A local farm is demonstrating exactly what it is to diversify and survive in the modern agricultural marketplace by opening its own farm shop, complete with butchery.
Woodside Farms, a member of the Genuine Jersey Products Association, officially opens its new shop this Friday (29th), having transformed a run-down out-building on its land in Trinity.
The butchery will be run by butcher Colin Hughes and is particularly important for Woodside, which launched its Genuine Jersey Tender Beef at the Genuine Jersey market at St Catherine at Easter. The beef has proved to be hugely popular with both residents and local chefs, including Ocean Restaurant’s head chef Mark Jordan, who will be at Friday’s launch demonstrating ways to cook the beef.
The shop opening is the latest step in the diversification plan for Woodside, which is run by the Gallichan family. They gave up potato farming about 18 months ago to concentrate on growing flowers instead.
The move falls in perfectly with the thinking behind the new rural strategy, which was last week approved by the States and encourages diversification in agriculture.
The farm shop is being managed by Emily Gallichan, daughter of farmer Charles, who continues to run Woodside with his son, Charlie. Emily left the finance industry in March specifically to run the project, which at the time has just received planning permission.
She says: “Everything is changing in the farming community and businesses have to diversify in order to survive. We have completely embraced that ethos and for me personally, choosing to leave the finance industry to come back to farming demonstrates the confidence I feel in the future of the industry.”
The idea for a farm shop was originally spawned from the success of the farm’s floristry. This originally opened five years ago in the main packing shed but growing demand soon made it clear that they needed a purpose-built outlet. As well as the floristry and butchery, there will also be a variety of other locally-produced products on sale in the shop.
The shop launch takes place between 11am-3.30pm on Friday and as well as cooking demonstrations, there will product and wine tastings.
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