Family focus and community spirit helped the Stevens meet the Covid challenge

The Courier caught up with Ian and Catriona Steven to hear about life at Beley Farm in 2020

At one of the busiest times of the year for local farmers, the UK was thrown into lockdown. According to Ian Steven, director of Beley Farms Ltd, things soon got even more hectic: “We have a lot of seed potatoes heading south from the end of February into mid-April.

“The early dry spring meant customers were asking for them slightly earlier so when we went into lockdown I was 60-70% through the orders. Then there was what can only be described as a mental fortnight at the start of lockdown when many people were panic buying and the supermarkets were empty of potatoes. One day saw lorries queuing out on to the main road waiting to be loaded with potatoes. We were at the end of one financial cycle and starting the next so at that time of year you just have to get your head down and keep at it.”

Ian, who lives and farms at Beley Farm in Dunino with his wife and five children is the third generation of his family to farm in Fife. He grows potatoes for seed and ware, Brussels sprouts, milling winter oats, winter wheat for seed and distilling and spring barley for malting.

While Ian didn’t have time to leave the farm to see first-hand the situation in the local supermarkets, Catriona was no stranger to the situation outside the farm boundaries. “I popped to our local Co-Op one Friday evening to buy a few beers,” he explains. “My wife just rolled her eyes as I told her how the shelves were bare and the choice of beer was very limited…it was no news to her!”

A lack of supplies is one thing but the family, like so many across the country, had a bereavement to deal with too. “We sadly lost my father at the beginning of April at the height of the lockdown, so it certainly was a very challenging time.”

Lockdown did bring its advantages though and for Ian, the fact that much of the work at Beley farm can be managed with family members certainly helped. Plus, “it is very easy to socially distance when you are sitting in your tractor,” he points out. “We did need extra help with grading potatoes and planting sprouts. Fortunately the seasonal staff that have been working for us for a few years are a husband and wife team and, along with another couple of members of their household we didn’t need to employ anyone else – we were able to do everything with the same bubble. We had to adhere to Covid regulations which meant displaying additional signage and putting in place additional hand sanitising stations. We also had face visors for times when it was difficult to adhere to social distancing.”

And, he adds: “It was actually quite nice having the roads to ourselves during the first few weeks of lockdown!”

For Ian’s wife Catriona, life on the farm during lockdown may have brought new challenges but it also offered the chance to take stock of how the family do things.

“Covid hit at an extremely busy time for us,” she explains. “There are times in the year when the farm is so busy that when organising our hectic household I almost need to just take Ian out of the equation as, through no fault of his own, he can’t be relied on to help. In our first few years of married life this used to frustrate me but I soon realised that I was just getting upset about something I couldn’t control. March, April and May are one of these times of year.

“So while Ian was getting his head down and grading tonne after tonne of potatoes for orders, I became aware that the supermarkets were short of the humble tattie. So my merry band of helpers (five children aged from 5-15) and I were bagging and delivering 25kg bags of potatoes.

“That was in between the joys of home schooling of course and trying to source face shields and hand sanitiser at a time when most of the population was also trying to source face shields and hand sanitiser.”

Like many people, Catriona was able to appreciate a step off the usual hectic whirl of family life. “We were blessed with beautiful weather,” she recalls, “and I have never been so appreciative of the fact that our house is big enough for us all to be able to socially distance if the mood takes us and the garden is big enough to run around like a bunch of crazy people if we get the urge.

“It was wonderful to just have time. Time to not have to rush a meal because we had to get to Cubs. Time to play rugby and golf in the garden. Time to have a minute to myself and not have to be rushing around and I can honestly say