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Know How / Diversification

The income generated by diversification is a vital component of many farming businesses – but it can involve unfamiliar planning, legal, staffing, plus health and safety issues.

This page offers tips and advice to guide you through your diversification journey. You’ll find information to help you to set up and run a thriving new enterprise on your farm.

Key areas of focus:

  • Inspirational farm diversification case-studies
  • Opportunities for grant support
  • Avoiding legal and tax pitfalls
  • Successful staff management
  • Business planning and marketing strategies

Case studies

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AGRICULTURAL TRANSITION

Vending machine provides growth for Transition farmers

Average direct sales of 140 litres a day is a drop in the 16,000-litre ocean of milk produced daily at Tom and Karen Halton’s dairy farm, Halton Farm in Congleton,…

BUSINESS

FW Awards 2024: Diversification Farmer of the Year

Annabel Makin-Jones of Sturton Grange, West Yorkshire, is Farmers Weekly's 2024 Awards Diversification Farmer of the Year. A keen eye and determination has enabled Annabel Makin-Jones to build a successful…

DIVERSIFICATION

How diversification can offer route to succession

The range of enterprises on the Williams family’s 81ha farm on the outskirts of the Cornish village of St Agnes demonstrates their entrepreneurial approach, incorporating a willingness to take calculated…

DIVERSIFICATION

Vending machines secure added-value farmgate sales

There is a host of reasons why a farm might install a produce vending machine. These include adding value, and a degree of flexibility compared with manning a conventional farm…

DIVERSIFICATION

FW Awards: Diversification Farmer of the Year 2024 finalists

This year’s diversification finalists all took ideas and built them into highly successful farming businesses, showcasing innovation, strong entrepreneurial mindsets and a passion to keep the industry moving forward. Finalists…

DIVERSIFICATION

Devon farmers add value to straw through pelleting business

The production and sale of straw pellets for the pet industry made from wheat straw has created a new valuable business venture for Farmers Weekly 2023 Diversification Farmer of the…

Practical advice

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FARM ENERGY

How a landowner consortium can secure a better solar deal

Collaborating with neighbours could help farmers and landowners strengthen their negotiating position when looking to rent land to developers for large-scale solar projects. Shropshire-based consultant Rob Paul of RP Rural…

BUSINESS CLINIC

Business Clinic: Do BNG rules apply to dog walking paddock?

Whether it’s a legal, tax, insurance, management or land issue, Farmers Weekly’s Business Clinic experts can help. Here Lucy George, associate with Carter Jonas advises on a diversification planning question.…

TAX

Advice on Furnished Holiday Lets tax rules

Farms running furnished holiday lets (FHLs) will lose significant tax advantages next year, following confirmation from the government that a plan originally announced alongside this year’s spring Budget is being…

FARM ENERGY

Insurance implications for renewable energy projects

Farmers planning renewable energy projects may fail to get them insured if they do not consult with their broker or insurer in good time. Ideally, that should be in the…

FARM ENERGY

Solar lease opportunities: What to consider

Travel around the country and it is usually not long before you come across a solar farm that is either operational, or being built, with many others in the development…

OTHER CROPS

How to maximise SFI herbal leys in arable rotations

About 175,000ha of SAM3 herbal leys are due to be grown in Sustainable Farming Incentive 2023 (SFI23) schemes, according to the figures released by Defra for agreements reached by the…

Insights

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DIVERSIFICATION

Innovative camping brings in cash for low or no input

The staycation market has boomed in recent years, with rural holidays getting a boost as Covid restrictions meant travel abroad was still banned or shunned by many. The boom prompted…

FARM ENERGY

Could agrivoltaics address the food v fuel debate?

The integration of cropping with solar panels is almost non-existent in the UK, but it is the basis of the concept of agrivoltaics. First conceived by German physicists in the…

AGRICULTURAL TRANSITION

Transition: Ways to generate non-farming income

Developing non-agricultural income is an increasingly important consideration for farm businesses. And it doesn’t always have to come at the expense of food production, as speakers at a recent Farmers…

DIVERSIFICATION

Late bookings and high expectations in farm holiday market

Farm-based holiday accommodation providers are feeling the impact of policy changes, the weather and the cost-of-living crisis. David Brown, a director with Farm Stay UK, which represents more than 400…

BUSINESS

What opportunities does new biomass strategy offer farmers?

The area of land devoted to perennial biomass crops has remained stubbornly low, despite an aspiration to increase the use of home-grown biomass in the power, heat and transport sectors…

FARM ENERGY

Why England’s onshore wind planning rules need reform

Onshore wind is a low-cost and efficient technology that is well-suited to the UK, given it is one of the windiest countries in Europe. The cost of installing turbines is…

OTHER CROPS

Could sunflowers be grown on more UK farms?

Farmers looking to diversify their rotation or attract people on-farm to generate income could benefit from growing sunflowers this spring. Sunflowers provide a bulk ingredient in the bird-seed market and…

DIVERSIFICATION

Sheep’s milk vodka diversification goes national

The 2022 Diversification Farmer of the Year winners, Tim and Tanya Spittle, from Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, have taken their unique sheep's milk vodka to a national level – though its distinct…