Against the Odds The Farmers' Country Showdown

Across the country,

thousands of farming families work tirelessly around the clock.

Stop arguing, girls.

Give over.

HE WHISTLES

But there's one day each year...

..when they get to leave the daily routine behind.

Right, here we come, Dorset.

These are show days...

-ANNOUNCER:

-'A very, very warm welcome to Malpas Show.'

..when they come together as a community...

APPLAUSE

..to showcase the fruits of their labour...

I just love showing my girls off.

..and try to win prizes for their breed champions...

Smashed it.

..and award-winning produce.

That's a really nice cheese, that.

It was very good, darling.

There will be highs...

That's what we want to see, red.

Red is the best.

..and lows...

She's not happy enough to go.

..for the dedicated farmers who give everything to walk away a champion.

Fingers crossed!

There is one event in the agricultural calendar

that celebrates the dedication and innovation

of Britain's farmers...

..the British Farming Awards.

This year's category for New Entrants Against The Odds

has five exceptional farms short-listed as finalists.

They have impressed the judges for determination

in these tough economic times.

This is my favourite pet.

All five farms are passionate first-generation farmers

who have built their business up from scratch.

To win this award will acknowledge their adaptability,

and, above all, their resilience.

In a few days, one of them will receive this accolade

at a glittering black-tie reception.

Wiltshire is home to our first finalist

in the New Entrants Against The Odds category.

24-year-old James Wright is an ambitious first-time farmer.

HE CALLS

I was in my last year at university and I was doing a business degree.

I sort of thought, well, you know, pig-keeping,

I've always wanted to do it.

And I bought two pigs with my student loan and went from there.

A seemingly simple plan was put into action.

But farming can be a steep learning curve -

especially when it comes to pigs.

I'd driven seven hours, I was so excited.

The moment I got my pigs back,

there was this moment when I put the pigs in the pen,

and it was an absolute disaster.

It turns out it was the pigs who taught James

his first valuable lesson.

It's 1.00am.

I've just travelled...

..seven hours to pick up some pigs.

And when I got them out, they were in this trailer.

And then I put them in my paddock,

and they ran clean through the electric fence.

So now, they are somewhere out there.

And I have no idea how to get them back.

Why on earth did I decide to keep pigs?

There was this moment of thinking,

"I'm so out of my depth, it's unbelievable."

But the escaping pigs didn't put James off.

It seems you can't keep a good farmer down.

The reason why I went to sheep was, the way a pig works,

it costs about a pound a day to keep a pig alive.

It costs about 30 or 40p a day to keep a sheep alive,

so I'm able to be more dynamic with my money

and how I'm using my limited investment.

Being a shepherd means needing space to graze his flock of 500.

Affording that space was James's next hurdle.

Farming is an incredibly capital-intensive business.

It takes years to get a return.

A lamb born May this year will not be at full production

for a full two years.

So you're sinking in large amounts of capital,

so banks are unwilling to lend.

What James is aiming for is a long-term tenancy.

Previously, I've had three jobs and currently I run two jobs,

but I need that long-term tenancy so the bank will then lend me the money

that allows me to grow to a point

where I can work full-time on the farm.

Still in search of farming's Holy Grail - a tenancy -

James now rents land where he can.

And it's for from ideal.

Unlike most farmers who had the family farm,

or maybe land that they rent,

and it's all in one block,

my land is spread out all the way from Cirencester in Wiltshire

all the way down to Sussex.

James's drive to teach himself how to farm and build up a business

is what has landed him on the shortlist

for this year's Against The Odds award.

I think as somebody who's come from a non-farming background,

you need as much help as you can get,

so things like the British Farming Awards

are a fantastic opportunity to get your name

in front of the right people and really build that credibility,

because at the end of the day, at the moment,

I just don't have that.

That was great.

Nestled in the fertile hills of West Sussex,

Paul and Madeleine Crawley and their two girls,

Myrtle and Delilah are the second short-listed family.

