I’m the youngest of three girls – Suzanna is the eldest and Victoria is in the middle. I was meant to be James apparently. I’ve always been interested in the farm. It would be my wee thing.
I always wanted to come home to the farm, but knew I needed to add value to it, not just farm as such. So I studied agriculture with business and marketing in Harper Adams University in the UK. That helped add another dimension to what my dad Adrian does.
We live on Millbank Farm in Killinchy, Co Down, and also run Millbank Farm Shop. I’m the sixth generation to farm here. There’s been various enterprises, dairy cows back in the day, all sorts of different things.
It’s a year since Emily and Adrian opened the Millbank Farm Shop in Saintfield, Co Down.
Dad got handed the farm at 21 and mainly they had sheep at that stage. Then he moved into vegetables in a big way and got rid of the sheep for a while. All the veg went to wholesalers and supermarkets.
The way supermarkets are going now, they’re putting prices down and pushing out the smaller suppliers. Dad has sort of taken a small step back from the veg in that way. He just does it for certain wholesalers now and our farm shop, of course.
Our farm is really mixed now. We grow over 40 varieties of vegetables, we’ve got poultry for Moy Park and some sheep also.
Dad is the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) vegetable chair. Last weekend, we took part in their Open Farm Weekend. This year it was a bit different, it was virtual, videos were put on YouTube. But it will be back again next year in force, no doubt.
Direct link
It’s actually a year since we opened Millbank Farm Shop in Saintfield, Co Down, just six miles from the farm. I was still in uni at the time. The shop opened last summer while I was at home. Then I had to go back and finish my last year. I just finished the four year course a couple of weeks ago. I’m at home and in the shop full time now. Dad was very busy for the last while when I was at uni.
Throughout the years with Dad supplying supermarkets, mostly the feedback was from the supermarket itself and you never really got a response from the customer
We sell our own produce and we go to the market in Belfast every morning to get the things we can’t grow, like bananas and pineapples. Our family, we’d be big cooks. We love good food and we think the secret to good food is good produce.
Throughout the years with Dad supplying supermarkets, mostly the feedback was from the supermarket itself and you never really got a response from the customer. So getting a direct link to the customer has been fantastic.
Yes we get good feedback, but it’s quite nice to hear the bad feedback as well. You’re always going to get it. It’s how you constantly improve and meet the demands of customers.
Leap of faith
Dad loves growing veg and for me to come home to the farm, I had to put my own stamp on the farm. I just couldn’t come home and do the same as what Dad did. I had to do something that fitted in with my life.
A farm shop, it was always my aspiration. It’s so different to what dad has been doing for the last 40 years, having a shop, but it’s worked so far.
In third year in Harper Adams you go on work placement, so you go into the industry hands on. I went to Mudwalls Farm in Cotswolds, England. They’re a fresh produce company. I couldn’t have set up the shop without that year. It was such an insight.
That gave me a wee bit of confidence, but goodness, it was a big leap of faith. In the greater scheme of things, setting it up while I was at uni was a big task. But the opportunity came up so we couldn’t not, we’d always regret not going for it at that stage.
I find with people my own age finishing uni and coming home to the farm, if they do what the farm has always done and it doesn’t fit in with their business model, I think change is needed.
Maybe that’s a succession thing as well. The older generation not letting the younger generation take the reins. You have to love what you’re doing, that’s why I’ve chosen to take the leap and go elsewhere on the farm. It’s a bit scary doing that as well, going against the flow.
I’ve been very lucky with Dad, because he was given the opportunity when he was my age, so he’s been amazing at encouraging me just to go for it.
Spreading the message
It’s definitely hard work having the farm and the shop, but we’ve got such a good team at home. Goodness, there must be seven of us now in the shop and something similar on the farm, so we couldn’t do it without them at all.
During coronavirus we actually had to get more staff in the shop, because it just got so busy with people shopping local in this area. We’ve been lucky throughout this anyway, so far. We started selling online two weeks ago.
Emily and Adrian McGowan sell their own produce and they also go to the market in Belfast every morning.
Going forward, we want to spread the message about good local produce. Actually making people appreciate the value of food. My granny and that generation really appreciated food and cooked properly. Whereas we’ve lost that a bit, haven’t we, with the whole convenience side of things?
I went into one of the big supermarkets recently, just out of interest to see what the price was on their veg – 50p for cabbages, it’s so cheap! They’re trying to keep up with discounters, but it’s devaluing produce.
