ANDREW Closter describes being the boss on a farm as "a world of pain" - and a wonderfully rewarding job.

The 39-year-old runs a family business growing vegetables and has been working on the farm for 14 years.

He always knew he would work on the farm his father was born on. He was the only one of eight siblings who wanted to run it.

The farm was always meant to stay in the family; Andrew's dad was born on the site but when his grandfather died the family had to sell up.

Over the years, Andrew's father bought it back, bit by bit. Now Andrew owns the lot.

"Dad was happy I wanted to run the farm but not happy to sell it to me.

"He's retired now but still comes to the farm most afternoons and tells me what I'm doing wrong," Andrew says with a laugh.

His two elder brothers also work on the farm, as do both his daughters who he hopes will take over the business one day.

The father of five says the best part of his job is being able to work with family and "stirring up" his brothers.

"The worst part of having a farm is the drought.

"I want to make sure the business is here for my kids in future, but there's no security with the [lack of] rain. I've put a lot of work into it and spent too much money to just walk away from it ... you can't think about giving up."

The hard work of a vegetable farmer starts at 5am in the summer and continues when the sun goes down.

"There's planting to do, ordering seeds, making sure the plants are ready for harvest and then getting the trucks loaded," he says.

"When I get home I feed my horses and spend time with them before I go back to the farm and put the sprinklers on. Sometimes I have to load the trucks at night. It's a long day."

But being able to spend most of his time outdoors and getting through another season makes it all worth it for this happy farmer.