Young Farmer Focus: Harriet Ross - 'Make connections and put yourself on the radar'

Farm: I have always loved farming and the opportunity to start farming in our own right is a dream come true.

It is a steep learning curve and we had very little time to organise ourselves before harvest, but we are very grateful for my dad’s mentorship and the support from our families.

We are predominantly an arable business due to our other work commitments and will use some local contractors to spread the workload.

We are passionate about soil health and sustainable farming and we understand the importance of livestock and how they benefit an arable system.

Therefore, we have just taken delivery of 1,000 nursery pigs on a bed and breakfast contract.

This will use the existing sheds, provide cashflow and allow us to spread organic manure onto the fields.

We will be waking up even earlier from here on in, feeding and bedding the pigs before work, but I would not swap it for anything.

Opportunity: Much is said about the obstacles faced by young farmers. However, we have been given the opportunity of a lifetime and I would encourage anyone to follow their dream.

Preparing a tender, the associated business plan and budgets was stressful and not easy. However, we secured bank funding at an early stage which gave us confidence, and the feedback received from previous applications strengthened our tender.