They've managed to secure a ten-year tenancy.

On 660 acres of National Trust land,

they raise sheep and cattle and grow organic barley.

It's a lifelong dream that first-time farmer Paul

has harboured and worked towards.

As soon as I left school, I left school at 16,

and I just wanted to get to Agriculture College, so I did that,

got out there, and I've just plugged away with this kind of goal

that I want to be a farmer one day.

His determination to become a farmer was unwavering.

Before I went to college,

I picked tomatoes for the first summer

so I could earn enough money to buy a moped

so I could get to college, you know, it was 20 miles away.

And I remember all the frosty mornings on the moped,

you know, "Going to be a farmer one day," I think.

Yeah, you know, there hasn't been any easy breaks.

And it's not been the quickest route,

but we've stayed determined and we've stayed focused,

and obviously, Madeleine is very much a big part of it, definitely.

I'm a trained vet.

I qualified 15 years ago from the Veterinary College in London,

and then I met Paul on a farm...

..and nine months later, I moved in.

With love conquered, the couple's next goal was a farm of their own.

Their only option was to rent one,

but this is much harder than it sounds.

We applied for about seven farms, I suppose,

over a five-year period.

Once we got ourselves into that position, you get quite close,

and then you get the call saying,

"Sorry, I'm afraid you haven't been successful."

But you sort of pick yourself up

and we want to do this, so we're going to have another go,

and so we do and then, yeah, we got there in the end.

We got there in the end, thankfully.

Well, the applications themselves are quite gruelling

but also, financially, you've got to be in a position,

and I just think the opportunities,

there's just not that many opportunities for young people,

particularly those that aren't from a farming background.

As two heads are always better than one,

their combined determination saw them secure land

which they have built up into a thriving farm.

Fat Lasse's definitely lost a bit of weight.

She was a bit too round.

She used to be called Lovely Lasse, as you can see, by her ear tag.

But then, she got a bit obese and so then, she was Fat Lasse.

She does love her food.

We've achieved this goal together,

so every decision is made together, to be fair, yes, definitely.

We're pretty good at talking...

..and coming to a mutual decision.

Most of them, we agree on and we think similarly anyway.

But, yeah, clearly I wear the trousers!

Whilst the jury is out on who's in charge,

it's quite clear this dynamic duo

are equally in love with what they do.

Their ambition is fuelled by a big dream

to make their farm 100% organic.

There's about 300 tonnes of organic barley,

So it's income at times when we're not selling lambs or beef.

It just helps us to utilise the farm better, to be honest.

Our eggs are not all in one basket.

Spreads the risk.

Hello, you.

All this endless determination and toil

has pushed them onto this year's final shortlist

for overcoming the odds.

It's fantastic to be short-listed,

and we were over the moon when we got that news.

It's nice to be recognised

and have our story appreciated for what it was.

And it means we can have a cracking night at the awards.

Yeah, it does mean we get to go out. That's right.

200 miles north, rural Staffordshire

is home to dairy farmers Michael and Laura Trayte,

and their two-year-old twins, Henry and Oscar.

Are you putting straw in the bucket?

No.

Oh? OK.

For Michael, it's been a lifelong dream

to get to where they are today.

All right, girls.

My dad used to milk cows a long time ago.

Never owned a farm, but we had a five-acre paddock

at the back of our house.

Well, I got gifted some sheep,

and started from there, and then I got into dairy,

got my first job as a graduate and that's where I met Laura.

A year ago, Michael and Laura were lucky to get a ten-year tenancy

with their local council.

More than ten other young farmers had competed for it.

Our landlord is the Staffordshire County Council.

They own the farm. They own 8,500 acres

in Staffordshire, which are let to new or young entrants in agriculture

to give them a foot on the ladder.

It's just a stepping stone onto a system

that's quite expensive to get into,

which we just wouldn't be able to afford to buy a farm.

