Female-led businesses are on the rise in the UK, with 150,000 new companies set up in 2022*, twice as many as four years earlier. Meet three inspiring mother-and-daughter duos who’ve found family bonds are great for business
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Tracey Langton, 51, and her daughter Jessica White, 23, work together on their cattle farm in Derbyshire, where Jess is the herd manager. Tracey says:
I’ve helped out on our farm since childhood but finally took it over five years ago when my father, Russ, died. Crowfields Farm is a true family business.
My first marriage ended in divorce when Jess was 18 months old and her brother, Will, was six months. I spent a long while as a single parent. Jess and Will would be in their buggies in the dairy while I milked the cows. The sound of the machines soothed them to sleep. Jess milked her first pet cow, Ballies, when she was just seven.
Jess’s love for farming never dimmed and it has become her career. She’s now our herd manager, in charge of 80 head of cattle that roam over 150 acres. Her knowledge of cows is way better than mine and the energy and expertise she brings is invaluable. I have a degree in business and a master’s in organisational analysis, but I learned farming on the job, whereas Jess has specialist training.
I was so proud when she got a first in her animal science degree from the University of Nottingham, and she sits on the National Farmers’ Union Dairy Board. She’s very bright and is always pushing me to improve the way we do things and to make bolder decisions.
It’s thanks to Jess that the farm is now more sustainable, with new solar-powered electric fencing and a heat-recovery unit in the dairy.
The farm is dairy and beef and it’s just me and my family who work here. My second husband, Dave, is officially retired from his job in financial services but still gets roped in to work on the farm doing groundworks and woodland management. During busy times, even my 82-year-old mum gets dragged in. It can be tough – you never get a day off. We were still up and out feeding the cows on the day of my dad’s funeral. Falling milk prices and the increasing cost of feed and fertiliser make things even more difficult, but we try to find creative ways to keep the farm going.
I can honestly say Jess and I have never fallen out – which is important as, living on a farm, there’s no division between work and home life and no set hours. If I picked up the phone at any time of day, whether it was a work issue or a personal crisis, I know Jess would be there for me 100%.
I feel proud that Jess and I are changing the stereotype of what farmers look like. The industry is going
