Hirst Farms

By Richard Hirst

“Without a doubt, farmers have got to take more responsibility for promoting food directly and that’s partly why we decided to engage with the public and bring them right onto our land.”

I’ve always wanted to be a farmer, from the moment I could say the word. I feel very privileged to own my family farm, and lucky to be here every day with my wife and children. We grow a range of crops including wheat, barley, sugar beet, potatoes, peas, lettuces and lots more. There’s also our flock of 320 ewes, 140 head of cattle and 2000 pigs, plus my wife Katrina and younger daughter Ellie run the livery of 40 horses on site. My grandfather bought the original farm in 1955 and then my father farmed it until I took over in the early 1990s. My son Robert runs the farm these days, and my oldest daughter Fiona does the bookkeeping, so we really are a family enterprise.