Having secured the tenancy of 132 acres,

it's been a struggle to get it up and running.

When we arrived, there was no buildings,

so we've worked with the landlord.

The landlord's put a new shed up,

and then we've done all the internal fixtures and fittings.

It's just been putting all the fencing up this year,

cos there was no fencing

and obviously, there was no paddocks,

so we've had to put in all the tracks.

The first year's been the busiest, and then next year,

it should slow down a little bit, but, yeah.

As well as building the infrastructure,

there's also the small matter of actually running the farm.

Hello. Hello.

Dairy farming in general is quite challenging at times.

Yes, it's early mornings, late nights.

Late nights, yeah.

You've really got to love it to do it, I think,

cos a lot of people think you're crazy,

especially from when you don't come from a farming background.

It's sort of...

People wonder why you do it.

I mean, it is a business.

We do want to make profit, but it is a lifestyle as well.

All this hard work needs to pay off

if the family is going to stay afloat.

Luckily, Michael and Laura have a plan.

Dairy industry has been tough the last 12 months.

There's been a world oversupply and that's hit farm gate prices

quite hard.

I mean, some people have been getting as little as 13p a litre.

The lowest we got down to was 17.

But it's back up to 22p at the minute,

and it looks to be quite bright,

so hopefully, things will look up in the future.

This resourceful farming couple have devised a way

to try to keep costs down -

a crucial strategy to the farm's survival.

-HE WHISTLES

-Come on, girls!

The farm is split into 20 paddocks and the idea is,

the cows will go into fresh grass every day.

The advantage of the system is

we're limiting the amount of feed that we're buying in.

We know what our grass is going to cost us.

Staffordshire is generally a good grass-growing area,

get good rainfall,

you know, we can grow good-quality grass.

What about our new tractor?

We don't need that if we're spreading straw, do we?

Tractor!

Michael and Laura are hoping that the farm will be able to provide

an income now and in the future for the twins.

-Bale.

-A bale.

-OK.

-You go and spread that bale.

Farming with two boys is good.

There's always something to do, and they always like mucking in.

Give it to the cows.

It's hard to keep them in the house most of the time

cos they want to come out and help,

or think that they're helping sometimes,

and sometimes they're not!

You might get a bit more done if they're in nursery,

or went off for the day,

but we like to spend time with them as well as being on the farm,

and it's very much a family farm.

Good boy. Feed her some more, then.

Give her some more.

A win in this year's New Entrants Against The Odds category

will reward them for an innovative grazing experiment,

and a year's incredible slog to get their fledgling farm this far.

Be nice to actually put a dress on for once, out of wellies!

You'll like it when you're round here, Henry.

Kids and animals, eh?

Just a few fields away are fellow

dairy farmers James and Vicky Tattersall

and their three children

who are also short-listed in this year's awards.

James and Vicky were also granted a farming tenancy from the council

and started out with just 20 cows.

But with no money coming in, these young farmers have worked

day and night to build a future for themselves.

It can be difficult at times,

especially having the three of them now.

Vicky's pretty tied in the house morning and afternoon.

When I'm milking, particularly if I have a problem in the parlour,

I've got to sort it out on my own.

Keeping on top of a busy dairy farm

is a challenge with a growing family.

Before we had them, I used to always milk for James

whilst he did other jobs.

But now I can't really be out there

and be in the house at the same time.

I'd love to be out there, just to have a swap with him,

but he never seems keen.

Perhaps because he knows it's a madhouse!

SHE LAUGHS

Running the farm single-handedly can be tough,

but it's been external market forces that have really tested them.

The workload has been tough at times.

We had to throw some hours in, it's been 70 to 80-hour weeks,

if not more, at times.

But the biggest challenge, I'd say, over the last 18 months,

was milk price drops.

You know, I don't like to keep moaning about it because we don't,

we try and be positive, but it has put pressure on the finances.

It probably has held us back growing.

You know, we've lost about a third of the income.

