Plans to ensure firms in rural areas have access to digital broadband services is high on the govvernment’s agenda, though farmer James Vestbirk is already bringing the digital revolution to some of the most remote parts of the UK.
Alongside his core business, rearing a herd of Pedigree Lincoln Red Cattle on his family farm near Horncastle in Lincolnshire, James, 25, has developed a number of websites, including an online dating site, Kissinggates.com, for the farming community, and LivingExtreme.co.uk, a dating site for lovers of outdoor activities, such as rambling, kayaking and sailing.
He has just launched RuralContractor.com, an online agency to help farmers search for contractors in their local area.
Like many farmers, the business diversification was driven by a need to support the core business in difficult times. It was on James’ return from the University of Newcastle where he studied management and marketing that he hit upon the idea of online dating.
He says: ‘I could see that progress was being made in the provision of broadband access in rural communities, and saw the internet as the most obvious way to diversify and supplement revenue from the farming business.’
‘At university I was never short of a date. I came back to Lincolnshire and found it almost impossible to meet young, single women. The recession has meant that many pubs and local amenities have closed down. There was nowhere to go, and so KissingGates.com was born.’
James divides his time fairly evenly between working on the 500-acre farm, still the ‘bread and butter’ of the business, and managing the websites, which are providing significant supplementary income through membership subscriptions.
‘Farming revenue is unpredictable; livestock has improved this year, but wheat prices have fallen, so you have to find other revenue streams,’ he says.
In spite of the progress that has been made in nationwide broadband coverage, many areas are still without access to a decent connection, presenting barriers to farms and other rural enterprises.
James Watkins, executive director at business support organisation Business Voice West Midlands (BVWM), says: ‘This is still a major problem in outlying rural communities throughout the UK. The BVWM has been campaigning at national and European level for the industry regulator Ofcom to fulfil its responsibility and compel telecoms providers to act.’
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