A dairy farmer once told us he made more profit selling ice cream from a converted horsebox at the farm gate on a wet Tuesday than he did selling an entire tanker of milk to a processor that month.
That’s not a fluke; it’s the new reality for a growing number of British farmers who are rethinking who they sell to, and why.
Direct-to-consumer selling isn’t just about margins, although for many farms, that extra income can be the difference between staying on the land and giving it up, particularly with subsidies changing and farm input costs remaining high.
What Does ‘Direct to Consumer’ Mean?
At its core, direct-to-consumer farming means exactly as it sounds: farmers sell their produce straight to the people who will eat or use it, without wholesalers, processors, or supermarket chains taking a cut along the way.
It’s the simple, human relationship between the farmer who grows the produce and the person who consumes it.
Wholesale Creates Inflated Prices
When a farm supplies produce for wholesale point-of-sale, it is commonly sold at a loss, or at best breakeven, by the farmer and ends up ‘marked up’ several times along the food chain, for example:
- Farmer grows the crop or food produce.
- Farmer sells to a wholesaler or packhouse at a wholesale price.
- Wholesaler sells on to a supermarket or processor (with a mark-up)
- Supermarket marks up the price for the shopper.
Not only does the price increase for the end consumer, but the shelf life can be shorter as well. As the produce moves along the chain, each step adds time, which can result in more spoiled produce ending up in the bin.
Supermarkets often demand perfect produce, so if a strawberry or potato is not the ideal shape or size, it gets rejected, also ending up in the bin – which is a waste of the farmer’s effort, not to mention the cost to produce.
Whereas selling directly to the end user creates a much smaller chain:
- Farmer grows the crop/food.
- Farmer sells directly to the consumer.
There are no additional price mark-ups and the produce is much better and fresher!
Buy Direct From Farmers
Across the UK, this happens through farmers’ markets, farm shops, veg box schemes, pick-your-own days, online farm shops, social media storefronts, or even farm-to-door delivery vans doing the rounds like the milkman once did.
Evangate FS help secure farm finance at cheap rates to do exactly this. Recently, we have assisted multiple local farmers including:
- A dairy farmer arranged finance for a commercial ice cream machine, where 100% of his milk goes into making ice cream, which he then sells directly to consumers.
- We funded a bottling plant for a farmer who had a spring located on his farm, so he was able to sell bottled spring water.
- A local butcher asked us to secure finance to buy livestock so he could rear his own animals instead of constantly buying livestock from markets. This reduced his costs by removing auction commissions and ongoing transportation costs.
- Funded two baling machines to allow one of our customers to make small hay bales to sell direct to his livery customers rather than selling wholesale.
- We have also assisted multiple farmers with finance to purchase livestock and equipment so they can produce direct-to-consumer meat boxes.
These are not ‘one-off’ examples; they are part of a growing movement transforming British agriculture towards direct-to-consumer (D2C) farming.
And it’s rewriting the economics of the farm-to-fork relationship, one farm shop and veg box at a time. You only have to watch a few episodes of Jeremy Clarkson’s farm to see this happening in real life at his Diddly Squat farm shop.
Why British Farmers Are Making the Switch
1. They Keep More of Every Pound
In a traditional supply chain, it’s been alleged that farmers often see only 8–10 pence of every pound spent on their produce in the supermarket. Wholesalers, processors, and retailers swallow up the rest along the way. Farming UK state the profits can be as low as 1p.
Defra figures indicate that much of the fresh farm produce in the UK still goes through multi-stage supply chains. Selling direct to the consumer flips that on its head, letting farmers set prices that actually reflect the graft behind what they grow.
2. Shoppers Actually Want This
Today’s shoppers want more than food on a shelf; they want to know the story behind it.
They want to know which field their spuds came from, whether the hens laying their eggs are free to roam, and how many miles their Sunday roast travelled before it landed on the table.
Some would say this has only increased since the coronavirus pandemic, with more and more people turning to farm shops and box schemes as a genuine alternative to the big supermarkets.
3. Trust Sells Produce
Word of mouth (and increasingly, Instagram and Facebook reviews) matters as much for a five-acre smallholding as it does for any high street business. Shoppers now routinely check reviews and recommendations before committing to a veg box subscription or ordering a whole lamb for the freezer.
Selling direct gives the farmer control over their own reputation. We have all heard the stories of ‘horse meat’ ending up in supermarket burgers, which in many cases was the wholesale/processor’s fault. Removing these unscrupulous middlemen stops the farmer’s name from being tarnished.
4. It Builds Real Community
When you know the farmer’s name, and they know yours, it creates a community feel. Farmers’ markets, veg/meat box schemes, and farm shops create loyal little communities of regulars who feel personally invested in a farm’s success, not just its sprouts.
D2C Still Has Its Hurdles
Selling direct isn’t a free lunch. It usually means the farmer takes on jobs they never signed up for, such as marketing, deliveries, bookkeeping, and customer service – all of which are on top of the actual daily farming.
There is also red tape to navigate: food labelling rules, allergen information, and product liability insurance all need sorting before produce can legally be sold direct from the farm or online. And unlike a wholesale contract, direct sales income can be slow, especially in the early months before a sizable customer base builds up.
Perhaps the biggest hurdle, though, is raising the initial capital. Whether it’s a bottling plant, an ice cream machine, refrigerated vans, or packaging equipment, going direct almost always requires investment before the first sale is ever made.
This is where Evangate FS can help. Getting affordable finance can be the difference between an idea staying on paper and a farm shop opening its doors.
How to Get Started
If you are a farmer considering the move to direct sales, the leap doesn’t have to happen overnight:
- Start small: going to a farmers’ market with a single stall or putting an honesty box at the farm gate can be the easiest first step, with almost no capital outlay.
- Test demand before investing: sell a limited run of a product (a few dozen bottles, a handful of meat boxes) before committing to major equipment.
- Build an online presence: a simple Facebook page or small website listing prices is better than nothing. Make sure to include an easy way to order or to get in touch; that way you are not relying on passing trade.
- Plan capital investment properly: equipment like bottling plants, baling machines, or commercial kitchens are unlikely to pay for themselves overnight, so it’s worth speaking to a specialist broker in the early stages.
- Tell your story: customers buying direct want the story as much as the product. Share the ‘why’ behind the farm, not just the price list.
What Next?
Direct-to-consumer farming isn’t a passing trend; it is a genuine change in how British agriculture does business, and one that rewards farmers who are willing to invest in the right equipment and tell their story with confidence.
Whether it’s a bottling line, an ice cream machine, or the livestock needed to fill a meat box subscription, the biggest barrier to going direct is rarely the idea – it’s the capital to make it happen. That’s where we come in. We’ve helped farmers across the country secure the finance to make the switch, on terms that work with a farm’s cash flow, not against it.
If you are thinking about selling direct to your customers, get in touch with Evangate FS to talk through your options.
