Bittersweet “progress”…

In the early 1970’s we installed a state of the art grain processing plant on the farm.  It could handle an almost magical 8tonnes of wheat an hour.  Dad and Derek spent days bolting it together and it,  along with the building it lives in, became a major landmark of the farm, an indicator of modern thinking and farming investment.

Today we started taking it down.

8t/hr simply won’t cut it.  Geoff’s combine will comfortably bring in 20t/hr.  The modern combine even cleans it of dust and chaff to an equivalent standard of the 1970’s kit.   It’s also no longer acceptable for diesel to be used to dry the grain.  So,  for the last 5 years it’s sat idle.  Worse than that it’s been taking up space that could otherwise be used for storage, something we’re short of now we’ve got the brewery on site.

So,  it has to go.   I’ve found making the decision really hard as it’s literally taking apart my father and grandfather’s legacy something I seem to be doing in a variety of different ways…

I think I’m doing the right thing for the business but have a huge feeling of reticence in doing so.

As part of this progress we’re turning the barn around, ensuring that farm use is kept away from the more public areas and allowing Dad’s house to be more of a private space.   We’ve also cleared behind the old hay barns and tidied the back meadow significantly.

It’s a massive change!