Triple Jump Over The Hurdles of Adversity

Three different challenges. All overcome through passion, belief and sheer determination.

Norfolk farmer, Tim Papworth, opened with a chilling recording of a 999 call to the ambulance services. The call was about him. When he fell 14 feet off a ladder in the potato shed. Too real for comfort, yet here he was standing in front of us, after surviving 5 weeks in a coma, and returning home a further seven weeks later with a huge piece of his skull missing - with just skin holding it all together, he could almost itch his brain.

Used to being at the centre of the action on the farm, this changed everything for Tim. Tim has had to deal with frustration at not being able to do what he could, and to overcome anxiety, depression and feelings of isolation all triggered by the situation. At the centre of a major recovery operation over several years, with his wife Emma at its very core, Tim appreciates that he is still recovering but he has changed his approach and now doesn’t plan too far ahead, but makes the most of every opportunity and embraces change as it comes, continually improving. He is also a great advocate for farm safety. The farm was crowned Potato Grower of the Year in 2016, which proved that, despite everything, this approach is working.

The second story as part of the Inspiring Farmers session came all the way from Brazil. Carla Mayar Borges, a Nuffield Scholar, and unusual in her role as a female farmer in South America, js challenged daily by the more practical issues of farming in a remote region. She broke away from the family business, moving to a frontier area in Mato Grosso by herself to develop land for cropping. Logistics, 33% taxes and environmental and labour regulations all prove a challenge to making the business work, and she explained how she has used technology to make the farm more efficient. She has also used her role as a leader to influence women in agriculture.

Scottish farmer’s son, Duncan McConchie, inspired the audience with his beautiful coastal farm enterprise, which he built out of five acres and £2,500. When he returned home to the farm, leaving a career in TV, his brothers said they didn’t want to work with him. So embracing necessity and the mother of invention, he decided on an outdoor adventure enterprise with a difference. With a human slingshot, stargazing and stunning exclusive use wedding venue, Laggan Outdoor is now a Rural Venue of Excellence, which Duncan puts down to the passion and the belief they had in it and activities with a difference, as well as a sensational view and unpolluted skies. 

As the business grew, the next challenge was the tricky question of succession, with four family members all putting a bid on a piece of the Dumfries and Galloway farm. Selected as a Scottish Enterprise Agri Tourism Monitor Farm, the succession conversation was triggered, and despite difficult conversations, resolved with each family member clear about the future.

Comments from the floor showed how much the stories had affected and inspired the audience at Oxford Farming Conference. HRH Princess Royal was also drawn to comment on the fact that none of his guests had mentioned the good plumbing of Duncan’s loos was a good sign, and also to credit Tim’s work with health and safety and Carla’s frontline role in agribusiness. 

The Inspiring Farmer session was sponsored by AHDB

Link to Visit Scotland's Agri tourism report