From Grass to Glass

Imagine for a moment we had no farms in the Chilterns. Imagine we had to import all our food. Imagine if there were far fewer visitors wanting to spend their money in our important visitor economy.

In this the sixth interview in my local entrepreneur series, meet dairy farmer and retailer Will Lacey, working on the Lacey Family Farm. Located on the fringes of the busy commuter town of High Wycombe, a more rural landscape you could not find as their prized Guernsey herd can look up from their pasture and gaze over the Hambleden Valley with its hamlets, horses, quaint churches and a windmill.

So integral are they to our local food supply chain, I bet we have all have tasted Lacey’s milk from this prize herd at some point, in a coffee or icecream.

Meet Will Lacey, seventh generation farmer

I wanted to find out from a farmer, why an estimated 20,000 farmers had gathered outside Downing Street earlier in the week, angry over proposed changes to scrap Agricultural Property Relief (APR), which allows farms to be inherited without incurring inheritance tax (IHT).

Nearly four weeks on from the Budget, the anger amongst farmers seems to be growing, not least of all because there is huge row about precisely how many might be affected. The treasury says only the top 10%, Will says that figure is much higher. What came across clearly whilst speaking with him is a simmering anger over a lack of consultation, ministers’ perceived ignorance about the countryside and not understanding the nature of the rural economy in the Chilterns. Wycombe is a great example of this: the town is urbanised and has the greater number of residents whist the surrounding countryside, with fewer residents but so much more farmland. His MP. Emma Reynolds may have a hard time towing the party line as she has met with and visited the eight farms in her constituency.

Farm land is worth more than gold

The Lacey’s can trace their Chilterns farming lineage back seven generations, and that only includes former Laceys' with formal tenancy agreements. They are very much a part of the Chilterns landscape, and it’s that landscape we are all very proud of. Farmers determine the look and feel of a place, for example monoculture vs smaller family-run farms that offer variety and a healthy biodiversity that can demonstrate where our food comes from. They do this by managing and working the land in a sustainable way. But there isn’t money in food production which makes an already challenging business a lot more complex. Land itself has a low ROI, it’s the inflated value of the land over the past 40 years is where the problems stem: development and HS2 have put pressure on a finite resource.

“Never pick a fight with a profession that appears in children’s books.” The Economist

The Lacey farm is an independent multi-generational family business set up as a partnership - not untypical of the sector. There is no money in food production and with low margins, any profits are reinvested in their business. They farm 450 mixed acres of arable with a closed herd of prize-winning Guernsey cows and two bulls, and chickens. They have expanded to include a farm shop and butchery that sells to a growing customer base of locals and visitors, wholesale to ARLA dairy and various hospitality businesses. Plans are underway to develop their retail operation.

Net Zero

To achieve their goal of net zero by 2050, the government has to work with farmers as along with forestry, they are able to increase carbon removals or sequestration. Examples include planting or preserving trees, altering crop production practices, planting vegetation in areas prone to soil erosion, and changing the way grazing lands are managed. Biodiversity and net zero now also have local targets as apart of a longer 25-year programme. We can’t do it without them.

The changes in the Chilterns

Will speaks with great enthusiasm about how much the region has changed over the past 20 years. “There is now a recognition of the brand, its location in the Chilterns as an area of high quality food production.” This also chimes with the opportunities created for SME’s within the food sector, including well-being and health. “We are proud to live and work in our local area” he says, “and our story and sense of place is alive and well.” They have 48 local producers and makers who sell their products in the Lacey Farm Shop, which is their route to market. And they supply into the local hospitality industry supply chain selling to over 200 businesses making teas and coffees, serving icecream and other delicious foodstuffs.

Their mission is simply to continue family farming and being a part of a vibrant, sustainable community, for another 140 years at least!

From grass to glass, to bowl, to cheese platter or coffee cup

But of course what is all relies on is the herd of 130 hard-working pedigree Guernsey cows who graze the sweet grassland above the Hambledon Valley. They live on the farm, mostly outside except when the weather is really bad, and are milked twice a day in the milking parlour just behind the farm shop. It doesn’t get more local than that!

What they are facing is having to use their profits to pay off any future IHT bills, decrease their farm investments, or break up the farm is the worse case scenario. Imagine then, if we had no farms in the Chilterns. Imagine if we had to import all our food. Imagine what our grocery bills would be and far fewer visitors would want to come and spend their time and money here, supporting people and jobs.

On my way out I had to stop off and buy some goodies form the shop, including their very tasty chicken and leek pie - to be eaten in the car!

Hear from Will about the contribution they are making to our local economy. And yes, farmers do work from desks on some days!

Here’s what you can do

• Be more like Kate and Ben Marston, founders of Puddingstone Distillery who know the exact bushes where their Chilterns botanicals grow.

• Do you know the provenance of what you serve and sell?

• What about your supply chains? Are they short with very few links?

• Encourage your customers to ask about the provenance of their food: where does it come from, is there a British or local alternative?

• Inform and educate about why we are all so much better off eating what is grown and produced locally.

• Include information about our many farm shops in your marketing comms and encourage your customers to support them too.

• Please share this post and spread the ❤️

And there’s no need to tie ourselves in knots: if avocados are on your menu, we know they don’t grow here and they are nutritious and delicious. I like them anyway!

Links you will need

Take a look at Lacey’s Family Farm farm, butchery and farm shop and some of the other great independents we have here.

Here is a good summary of the issues so I don’t need to try and explain them here.

I is for Independents

Here is a link to PE Mead & Son’s Farm Shop and their supply chain network and the work that Puddingstone Distillery is doing from their onsite food hub, plus Phil Rossi at Oaken Grove Vineyard.

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