Self-made Devon farmer recognised in Progressive Farming award
A Devon farmer who is providing living proof that it is possible to build a successful farming business from scratch has been announced as this year’s winner of the John Neason Progressive Farming Award by the Devon County Agricultural Association.
Anthony Thorne, of Thornes Farm Shop at Stockleigh Pomeroy near Crediton (www.thornesfarmshop.co.uk), is the winner of the award, which will be presented at the Devon County Show, on Friday 17 May.
Anthony Thorne comes from a farming family and trained at agricultural college. He was determined to make a career in farming. He built up capital by working for ECC Lime Distributers in North Devon and buying and selling houses until, in 1986, he had enough money saved to buy the 14 acres of land which remains at the heart of the business to this day.
Supported by his wife’s income from teaching, he set about growing strawberries and other soft fruit on his land, adding a packhouse and, having demonstrated the viability of the business, building a house. Besides the land he owns, Anthony now rents land from a number of neighbouring farmers, on which to grow the five types of soft fruit and 15 varieties of vegetables that he retails through his highly successful farm shop, or sells to local wholesalers and shops.
Besides the fruit and veg, Thornes Farm Shop now offers beef from the farm’s small herd of pedigree Beef Shorthorns, and has its own bakery and delicatessen, besides offering a wide range of locally-produced drinks and other products.
Anthony Thorne attributes his success to a mixture of hard work and sheer determination.
“There’s no getting away from the fact that starting a farm business from scratch is just really, really difficult”, he says. “You’ve got to keep asking yourself, how much do I really want this? But if you want it badly enough, then I’m proof that it can be done.”
For the DCAA, the chairman of the judges, Mark Neason, said that Anthony Thorne’s success should serve as an inspiration to young people seeking to carve out a career in farming.
“We were hugely impressed not just with his grit and determination, but with the enterprise he has shown in securing markets for his crops and in creating a quite outstanding farm shop. He is just the sort of farmer which this award is intended to recognise and encourage.”
Apart from raising the capital to buy and equip the farm, Anthony Thorne says that the biggest obstacle he faced in building the business was in securing customers. “It was really hard work in the early days getting them to believe that I really could provide them with the quality and continuity they were looking for, and wasn’t just some fly-by-night.”
But he also says that increasing public awareness of the benefits of buying locally has made a big difference in more recent years.
“It’s certainly got a lot easier since localism got on the agenda. A lot of customers are keen to advertise the fact that they buy from us. In fact, my wife, who is head-teacher of a local school, even came across a leaflet from the school meals provider, with my photograph on it, boasting that I was one of their suppliers!”
What will winning the award mean to him? “I’m really proud to have won it, and very grateful to my neighbour Malcolm Huxtable, for persuading me to enter. We’ll be using the £750 prize money to promote and develop the business still further. I’ve been here a long time, and it has been quite a struggle, so to get this sort of recognition is just very rewarding, in every sense.”
The runner-up for this year’s Award, who receives £250, is another enterprising Mid-Devon farmer: Andy Gray, of Coplestone, whose M C Kelly business (www.mckelly.co.uk) supplies top quality year-round turkeys, other poultry, game and a range other products to the catering and butchery trade across Devon.
