problem, staffing. 

I just think people from outside of Cornwall should know… The locals, get to know them. I think we can teach them a lot. We’ve had people call in to our house thinking we’ve got bed and breakfast. We used to do it, but we don’t now. They come in, they’re interested in what you’re doing, if you’ve got time you show them around, and they come back year after year, pop in and say hello. I just think… I’m a bit like that. When I go away on holiday I like to immerse myself into the local scenes, maybe go to the local pub and meet a few characters and then you usually find ‘oh you ought to go to so and so’ or ‘try this place’, and that’s how you get to know the local area.

I think I just hope Cornwall can keep going. I hope the farming can keep going. It’s really difficult at the minute, I can’t stress that enough. I hope the government… I think food security should be top of their agenda, and not just for Cornwall farming, it should be for everybody. Everybody needs to eat. So there should be a good future for us. I hope we can keep farming the ground and I hope it will carry on, you know… Farmers aren’t good at retiring. I’ve got two daughters, and they’re not farming at the moment. Whether they will I don’t know. But I’m a great believer that they’ve got to do what makes them happy, it’s no good to force them into this line of work. So I just hope Cornwall can continue to flourish, that people come down here and see the beauty. I hope that the countryside will be looked after by the stewards, who are the farmers.

I think my future in Cornwall… I’m 60 now, and like I said before, farmers aren’t good at retiring. So I think, at some point… No-one goes on forever. I shall retire. And if my daughters don’t want to carry on, then we’ll have to let the farm out, and let somebody else take it on, but we’re still in control. I’m a bit of a control freak, I’m not going to give it away. I just hope-  Cornwall’s landscape is only as good as the people farming it, and farming ground needs to be farmed. You see this lovely patchwork, all different crops. We grow so many crops in Cornwall, it’s unbelievable: from courgettes to potatoes, cauliflowers, tenderstem. Whatever crop you think of, Cornwall can grow it because we’ve got the climate and we’ve got the soils. So it should be a good future. And if you dovetail that in with the tourism, Cornwall should be able to go forward and hold its head up high.