If the idea of working with the land and being among the great outdoors appeals to you then a career in agriculture could be right up your country lane. Wilfred Emmanuel Jones, founder of The Black Farmer brand, is one of only three black farmers in the UK. His award winning Black Farmer sausages, bacon and cheese are now sold in Waitrose and Asda. But that’s not all – he’s also hoping to become the MP for Chippenham. I caught up with him to find out why he’s encouraging more people from ethnic communities to swap the tube for the tractor.
How did you become interested in farming?
I’m from a large, quite poor family, one of nine children I was brought up in Small Heath in Birmingham, where my father had an allotment. As the oldest boy, it was my responsibility to look after the allotment. From the age of 11 I dreamt of buying my own farm. It took nearly 30 years to make my dream a reality.
What do you love about farming?
The idea that you are able to produce the very foods that one eats, and I love being in rural Britain. I wasn’t born in the UK, I was born in Clarendon Jamaica, which is quite rural so if you went there today you’d see a lot of people doing subsistence farming, and working the land, so I feel like farming is actually in my DNA. When my parents came here in the 50’s they, like many people of that generation, went where the work was but I’ve always felt a natural affinity with rural Britain and I’ve always wanted to live in a rural rather than urban environment. I’ve discovered that there’s a lot of ethnic minorities who would like to live in the country but it’s such a difficult process to leave their urban roots or get into farming because traditional farms are handed down through family. If you’re an immigrant you have to start from scratch, which means you have to get the funding together to go and buy the farm.
What are the key challenges to becoming a farmer?
Part of the problem is being able to buy a farm. If you can’t buy a farm you need to be able to rent or lease one. There’s a lot of agricultural aid that comes from councils, churches and colleges. I think those organisations should be trying to encouraging people from Ethnic minorities to lease land for farming.
Why do you think there are so few BME people working in agriculture in the UK?
Obviously when we came here in the 50’s we went through hell, and as the host community had problems accepting us, ethnic minorities found safe havens in urban areas - whether it was Brixton or Birmingham. Every city would have their pockets where immigrants settled due to cheaper housing etc. They found sanctuary away from the initial difficulties. Generations have been brought up in these communities so it takes a great deal of courage to leave the safety and familiarity of these communities to go to a new area where there are not many ethnic minorities and you may encounter racism and prejudice.
So it takes the second and third generations from immigrant families to make a change. They need to have the same sort of courage that their parents had. They are the ones that need to branch out and not to be frightened of the reception that they may get. Take it from me; you’re not necessarily going to meet hostility and you shouldn’t feel as though you’re confined to an urban environment because of the fear of how you’ll be received in the countryside.
When you bought your farm in Devon, how were you received by your neighbours?
When I bought my farm I was the only black person that many of my neighbours had ever met in their lives and their only impression of black people came from what they saw on TV. There wasn’t much knowledge of what black people were like. They were polite in general but way they referred to black people would never be found in an urban environment. In the country people refer to me as coloured, which is obviously offensive, but they don’t know it is offensive. They think it’s polite but it’s only when black people are in that sort of environment that you can educate others.
I observed that if you have money then people don’t necessarily see colour. Luckily enough, I was not seeking employment so I didn’t have any problems in moving to the rural community, if anything I was bringing employment.
So your neighbours were surprised by you, was there anything about your perceptions of rural living that was changed?
I was shocked when I bought my farm because what I saw was a community that, much like the black community, wasn’t fully engaged in the mainstream. I was surprised at the amount of poverty and lack of opportunity some of the people were experiencing. It was like going to another country. I was really surprised to see that to some extent the problems that we in the black community face are roughly the same as the rural community, so there is quite an affinity with us because there is a lot of injustice that rural Britain suffers from and there isn’t anyone fighting on their behalf.
You’ve been running The Black Farmer for over six years, what is your business mantra?
Outsiders bring about change. As an immigrant I was always an outsider and it was always a struggle trying to be seen and heard by the mainstream. With the principle that it is outsiders who bring about change, you can push forward. Because you ask the question ‘why do things have to be like that?’ or ‘who says these are the rules that you play by?’
When I decided to launch my food brand, I realised there was a lot of inferior products on the market that there was an opportunity to produce premium product at a good price and challenge the norm of what is acceptable. I’m an outsider, and to have that permeating throughout my soul means that I wasn’t frightened of challenging the norm. That’s the thing about business – it’s about changing the status quo and not accepting that what is out there, is the way it has to be.
You sponsor a Young City Farmers Project to introduce people from the city to land management and give them a feel for farming – tell me about the project and what it means to you.
The project, now run in conjunction with Cirencester Agricultural College, is very dear to my heart. It’s an opportunity for young people from city centres all over the country to come and experience what farming is like, if they like it, they then have the opportunity to apply to agricultural colleges and start their career. I would like to see more city people, Black White or Asian, get involved in projects like these.
What do you find the students on the programme have the most difficulty with?
Adjusting to the rural culture. To be brought up in the city your way of communicating is very different. For example if you say good morning to someone on the tube people think you’re mad or about to mug them, but in rural areas that’s just what you do. The things that make us grow as human beings, which is courtesy, self-reliance and looking after each other is what you find in abundance in the country. In the city you’re on your own, it’s difficult to get support and often there’s a climate of fear that permeates through surviving in that environment. Rural Britain shows us how things could be.
