Added Stability to Family Farming Business

For Peter Reade, reducing his farm’s exposure to commodity and currency rate
fluctuations in order to add an element of financial stability was an important part of
a recent farm diversification project.

Peter farms in partnership with his parents and children at College Farm in Ashbury
near Swindon, and until 2003 ran a successful dairy herd. The milking herd was
sold due to a combination of poor milk prices and the farm’s fragmented layout,
which made it difficult to run one large herd across the entire acreage.

Since then, the business has focused on a mix of livestock and arable production,
managed by Peter and his son Geoff. However, an ambition to bring an additional
revenue stream into the business has recently seen the family business expand
into free-range egg production.


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