Read more
My Country Living: ‘We consider ploughing to be an art’
My Country Living: A publican and a pioneer
I’m the youngest of three girls – Suzanna is the eldest and Victoria is in the middle. I was meant to be James apparently. I’ve always been interested in the farm. It would be my wee thing.
I always wanted to come home to the farm, but knew I needed to add value to it, not just farm as such. So I studied agriculture with business and marketing in Harper Adams University in the UK. That helped add another dimension to what my dad Adrian does.
We live on Millbank Farm in Killinchy, Co Down, and also run Millbank Farm Shop. I’m the sixth generation to farm here. There’s been various enterprises, dairy cows back in the day, all sorts of different things.
It’s a year since Emily and Adrian opened the Millbank Farm Shop in Saintfield, Co Down.
Dad got handed the farm at 21 and mainly they had sheep at that stage. Then he moved into vegetables in a big way and got rid of the sheep for a while. All the veg went to wholesalers and supermarkets.
The way supermarkets are going now, they’re putting prices down and pushing out the smaller suppliers. Dad has sort of taken a small step back from the veg in that way. He just does it for certain wholesalers now and our farm shop, of course.
Our farm is really mixed now. We grow over 40 varieties of vegetables, we’ve got poultry for Moy Park and some sheep also.
Dad is the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) vegetable chair. Last weekend, we took part in their Open Farm Weekend. This year it was a bit different, it was virtual, videos were put on YouTube. But it will be back again next year in force, no doubt.
Direct link
It’s actually a year since we opened Millbank Farm Shop in Saintfield, Co Down, just six miles from the farm. I was still in uni at the time. The shop opened last summer while I was at home. Then I had to go back and finish my last year. I just finished the four year course a couple of weeks ago. I’m at home and in the shop full time now. Dad was very busy for the last while when I was at uni.
Throughout the years with Dad supplying supermarkets, mostly the feedback was from the supermarket itself and you never really got a response from the customer
We sell our own produce and we go to the market in Belfast every morning to get the things we can’t grow, like bananas and pineapples. Our family, we’d be big cooks. We love good food and we think the secret to good food is good produce.
Throughout the years with Dad supplying supermarkets, mostly the feedback was from the supermarket itself and you never really got a response from the customer. So getting a direct link to the customer has been fantastic.
Yes we get good feedback, but it’s quite nice to hear the bad feedback as well. You’re always going to get it. It’s how you constantly improve and meet the demands of customers.
Leap of faith
Dad loves growing veg and for me to come home to the farm, I had to put my own stamp on the farm. I just couldn’t come home and do the same as what Dad did. I had to do something that fitted in with my life.
A farm shop, it was always my aspiration. It’s so different to what dad has been doing for the last 40 years, having a shop, but it’s worked so far.
In third year in Harper Adams you go on work placement, so you go into the industry hands on. I went to Mudwalls Farm in Cotswolds, England. They’re a fresh produce company. I couldn’t have set up the shop without that year. It was such an insight.
That gave me a wee bit of confidence, but goodness, it was a big leap of faith. In the greater scheme of things, setting it up while I was at uni was a big task. But the opportunity came up so we couldn’t not, we’d always regret not going for it at that stage.
I find with people my own age finishing uni and coming home to the farm, if they do what the farm has always done and it doesn’t fit in with their business model, I think change is needed.
Maybe that’s a succession thing as well. The older generation not letting the younger generation take the reins. You have to love what you’re doing, that’s why I’ve chosen to take the leap and go elsewhere on the farm. It’s a bit scary doing that as well, going against the flow.
I’ve been very lucky with Dad, because he was given the opportunity when he was my age, so he’s been amazing at encouraging me just to go for it.
Spreading the message
It’s definitely hard work having the farm and the shop, but we’ve got such a good team at home. Goodness, there must be seven of us now in the shop and something similar on the farm, so we couldn’t do it without them at all.
During coronavirus we actually had to get more staff in the shop, because it just got so busy with people shopping local in this area. We’ve been lucky throughout this anyway, so far. We started selling online two weeks ago.
Emily and Adrian McGowan sell their own produce and they also go to the market in Belfast every morning.
Going forward, we want to spread the message about good local produce. Actually making people appreciate the value of food. My granny and that generation really appreciated food and cooked properly. Whereas we’ve lost that a bit, haven’t we, with the whole convenience side of things?
I went into one of the big supermarkets recently, just out of interest to see what the price was on their veg – 50p for cabbages, it’s so cheap! They’re trying to keep up with discounters, but it’s devaluing produce.
Read more
My Country Living: ‘We consider ploughing to be an art’
My Country Living: A publican and a pioneer
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