Building a future for the next generation - leadership, innovation & opportunity
The theme for the 2026 CLA Next Generation Conference is Building Rural Futures: Leadership, Innovation, Opportunity. We speak to Alex Barton about achieving this at his family farm
Running a country store and a working farm is a challenge, and at last year’s Next Generation Conference, Alex Barton, Director of Wadswick Country Store and a partner of the farm estate, shared how his family’s arable farm has developed. Over the years, the family has built a farming enterprise anyone would be proud of, while developing a successful portfolio of diversified businesses. It is a brilliant example of how families can work together to diversify a farm’s income.
Diversification is important to us as more than anything it has reduced our need to rely on the farm income and all the challenges that come with that
“Over the years, we have diversified in a number of ways,” explains Alex.
The business’s large retail offering spans clothing, feed, giftware and guns, as well as a shooting simulator and restaurant. The farm has commercial lets in the form of offices and storage, and there is also a solar park and hangarage for 16 planes that use the grass airstrip.
“We always have a few projects on the go and the latest is building two padel courts,” says Alex. “We hope that this will sit will among our current offering and there will be natural cross-pollination with other aspects of the business.”
Despite their success, it has not always been plain sailing.
Running a business is a constant case of dealing with setbacks
“I think business resilience is built on how well these are responded to,” says Alex. “For us, the challenge has been how we run all aspects of the business together. It has become harder to achieve as the scope of the business has become broader. It has been easy for us to make decisions about the future of the business, as we get on very well as a family.”
Having been a speaker at last year’s Next Generation Conference, Alex believes the event is an opportunity to come away with a fresh perspective. “There were some incredibly interesting and thought-provoking discussions. My wife and I left with new ideas about how we could do more to plan for the future and to make the business more resilient.”
Join the must-attend event for rural entrepreneurs
The 2026 CLA Next Generation Conference takes place on 28 and 29 April at Thorpe Garden at Thorpe Estate near Tamworth. Click below to book your place while tickets are still available.