David J Shaw

Photographer Journalist

Caeadda - 2023/24

Driving out to his mountain farm in the Dyfi Valley, John Pughe is on the lookout for holly branches. Cutting the holly to be used by market traders for Christmas gifts alongside wood to be sold for burners, John is always looking out for extra income. He and his farm-trained son, Alwyn, rear sheep and cattle over steep rocky hills following the generational family tradition.

The Dyfi Valley sits on the southern most reach of Snowdonia. The valley straddles the River Dyfi, which starts on Wales’ second largest mountain Aran Fawddwy, weaving its way through the valley getting wider until it meets the Irish Sea at Aberdyfi Bay, a large estuary. The valley is a UNESCO biosphere meaning it is an area where conservation protections and sustainable economic development policies are in place.

The valley has an industrial history, with slate mining being predominate in the 1800s to early 1900s. Alongside this hill (upland) farming has been another stable industry in the area with long standing farming dynasties tending livestock in the hills surrounding the valley.

This lifestyle, for many farmers in Wales, is a significant part of their identity, with farms and homes being passed down through multiple generations. However, these farms are vulnerable. To make farming economically viable more land is needed and the farms are often not big enough. The land is handed down and divided between children, many of whom sell the land not wanting to continue the lifestyle they have inherited. Traditionally, the eldest son inherited the farm meaning their siblings had to buy or lease farms to continue the lifestyle they were brought up in. This has meant many, including John who is employed at various livestock markets, work separate jobs alongside their farms to hold on to their culture and heritage.

The farms are also threatened economically by the current changes to the Basic Payment Scheme, an annual stipend to farmers brought in to secure food security for the nation. Farms now have to have 10% of their land as natural woodland, and 10% for wildlife habitat to continue getting payments under the new requirements.

Some farmers however are reacting to these changes through modern and progressive techniques. Rhidian, John and Dafydd’s nephew, has studied agriculture at university and now runs a successful farm where he uses data and selective breeding to produce profitable results. He uses the land in an intensive style and is converting his traditional sheep farm to a dairy farm.

The Dyfi Valley has always been a place of innovation. Post slate mining it has become a place of sustainability with the biosphere protections and is the home of the Centre for Alternative Technologies where green ways of living have been championed since 1973. The next generation of farmers inheriting the traditional lifestyle, are also learning to be sustainable in a changing world order and environmental landscape.

The images in this story explore tradition, inheritance and community through the story of the Pughe family, who are the descendants of generations of farmers. It shows how their traditional lifestyle is under threat, but looks to the future generations who are adapting to survive.

This work is current being exhibited in Ffotogaleri y Gofeb in Machynlleth where the work was made.

The exhibition is open until the end of September 2024.

For full details please go to https://www.ffotogaleriygofeb.co.uk/

Selected Timeline:

Circa 2000BC (or so) - farmers are active in Wales.

Circa 1760 - Thomas Davies takes over at Caeadda farm. This was the first generation of the Davies/Pughe family at Caeadda farm and today, Dafydd Pughe mans the farm now, the seventh generation doing so.

Circa 1800s - Open cast pits mining for slate were started in the hills of the Dyfi Valley. Continues untill the early 1900s.

1837 - Caeadda farm, as part of a larger estate, is split up and sold by order of local courts due to a family argument related to inheritance.

1849 - Gwen Davis (Jones) marries Thomas Davies and starts working Caeadda farm.

1891 - When Gwen is widowed in 1891, she takes over and starts running the business with her eldest son, John Davies. Uniquely for a local woman at that time, she entered rams into local agricultural shows winning prizes, but never 1st.

1897 - John Davies dies. As the next two brothers in line were already established at another farm and as a chemist, the 4th eldest son, David Davis, takes over at Caeadda. He dies at the farm 63 years later.

Circa 1920s - Mechanisation enters farming. Machinery such as tractors meant the need to employ labourers quickly diminished.