So, you know, you've got to find the difference from somewhere.

So we went through our costings.

Obviously, you can't skimp on your cows.

You know, they've still got to be looked after.

Whilst James has managed to keep the farm afloat,

it's been a challenge dealing with bovine tuberculosis.

The TB situation, it is a high-risk area.

Thankfully, we had one case four years ago

which came back to be false.

Once TB is suspected,

herd movement is restricted to prevent the risk of spreading.

We still had to test 60 days after that

and they stopped us moving cattle off for 60 days, you know,

but it just makes trading tough cos you can't sell your calves.

Despite the blows and setbacks,

Vicky and James remain resilient and optimistic.

I guess it's probably in my blood.

You know, bit of a family history in farming.

And it's hard to turn your back on it when you want to do it.

You know, I can see where what we're doing is working,

at a slow pace, as it might be, but it is working.

With three children under four,

a new farm to build, and the pressure of the milk industry,

the British Farming Awards judges

had no problem selecting James and Vicky as finalists.

We're looking forward to it. Didn't expect to get anywhere.

Then we found out we got shortlisted

in the New Entry category.

So we've got to go down tomorrow night to Droitwich.

See how we get on.

I think it will mean a lot for James, winning.

Because he's put, like, his heart and soul into it.

It's like his baby, having the farm.

It will just be a big achievement, really.

Over the past five years, it's been a lot of hard work.

So it'd just be good for somebody to acknowledge it.

Finally, 190 miles away in Devon

is a young farmer who has resurrected her family's

farming background.

Good morning, girls.

25-year-old Molly Westwood

breeds and sells award-winning pedigree cattle internationally.

My father used to farm, and unfortunately, he had to sell up.

It was a very hard day for us all.

You don't realise how much you miss something

until it's gone, and I wish I was a bit older at the time

so I could almost step up and help Dad.

Being too young to take over

has given Molly the drive and passion to build her own farm.

At the age of 16,

Molly went to work on a large cattle farm in Canada,

famous for its pedigree genetics.

Whilst I was there, we sold the most expensive cow

on the market over there at 1.2 million.

We won two of the biggest shows in the world several times.

So it was a big eye-opener, and it made me very hungry to do it myself.

Hey, cheeky.

I did bring back five embryos from one of my favourite cows.

We implanted those into a couple of bulling heifers my parents had kept.

And it seems Molly's early investment paid off.

We were very lucky, we ended up with a few heifer calves from that,

two bull calves.

Out of the three heifer calves, we had one Red and White,

which is the really unique, rare one.

Smile at the camera.

The early success paved the way for Molly to expand the business

and start turning a profit.

But getting the funds was no easy task for a 23-year-old farmer.

To apply for an agricultural mortgage

at the age of 23 is very hard.

We had a lot of banks basically laugh at me.

But I know every figure of this business.

I know exactly how everything works both outside and inside

and on paper, which I think's important.

At the end of the day, you know, we are all businesspeople.

The farming, yes, it's a way of life, but it's a business.

There aren't any words that can describe how proud I am of her,

to be honest with you.

She's got so much drive, she's got so much ambition.

You know, she's got a full-time job

as well as a full-time job on the farm.

And the amount of work she does every morning

before she goes to work

and then as soon as she comes home, straight out the car,

get into her work clothes, and she's out there another four hours.

Who's my favourite pet?

Aren't you?

We often say, "Oh, come on, you know,

"you need to go and get a bloke,

"get out there. Go out and enjoy yourself."

"I can't, I've got to wash a heifer, I've got to trim a heifer,

"I've got to clip..." Or something.

And that is Molly.

Molly is... Moos, we used to call her.

COW MOOS

Molly's tenacity and business know-how

in the international cattle market

has earned her a rightful place on the judges' shortlist.

To get that far against all the big guys out there...

-Is something else.

-..is something very special.

It's definitely a big night out for us.

I think I've got to wear a dress,

which I don't do very often!

