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Farm of the Week: Ice-cream breathes new life into much-loved dairy farm
A dairy farming family are finding prospects good in the ice cream market. Agricultural correspondent Mark Casci reports.
CONTINUING price cuts, worsening profit margins and increasing regulation have made life difficult for dairy farmers in recent years, which is why a staggering number have left the industry.
But one farming family bucking the trend are Jim and Jane Clarkson, and their two children Jenny and Richard from Barkisland, near Halifax, who have shown the industry is far from dead by adapting its approach over the years to stay in business.
As well as 120 head of dairy cattle, and a further 70 beef cattle, the farm is also fast becoming famous as home to Just Jenny's ice-cream.
Run by Jenny and her brother, the ice-cream is served at restaurants across the county and has just landed a major deal to have it stocked in Fodder, the Yorkshire-produce themed store at the new Regional Agricultural Centre in Harrogate.
Launched only 18 months ago, the product has breathed new life into the farm which the Clarksons have run since the 1960s.
And while other avenues have been explored at Hazel Slack Farm, it is dairy that has sustained it from day one.
Mr Clarkson said: "We have been here since 1960. It was 30 acres at the time and its grown to 300 acres or thereabouts now.
"We rear our own stock, occasionally buying in. In our time we have done all sorts, pigs, sheep but we have always milked cows from here."
Adding to the dairy industry's worries is the ever increasing age of Britain's dairy farmers, which is now over 60.
But, still in her twenties, Jenny alongside her brother shows there is still new blood in the industry.
The farm she grew up in drew her back after leaving college, as she always knew where her destiny lay.
Jenny said: "We were looking for a diversification so I could come back home and work here.
"At the time there was not enough work to support another wage.
"We looked at cheese, but our research showed that with that there was a long turn around before you make any money.
"Yoghurt is the same. Then we looked at ice-cream and decided to go with it."
The transition from milk to ice-cream was not straightforward and the family has invested and prepared well to get the sideline going.
Jenny said: "The milk obviously we own but the equipment was something we had to set up. We set up a building in the yard especially for the job.
"We then set about sourcing the flavours, which we tried to do as locally as possible."
The recent propensity for consumers to take an interest in local food has played a role in the ice-cream's success.
And the example is something that Jenny and her family practise in their sourcing policy.
"We get our honeycomb from Elland, we buy fresh fruit from local shops. We try to source from local producers too when they are in season. The only thing we cannot source locally is chocolate."
Getting retailers' interested in the product has seen the family become businessmen and women as well as farmers, with a lot of networking having gone into establishing its success.
As Mrs Clarkson describes it: "You ring people up and approach them with a sample. We go wherever possible.
"Farmers markets are good for us, as are networking groups. Food and drink festivals are also good for meeting other producers. It's been a big learning curve. There is a lot more paperwork."
Jenny said: "Beyond that it is farm shops, cinemas and restaurants.
"We are getting recognised now. I think once people have tried it they remember it."
The move has made the running of Hazel Slack Farm a different job to what it was previously.
Mr Clarkson said: "It has put more pressure on us. But if you are getting somewhere you do not mind slogging away.
"It is labour intensive and there is a lot of labour that has to be there. "
As lifelong Yorkshire dairy farmers, Mr Clarkson and his wife have developed a strong understanding of the craft and the effects on it.
Mrs Clarkson said: "There used to be dozens of dairy farms around here, now there are only two of us.
"They have all been converted or sold off – that seems to be the way of things nowadays."
And as a man who loves his profession Mr Clarkson has his concerns and theories about its recent problems.
"You are always getting more rules and regulations and things like NVZs (Nitrate Vulnerable Zones) coming around," he said.
"You would not mind as much if it was for something that is having an effect. It does not build toward anything.
"It does not get any easier and you have to run faster to get forward. You need to have money for machines as you also need to spend money to go forward."
With average ages increasing and increasingly fierce battles having to be fought for a fair price, there are many who are quick to write off dairy farming's future.
But Richard and Jenny have shown that with the right regulation and foresight, the industry has much potential.
"It was always something I was looking to do and was thinking about getting involved in. I needed an opportunity to come back to work here.
"The whole lifestyle is something you love."
Her mother added : "We have never known anything different.
"We cannot think about something outside of farming just because I have never known anything else. "
The next few months will see the Clarksons do what British farmers do best, work hard at what they are good at and look for innovative new routes to follow.
As Mr Clarkson said: "If you are doing something you love then it is not hard work. Some people might not understand getting up at 5.30am to milk the cows, but I do."
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Tuesday 07 February 2012
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