Keeping your eggs in many baskets

I took a call this week from a rural development expert from the local council, wanting to pick my brains on how to improve the local economy.

A few years ago, I would have told her that I talk for a fee, but in today’s climate, there’s no reward other than in heaven. So I gave her my ideas, and she in turn told me her family were farming, so she knew what it was about.

We talked about the difficulties of making a full-time living from the farm, and she went on to say her brother had amalgamated four family farms to make one 500-cow dairy set-up, destined for his five and eight-year-old boys.