1962 - What has become the Basic Payment Scheme introduced. The scheme gives farmers an annual payment alongside other subsidies in an effort to provide national food security. On average this becomes 60% of a Welsh farmer’s income.

1966 - Trevor Owen Davies, who had taken over the farm after John Davies, dies and Caeadda is passed to the descendants of his Aunt, Jane Nutting.

1972 - Mairwen and Willie Pughe, parents of Gwen, Dafydd, Rwth and John, are living at Caeadda farm tending sheep.

Crica 1980s - John Pughe takes over at Morben farm where he and his siblings had grown up before moving to Caeadda.

Crica 1985 - Dafydd Pughe takes over gradually at Caeadda.

2019 - Rhidian Glyn, son of Gwen and nephew to Dafydd and John Pughe, becomes tenant farmer at Rhiwgriafol farm.

2023 - Basic payment scheme ends.

2024 - New post-brexit governmental support scheme for farms will be in place called the Environmental Land Management Scheme. Many farms will loose their annual payment scheme which they have become reliant on. 

The Caeadda farm, on the north side of the Dyfi family has been manned by the same family for seven generations. Originally the Caeadda/ Davies family which through marriage became the Pughe family.

Mairwen and Willie Pughe were manning the farm up until the 1980s when their elder son Dafydd, gradually took over. They brought up four children Gwen, Dafydd, Rwth and John on the farm.

Dafydd Pughe lives on Caeadda Farm on the north side of the Dyfi Valley with his wife Debbie and 12 dogs. He has three children, Heledd, Catrin and Dafydd-Rhys who regularly come home to help out on the farm, particularly during lambing season where all farmers are working ‘eight days a week’. Dafyyd farms in a non-intensive and traditional way, allowing his livestock to roam freely throughout his land as he was taught growing up on the farm. Dafydd personifies the meaning of tradition. He does not own a phone.

Caeadda farm was the main family farm which the Pughes grew up on. Catrin, one of Dafyyd's daughters is currently at Aberystwyth University studying agriculture.

Dafydd has a keen interest in the history of the area and is proud of the Dyfi Valley’s innovation through the ages.  He collects objects from local industrial mines and quarries as well as old tractor seats.

Heledd (23) is Dafydd’s eldest daughter. She was brought up on Caeadda farm and during the pandemic her boyfriend Aron moved in and they all collectively worked on the farm. Heledd is not going into farming and is currently training to become a paramedic. Despite this she feels very lucky to have had the upbringing she has had and enjoys helping on the farm.

Currently the Basic Payment Scheme, which gives farmers an annual stipend to protect food security, is changing. The scheme was an EU initiative brought in in 1962 to protect food sources across Europe. On average, 60% of a UK farmer’s income is derived from this fund. The scheme ended in 2023 and currently farmers are on a transitional phase until 2027.

The post Brexit funding plan is called the 'Sustainable Farming Scheme'. For farmers to receive payments they need to have 10% of their land as a natural woodland and 10% needs to be natural habitat for wildlife.

This scheme works better for farmers who own their land and grow arable crop. For upland farmers, this is harder as they are less able to change their land in the required way in the mountainous regions they farm. 

In the previous picture John (right) and Alwyn (left) are scanning their sheep for pregnancy. Lambing season is soon approaching and the ewes with lamb are marked depending on how many they are carrying.

Alwyn is John’s son and after a brief stint working as a carpenter, he is now back to farming which is his generational inherited lifestyle. He explains that he ‘tried other jobs but I am just in love tractors’ so had to come back.

He lives on Morben farm with his dad and they work the farm together. Previously they had separate businesses on the same farm however combined to ‘make the paperwork easier’. Alwyn also works as a contractor driving tractors and other farm vehicles.

John is Dafydd’s brother. Dafydd has come to assist with the scanning and farmers often help each other out during big jobs such as this. Their community is close nit in this way with everyone giving each other a leg up when needed, particularly when the farmers are unable to afford to pay for farm hands.

