About BritFarmers

Four principles — what you get and don’t

1. Primary sources, always Every number, rate, and date on this site is linked to the handbook, portal, or release it came from. If I can’t link it, it doesn’t run.
2. Written by someone on the land I farm the subject I write about. That means I make the same eligibility mistakes you do — and write up the fix after I’ve made it.
3. No sponsors, no PR inbox BritFarmers takes no sponsorship, no paid placements and no affiliate commission on grants. Some pages carry standard display ads to cover running costs. They sit apart from the writing, and no advertiser has any say in what gets written. Subscribers pay nothing. I keep the farm going.
4. Dated and checked Every piece carries a date. Anything quoting scheme rules, payment rates or deadlines carries a last-checked date. When Defra moves, the page updates or it gets pulled.

How a piece gets made

1. Read the handbook or release first — in full.
2. Where it touches work done here, check it against the farm; where it doesn’t, say so.
3. Drafting tools, AI included, help with research and first drafts. I edit and check every line.
4. Write the piece with every source linked inline.
5. Sit on it overnight. Re-read. Kill the slop.
6. Publish with a last-checked date. Update when Defra updates.

What you won’t find

• Press-release repackaging
• Speculative market calls — AHDB releases only
• Sponsored posts dressed as editorial
• “10 best tractors” listicles
• Anything I haven’t checked against the primary source

How those principles work in practice — corrections, sourcing, updates — is set out in full on the editorial standards page.

Written & edited by

Tim Harfield — 21 years growing salad and veg in Suffolk, the last two years adding arable. One laptop, one broadband line, one decent chair in the farm office.

Read the author page →

Primary source: Defra.