About County Farms Service
Hampshire County Farms provides inclusive opportunities for new entrants into farming, enabling them to establish their own farming businesses before progressing onto larger opportunities with others.
Hampshire County Council is one of 43 smallholding (or ‘council farm’) authorities in England & Wales that offer this service. Acre for acre nationally, council farms are a significant provider of new chances for people to farm.
Hampshire has more than 30 equipped farms, across some 4,500 acres of land throughout the county and is one of the larger providers of council farm opportunities.
Our farm holdings vary in size but the average is 90-100 acres, which represents a small but affordable start for those seeking to farm in their own right, with all the hard work and risk-taking this involves.
Our farm holdings support a range of farm sectors – including dairy, arable, horticulture and livestock.
Supporting the future of farming to contribute to Hampshire’s quality of place and environment.
Our current newsletter
Read about our progress and priorities in our annual newsletter
Previous newsletter
We have four priorities
1. Tenancy
To provide opportunities for new entrants into a sustainable and innovative farming environment as well as opportunities for existing tenants to progress to larger holdings.
2. Land management and farming systems
To achieve sustainable and adaptive systems of farming and land management which will support high quality environmental, social and economic outcomes for Hampshire.
3. Financial management
To support tenants to establish and grow viable agricultural businesses by providing farms from which they can operate and thrive for the duration of their tenancy.
4. The Farm Estate
To maintain the scale and quality of the land and assets available to Hampshire County Farms.
You’ll find full details of our policies and objectives in our County Farms Policy.