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Tom Stevenson, 29, is a potato and pig farmer from Essex. He supplies potatoes to Waitrose.

Ben Andrews, 26, is a farmer and marketing manager for The Dairy House, an organic dairy company in Herefordshire, whose yogurts are stocked in Waitrose.

Nick and Charlie Fortescue, 28 and 26, are beef farmers from Northumberland. The brothers supply organic beef to Waitrose.

Matt Naylor, 34, is a farmer and flower grower from Lincolnshire. He supplies Waitrose with flowers, blogs about farming at fwi.co.uk and runs podcasts at puretilth.com

Nick Taylor, 32, is an organic carrot and parsnip farmer from Shropshire. He supplies vegetables to Waitrose.

Martin Sivil, 30, is a first-generation sheep farmer from North Wales. His lamb is sold to top restaurants.

Tom Now is a good time to be a young farmer. People’s awareness of food has grown significantly over the past few years. There aren’t many young producers, but they do tend to have a bit of energy behind them and want to go forward. Younger farmers are definitely more aware of the changing food culture.

Ben Many older farmers are set in their ways. They might’ve been great farmers but they’re not necessarily great businessmen. To make money and make the most of farming you’ve got to be quite clever with it.

Nick T [Older farmers] are not customer-focused.

Matt But then farming isn’t just a young man’s game. You need lots of experience. You can get so far with enthusiasm and hard work but you only get good at your game when you’ve done it year after year.

Tom Yes, you can’t beat experience. But it’s also very important to have youth and enthusiasm coming through and to channel that.

Martin I don’t come from a farming family. It was very hard to get our farm up and running because the banks don’t want to know you. You need a lot of confidence. But it’s been worth it.

Tom It’s a shame there aren’t more people coming into agriculture. The industry would really benefit from the input of outsiders with leftfield ideas, who aren’t restricted by tradition.

Nick T You’ve got to be brave. You’ve got to put your house on the line. A lot of people don’t have the nerve.

Martin One of the problems is that people don’t want to work as hard as you have to in farming.

Ben You have to do it for yourself. You haven’t got a boss – no one promotes you. No one gives you a pay rise.

Ben I didn’t understand how important marketing was until I worked in London in food and drink PR. I saw how brand-oriented places like London are.

Matt But a good brand won’t sell a poor product. Expertise is important.

Ben The internet is important too. We constantly update our website.

Matt The idea of paying a consultant to tell you how to represent your produce is crazy when you can go straight onto the internet and start a podcast. People across the country respond to my podcasts.

Nick T You’ve got to be in touch with the customer. Whatever we do, we’re assessing the market. Many farmers who are over 50 aren’t interested. They haven’t got a clue what the customer wants.

Nick T We’ve had to shut our pig unit down. It’s too much of a gamble. Our feed bills are double the working costs at the moment.

Nick F No one could have foreseen that feed prices would go up as they have.

Ben Big supermarkets have battered the price of food down so much that people think food should be cheap, but to buy good produce, you have to pay a bit more.

Nick T There’s a perception that you’re ‘only a farmer’. When my father left university, farmers were respected. Now you’re a piece of s*** on somebody’s shoe.

Ben But that’s starting to change. When I meet people in London, who maybe work in an office, and I tell them I’m a farmer, they say, “Wow, that’s amazing!”

Nick T But I work behind a desk too. It’s an office job. You don’t just drive tractors.

Charlie I love working together as a family.

Nick T People need to eat, so you’re doing something really useful and vital. I’m also proud to have built a company that provides local jobs.

Tom Pride in the produce. Also, no day is the same. That’s fantastic.

Martin Yes, seeing the final product is great.

Matt And it’s a calling. If I was paid a quarter as much, I’d still do it.

Nick F For me, it’s the way of life.

Tom It is hard work, but I wouldn’t change it for those times when you’re out early, everything is peaceful and you’re in a field of spuds, which looks a picture.

Matt So nobody’s saying the auditing then?

Nick T There aren’t many new farmers coming through but there is a bright future for those who want it, who are disciplined, skilled and motivated.

Nick F When I was at agricultural college, one of the lecturers said to our class: “Half of you won’t be involved in farming in five years.” I don’t know whether that was true, but it was said to shock. I don’t know what all those guys are doing now.

Matt The land’s not going anywhere, is it?

Tom No, Britain will still continue to be farmed. We have fantastic resources in terms of our geology and climate, meaning we can produce terrific food. We have a large population who want to eat that produce and that’s the future.