Aspiring farmer from Billinghay returns to TV spotlight
Joe Trofer-Cook, nine, was among those featured on LIVE: Summer on the Farm, screened recently on Channel 5.
It followed appearances on the related shows: Christmas on the Farm (when he received two cows as a festive treat) and Springtime on the Farm.
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Joe is said to be Britain’s youngest farmer – during the first national lockdown, he started growing vegetables which he would sell from a wheelbarrow at the end of his garden; then, using the money he made, he bought chickens and after that sheep.
His appearance on LIVE: Summer on the Farm showed him tending to his livestock on what was described as ‘perhaps Britain’s littlest farm’ and running his plant and vegetable stall to help pay for animal feed.
Setting out his stall, he said: “It has to be set up good, else no one would come to my store and buy off me, because they’ll think I rushed it, so you got to do it nice and neat.”
Elsewhere, Joe has become a member of the Lincolnshire Buff Poultry Society so he can breed and show Lincolnshire Buff chickens; submitted entries to this year’s Heckington Show (having picked up honours at the event for the past two years); and has been nominated for a British Farming Award in the Diversification Innovator of the Year (Small) category.
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Mum Clare said: “I’m very proud of Joe as he has autism and dyslexia. He really struggles at school, so being in his garden and having his animals had made him shine.”
Joe has a Facebook group dedicated to his work – search Joe’s Garden Patch at www.facebook.com