Do you enjoy working with young people?
Yes, I do. I enjoy working with people that want to learn. My biggest challenge on the programme is communicating to the students that they are responsible for what happens to their lives. What you shouldn’t do is look at your circumstances or background and use that as an excuse as to why you can’t achieve. You can do anything that you want. Yes being Black or Asian means it can be difficult to achieve success and there are many things working against you but our parents fought tooth and nail to give us a better life and made massive sacrifices and we need to carry that forward rather than wallow in self pity. We are people from entrepreneurial backgrounds and it’s a part of our DNA so we should use that heritage to actually better our lives - rather than feel that the only solution is to be stuck in a ghetto.
Would you encourage your children to enter agriculture or farming?
I would. But you know what children are like they’ll take their own path. The gift I want to give my children is confidence. Confidence to feel that they can do what they want and not feel restricted. The legacy I have been left by my parents, who had to take the brunt of injustices, gave me better opportunities in life and I want my own children to feel that nothing can get in the way of them being able to achieve what they want.
How is the farming industry in the current economic climate? Has it been badly affected by the recession? Is now a good time to consider a career in farming?
At the moment the farming business is really good. It’s definitely a good time to get in. My business has grown – we’re now the third biggest premium sausage brand in the country. In this recession many business will be struggling but the one thing people really want is good quality food. People need to eat at a reasonable price and we’re exactly in that market. If you’ve got a good brand people will be prepared to support you. So fingers crossed were doing alright and the credit crunch hasn’t hit us too much.
One of the things that the recession has uncovered is that consumers are fed up with corporate Britain. They want to have a relationship with the real people that are responsible for producing their food. I would say to anyone setting up their own business that owning a business means that you have to relate directly with the consumer. If you look after them they’ll look after you.
What has been your best investment?
Belief in myself. All too often, and I think that this is something the credit crunch has taught me, people make the mistake chasing money. You should never chase money, chase success. Because with success comes money. You can’t be successful without self-belief; the investment should be in confidence and self-belief.
Worst investment?
Years of self doubt.
What’s the most valuable Lesson in business that you’ve learnt so far?
Have no fear. The only difference between me and anyone else who hasn’t fulfilled their dream is that I’ve managed to control my fear. The way to do that is not to think you can predict the future but rather work hard and do the best you can today and tomorrow will look after itself. Some people worry about tomorrow and stop doing what they want because they’re worried about how they’re going to pay a bill or the mortgage. That fear stops them from moving forward. You can read all these books about starting a business but the one thing you need to crack is managing fear.
Do you feel you’ve reached the tipping point?
I’ve been running the business for six years now, successfully, but not as successfully as I would have wanted. So I’m still waiting for that tipping point. You have a spike where you do well then crash–it takes a long time for a business to take off and it takes massive faith.
Having your own business is like an intensive care unit - where the doctors and nurses are focussing all their attention on helping you survive. The first five years are critical to ensure your business survives.
What’s your proudest achievement?
Launching The Black Farmer brand and being selected as a candidate for Chippenham. I’ll be prouder still if I’m elected as an MP. That would be an amazing achievement.
So now you’re moving from the mucky work of the farm to the mucky world of politics, why?
Again it comes down to being brought up in a place where I felt that I was on the fringes of society and yet I have been successful and learnt a lot about life. I thought it was about time that I try to give back to my country and demonstrate to people that it is possible to achieve the things you want. The way to really help people is to get into politics and influence policy. The aim is to get into government and help create policies that will affect and benefit ordinary people’s lives. This comes from a passion rather than an academic exercise learnt at university. All too often our politicians have no real experience of life. I think it’s important that people with real experience of life get into politics, rather than all of the career politicians that seem to be running the ship at the moment.
You do a lot of community work and give talks, but who inspires you?
Richard Branson – he’s fearless. He is someone who’s prepared to go for it and fight through all the adversity that his competitors and society will throw his way. His ideas have contributed to making a change so I admire him very much.
How important is the idea of giving back?
I feel very privileged to have had some moderate success despite coming from a background of absolute dire poverty and very little opportunity. If I have managed to have success it’s my responsibility to communicate to people that it is possible to achieve their dreams and be successful and not be held back because of a lack of opportunity to do what they want.
One of the greatest gifts you can give is the gift of opportunity. Everything I have achieved has been down to other people being willing to give me the opportunity, whether in getting the farm or getting into politics. It took a massive amount of courage for the people of Chippenham to elect me as their candidate – they could have quite easily chosen the archetypal Conservative person but they went for me. They gave me that chance and I hope I can do the same for others.
When I was growing up I didn’t have any role models. I grew up with a lack of expectation of black people and the idea that back people could only do certain things. That was the fight and struggle I had in my teens. As more and more black people become successful it will hopefully become easier for the next generation.
For more information on The Black Farmer visit www.theblackfarmer.co.uk
If you’re interested in the Young City Farmers project contact Emma Thomas on 1285 889912 or by email: emma.thomas@rac.ac.uk or online at www.rac.ac.uk
