Share farming

Share farming allows an ageing farmer to reduce their level of involvement, while also maintaining their interest and status as a farmer. In addition, it opens up an opportunity for younger new entrants with less capital to farm actively. The two parties collaborate and share their inputs, running individual businesses, for a production gain whilst accepting full commercial risk.

Good land management, by whichever structure, depends on good working relations. Share farming requires a certain mindset and approach to ensure its success but can, if implemented correctly, provide a wealth of opportunities for the young right through to our older generations. The model share farming arrangement aims to bring energy, drive and ambition from one side with assets, knowledge and experience from the other to maximise the synergy.

The CLA's interest in share farming is long-standing and can be traced back to the ground-breaking work we carried out in the early 1980s. It is once again time to widen the range of options in the tool box to deal with farming arrangements. Share farming has its place in the list of possible farm structures that can help farmers to run their businesses as effectively as they would want.