Diversification Works Best When It Doesn't Depend Solely On You

When farmers talk about diversification, the conversation usually starts with a simple question: what else could we do? We spoke to James Bulmer, Manager and Owner of Kenyon Hall Farm to get his insight into farm diversification.

A farm shop, café, fruit picking, events, or seasonal attractions can all provide additional income. For family farms, this diversification can secure their long-term future within the family and create new opportunities for future generations to become part of the business too. But there is another question that needs to be asked much earlier: what does the business need in order to manage that growth without placing too much pressure on the family itself?

That is something I have learnt through experience at Kenyon Hall Farm in Warrington, which has been worked by my family for more than 500 years.

From The 15th Century To Now

My parents started diversifying the farm in 1978, when they planted our first strawberries. At the time, it was a traditional mixed farm growing wheat, potatoes, and barley.

That initial step towards diversification in the late 70s has grown considerably. Today, alongside our award-winning farm shop, café, and plant shop, we attract hundreds of thousands of visitors throughout the year with fruit picking, our Maize Maze, Junior Farmers Club, Pumpkin Festival, and seasonal events. This year, our maze is disco themed and we also have a sunflower field.

We are expecting around half a million visitors in 2026. Visitor numbers have tripled in the past five years and, at peak times, we welcome thousands of people in a single day. Strawberry picking tickets can sell out within minutes.

On the surface, this is exactly what successful diversification should look like. But the rapid increase in visitors also exposed a problem: our growth was starting to outpace our organisational structure.

When Growth Outpaces The People Running The Business

I returned to Kenyon Hall Farm ten years ago after a career in IT to support my parents. I am now one of four owners. Coming back to the family business gave me a different perspective on how it operated. I could see the value of the knowledge built up over generations, but also how much responsibility sat with the family.

As the business grew, the four of us were consistently working seven days a week, often in areas outside our core expertise. We had more customers, activities, and demands, but lacked the structure to support them. That experience changed the way I think about diversification.

We often focus on whether a new activity can make money, but don't always consider what it will require from the people running the business. Every new revenue stream brings complexity: more customers mean more staff, more activities mean more operational decisions, and more events mean more planning.

In a family business, there can be an assumption that the family will simply absorb that extra work. But eventually, that stops being sustainable.

The Family Shouldn't Have To Be The Management Structure

I reached out to the University of Salford to understand what support was available and subsequently enrolled on the 90% government-funded Help to Grow: Management Course, delivered by over 60 business schools across the UK.

The course helped me recognise that we needed experienced managers in place if we were going to grow the business sustainably. As a direct result, we recruited four department managers and introduced a management tier. It meant becoming much clearer about what the owners should and shouldn't be involved in. Being an owner doesn't mean having to make every operational decision.

The biggest lesson I took from the course was that growth isn't only about customers or turnover. A business also needs its systems, processes, and management structure to grow alongside it.

Passing Knowledge Between Generations

There was another challenge: much of what we knew about running the farm existed in people's heads, such as my mum and dad’s experience.

Their knowledge is incredibly valuable, but if it remains with one or two people, it becomes difficult to pass on as the business grows and the team changes.

We have since worked on getting that knowledge written down in a form that a seasonal team can actually work from.

For me, that is an important part of succession. It isn't only about who owns the business next.

It is also about whether the knowledge, systems, and responsibilities needed to run it can be passed on.

The Real Test Of Successful Diversification

I now believe the real test of diversification goes beyond whether it makes financial sense. You need to ask: could the business survive if you stepped away from it? If the answer is no, perhaps the business has grown faster than its foundations. That doesn't mean the diversification has failed. It means the next stage of growth needs to be about building the organisation around it.

For us, that has made a significant difference. I now get to spend more time at home with my family and don't have to be on site all the time. The mentoring and peer network from the Help to Grow: Management Course are also continuing to shape how we think about the business.

My parents have put their whole working lives into making Kenyon Hall what it is, and I'm very proud to continue that. But I also want the next stage of the business to be more sustainable and less stressful for the people running it.

For me, that is what successful diversification should ultimately mean: building the people, systems, and management structure that allow the business to support its growth. Diversification isn't a sustainable business model until it can run without you.