Farming has a bright future in Devon, due to the unique mix of enthusiastic young farmers, strong support for local food, and close links between farming and tourism, according to Savills Rural.

Speaking ahead of the Devon County Show on Thursday at the Steward’s Supper, director at the property agent Savills’ Exeter office, Mike Townsend, said he was amazed by the innovation and energy shown by the county’s farmers.

“Agriculture is still a major employer in the county, with a workforce of 25,000, and 11,000 individual holdings,” he said. “Devon agriculture has gone through some tough times, but in my view the future is good.”

For the past 12 years Townsend had helped to judge the Devon Diversification Award, which is presented at the show each year. “The quality of the entries never ceases to impress me, ranging from bottling spring water to a mobile wood-fired bread oven,” he said. “I have also seen a huge variety of ways to offer Devon farm produce direct to the consumer, including farm shops, cookery schools and mobile catering units.

“There is a massive opportunity to grow this sector, and there is a particular synergy with tourism, which is Devon’s other principal economic driver. Selling local and buying local makes sense because it protects the environment through fewer food miles; strengthens the local economy; supports rural communities; and, above all, helps to sustain Devon’s unique products.”

But it was not just the link between food, drink and farming which gave Townsend such hope for the future. “It is also the enthusiasm and optimism shown by the younger generation in farming,” he said. “I am always heartened when there is a farm to let because we get to see the enormously high quality of the younger applicants. They demonstrate an extraordinary level of skill and knowledge of agriculture generally, and the economic framework in which their businesses operate.

“Much is made of the average age of farmers, but that emerging group of farmers of the future, and the opportunities awaiting them, gives me great hope for Devon agriculture.”

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