But it will be quite a special evening

just spending time with me and my dad,

to be honest with you.

She's our winner.

You know, basically, she's done everything she can for us, so...

-She's definitely our winner.

-We'll always celebrate success.

All five of these nominees

have shown absolute commitment and dedication to farming,

and have pursued their dream through extremely challenging circumstances.

It's a fantastic honour to be even considered as a worthy nominee.

Good girl. You came back to me.

It's been a bit of a battle, but it's been a good battle.

The important thing for us was to encourage other new entrants

that through grit and determination, you can get there in the end.

We're looking forward to it, yeah.

Luckily, we've managed to find a relief milker for tomorrow night

so we can get down there and not worry about the cows.

It's nice to be recognised, you know,

that the council have seen what we've been doing here and, you know,

they've thought to put us forward.

Come on, Henry!

Tonight, the British Farming Awards

will honour the very best of the agricultural industry.

In its fourth year, this prestigious event

will bring together over 600 farmers

in recognition of outstanding achievements.

It's time to leave the woes and wellies of rural life behind

and enjoy a night of glitz and glamour.

'Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to celebrate the finalists.'

Good evening, and a very warm welcome

to the British Farming Awards.

Everyone on the shortlist can be very proud to have made it here

and you truly are the best of the best.

Over the course of the evening, 15 awards will be given out,

including Family Business Of The Year

and Farming Hero 2016.

It's been a long and anxious wait, but finally,

it's almost time for this year's Against The Odds award.

Nerve-racking now, isn't it?

Yeah.

You can feel the adrenaline in the room, definitely.

All the atmosphere is building.

Next up, it is one of our toughest awards.

I think everybody knows how difficult it is

to make it when you're a new entrant

trying to strive to get into farming.

So, our New Entrants award,

Against The Odds,

sponsored by the NFU,

will be presented by NFU president Meurig Raymond.

'And here is the shortlist, beginning with...

'Paul and Madeleine Crawley from Courthill Farm.'

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

'James and Vicky Tattersall, JR Tattersall.'

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

'Michael and Laura Trayte from M&L Dairying.'

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

'Molly Westwood, Panda Holsteins.'

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

'And James Wright from Wright Agricultural Management.'

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

So, in this hard-fought-for category,

silver has gone to Paul and Madeleine Crawley,

Courthill Farm.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

The judges said

that they demonstrated a willingness to move enterprises

to achieve their dream of farming in their own right.

That's all right, no, thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

That's very good. All right, thank you very much.

But Meurig, tell us who has the Gold award.

'And the winner of the Gold...

..Michael and Laura Trayte, M&L Dairying.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

We chose Michael and Laura because we feel

that they have demonstrated so much enthusiasm,

dedication and they farm with such integrity.

We know what that they are going to grow into a brilliant

and sustainable farming business.

'Ladies and gentlemen, our winners!'

Sustainable businesses run by new farmers in the industry

is at the core of Against The Odds.

And it's why the National Farmers' Union

is keen to sponsor the award.

There is a huge amount of enthusiasm and young people out there

who want to get involved in farming,

so this is a recognition for their determination

to get involved in the industry.

It's some recognition for the journey we've travelled

to achieve our farming objectives,

so really overjoyed, to be honest.

-Well done.

-Oh, cheers, yeah!

-Thanks!

Didn't win, but I don't mind.

Was still the final five.

It's nice to get some recognition that we've actually...

What we're doing is right.

And we are getting somewhere.

Very pleased for the other competitors,

and just proud to be a part of it.

To go from two pigs 36 months ago

to 500 sheep now and a nomination in the British Farming Awards,

it really doesn't get better than that.

It has been a fairy tale journey and, yeah, we loved it.

Yeah, it's nice to get dressed up, get out of the farm for an evening!

It's been great tonight so far

and hopefully we'll carry on celebrating

and now we've got something to celebrate about, so...

-Yeah.

-It's good.