Seeking financial security from farming

Sophie Bell is a young farmer from Virginia. After studying agriculture in the UK, she went into a farming partnership with her father. On 59 acres they rear heifers and put them into calf for a local dairy farmer.

Being among the 4.3% of farmers in Ireland under the age of 35, she is breaking stereotypes of age, gender and digitalisation as a farm-influencer with nearly 130k followers on Instagram and TikTok. She hopes this huge platform helps to attract more people into farming.

Sophie is also actively tackling one of the pressing issues for the livestock sector - Bovine TB - in her master thesis that is in the finishing stages. Focusing on the ancillary and indirect losses for farmers and how to address these.

Anglo-Celt: You’re a third generation farmer, but the type of farm has changed completely over time – can you explain why?

Sophie Bell: Before my time, it was a very self-efficient farm. We grew oats and had a vegetable garden, we milked a few cows and only had a few lambs. And then, as dairy became more modernised, I don’t think we were able to cope with that modernisation. It was hard to kind of keep up with the farm, because really, everyone was working full-time on the farm, on the evenings, on the weekends.

I grew up and gained more of an interest, went to university over in the UK, and then I came home, and just had a think about the whole situation, because it’s not going anywhere, you know. There wasn’t going to be much of a future there if we didn’t change how things were going.

So, I took out that reliance on outside markets, and focused on how we could maintain a monthly income, and know what we were getting. That’s why we went down the route of rearing heifers for other farmers. And, as a result of that, we’ve been able to reinvest a lot into the farm, and we get to see it growing and going in the right direction. It will always be a small farm, but it’s lovely to have some form of security.

AC: When you said about having reliance on outside business and structures, tell us more about how that can impact a farm.

SB: You can have really good years and really bad years in farming, and that’s all due to mainly the price. In a good year, you would spend your money and invest into something, like a shed, and you’re pricing it based on how you’re doing at the moment. But then, the next year, it can be completely the opposite, and you’re very, very stuck. You should then make ends meet, as well as fund these finances that you may have got a loan for, or maybe have something on finance.

AC: Nearly 40% of farmers in Ireland are over 65. Are you worried about the change of the agricultural age profile?

SB: There are so many up and coming people who are very well educated and very well informed and have huge experience and education. The majority of farmers, young farmers, have done their green cert. What is kind of worrying in some sense is that some young farmers aren’t being allowed to bring in those ideas and maybe by the time they get to that opportunity, all that motivation will be knocked out of them, perhaps. Yeah, but I don’t really know what the future will hold.

AC: You have been promoting digital tools for livestock management on your farm, why are they so important?

SB: It’s certainly a huge help to know better what’s happening and make more informed decisions. Like, for example, go out and use our GPS fertiliser and we’re not overusing it, we’re not overspending on it. It’s a great way of being a lot more active, especially as a small farm. The app track grazing, record treatments and movements, cut down paperwork and stay Bord Bia compliant. So, yeah, it has been really important. And I think until you actually go and use it, you don’t realise it.

AC: When you talk to young people, what would you tell them to get them into farming? Why would you say it’s a good trade, and a good way of life?

SB: It can be difficult sometimes to see positives, or maybe the negatives can outweigh the positives at certain points. But, I think it is a very emotional job. You can go through the winter, and it can be so difficult and you get through that.

And then, you have the spring and the summer, where all your animals are outside, really healthy and thriving, and you just see them all in front of you in a really nice sense. I think it is a really nice industry, as well. You get to meet a lot of lovely people, and yeah, it’s very versatile, as well.