Homes on offer for quitting farmers

Struggling tenant farmers are quitting the industry

Hard-up tenant farmers in Devon, who are forced to quit the industry, are being given a chance to obtain their own home.

Many are left with only livestock, equipment and very limited savings to sustain them when they give up their farms.

They are often unable to buy a home for themselves and their family within their rural community.

But the Arthur Rank Centre (ARC) Addington Fund is providing a chance for farmers to rent or part-own a property.

When you make the decision to come out of the industry, it causes a real problem because the farm is your home

ARC Addington Fund director Ian Bell

More than 15,000 people have left the farming industry during the past year.

With depressed prices and the average age of farmers at 57, that trend is likely to continue.

Many farmers have land and a house to sell, giving them the chance to buy a new property and make a fresh start.

But tenant farmers have very few assets and the ARC, based at Stoneleigh in Warwickshire, wants to help them.

'Leaving industry'

Those farmers without the means to buy a house in their own community will have it bought by the fund on their behalf.

They will then have the option of renting the property or taking part-ownership of it.

Steve Dennis, who assesses the finances of people in Devon who apply to the fund, said current property prices were well beyond most tenant farmers.

"Many are leaving the industry without any money to put into housing," he said.

'Real problem'

"With the current property prices in the South West, they have no hope of going into a house they would normally choose themselves."

ARC Addington director Ian Bell feels very strongly about the subject as he quit as a tenant farmer four years ago.

"When you make the decision to come out of the industry, it causes a real problem because the farm is your home," he said.

But he is quick to stress the fund supports people in other rural businesses, not just farmers.

"I am determined that we look at the whole rural economy," he said.

"There are shopkeepers and publicans who rent their places and are facing similar problems to tenant farmers."