Family farmers say their way of life is an impossible dream when ‘the bread of life is worth less than rusty metal’

By Dan Taylor, Senior Lecturer in Social and Political Thought, The Open University
Amy Gibbons, PhD candidate, School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Nottingham

The Pearces have been farming the Fens of eastern England for generations – a region where more than a third of the country’s vegetables are grown, packed and processed. Andy and Rebecca Pearce lease a small family farm in south Lincolnshire with Andy’s parents and brother, on which they grow potatoes, wheat, pulses and sugar beet. They grew peas too until this year, when the unpredictable weather no longer made them viable.

Visiting their farm on a fine summer day, the landscape feels idyllic…

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