Previous - An ultrasound device linked to a car battery shows the results of the pregnancy scan. The scanner, who is an independent contractor, charges 50p a scan. One scanner regularly goes to New Zealand where Welsh sheep farming knowledge is valued. ‘I don’t do it every year but the wife wants a new kitchen so I'll have to (this year).’

Next - The results of the scan showing how many ewes are not pregnant and then those who have a single lamb, twins or triplets. Triplets are not regarded as good as the lamb can be weaker so more likely to die. For the ‘empties’ they are marked with a red spot and sold to become ’kebab meat’.

John whose second name is Pughe, is often referred to as John ‘Morben’, which is the name of his farm. Traditionally farmers’ were referred to as the name of the farm as their second name. Morben farm is where Dafydd and John grew up originally before moving to Caeadda as children. John and Alwyn also farm in a traditional non-intensive style.

Their farm buildings and home sits amongst hills on the north facing side of the valley. Meaning that they get little sunlight. This is because when the farm buildings were built it was a dairy farm, and it was built in a darker part of the valley to keep the milk cooler.

Looking over the valley at the south facing hills getting a nice hit of December sunlight John observes - ‘look at those barstards over there enjoying the light.’ When asked about what time of day Morben farm gets some sunlight John replies ‘oh, around Valentine’s day’.

‘It’s hard to know what to do sometimes, but I think stick to what you know. People are always trying out different ways to be ahead of everyone but then they are still always behind someone else. If you stick to what you know, things keep going round in a nice circle and you always know what’s coming. Stick to what you know’.

Does Alwyn ever try and change things?

‘He tries to, until I beat it out of him.’

Alongside his farming, John has other sources of income to support his farm and family. This ranges from cutting wood for sale and as an animal handler at local livestock marts in Machynlleth and Dolgellau. Here sheep and cattle are brought to be sold at auction to other farmers from the surrounding hills.

The mart is also the social space for the farmers, many of whom live quite isolated lives on their farms in the hills. John loves doing this job and is well known and popular among his farming colleagues. He regularly buys boxes of fruit to hand around.

Rhidian Glyn, who is John and Dafydd’s nephew, leases Rhiwgriafol farm which he is converting from a traditional sheep farm to a dairy farm. For his innovative farming techniques Rhidian has won national awards recognising his innovation.

Making his farm economically sustainable now and in the future is what motivates Rhidian and he is successful in it. He uses data and selective breeding to produce high profits. He is detailed. For instance he measures the length of the grass which then gives him an idea of which fields are best to use.

He farms in an intensive style a step away from the traditional methods of allowing livestock to roam the hills freely. 

Rhidian will not be affected by the basic payment scheme change as his land (on the left) has been left as natural heath. Many farmers will not be able to change their land to the natural requirements demanded by the new scheme due to factors such as soil and terrain making it hard to adhere to the new 10% natural habitat and 10% woodland requirements.

Previous - Rhidian with a vet who is helping him perfect his animal health plan.

Following two pages - Rhidian is having a milking parlour built on the farm so he can produce milk for cheese. He sees it as having stronger economic prospects than just rearing livestock. He has invested a lot of money on this despite the fact he does not own the farm. He is confident that his contract for the lease of the farm will continue whilst his business is successful.

Despite the challenges this farming community face, their dedication to the land, animals and community is unchanging. The farmers feel proud of their heritage and identity, and proud to continue the lifestyle they inherited where they battle the elements and constant stress to provide food that feeds the nation.

The next generation of farmers in the Dyfi Valley are adapting to a changing economic system and forgoing many of the traditions that farmers have abided by for so long. Although not necessarily in a traditional way, as long as one child from each family continues to farm in any form, their legacy continues.

However older generations of farmers are resistant to people wanting to change their practise whilst dismissing their learnt knowledge. They have inherited wisdom regarding the natural environment around them which has been passed down through hundreds of years of generations manning the land. Many of these farmers see themselves as custodians of this land and life and feel that outside forces want them to change, yet are not interested in their knowledge and lived experience.

They are the guardians of a way of life, as well as the land that was handed down to them.