Meet the NFU Combinable Crops Board

Wheat is grown for the feed market, with a small area grown for seed. Winter barley is feed and spring barley is for malting. The farming partnership also runs a grain storage business with drying facilities and a soft fruit enterprise.

The farm is currently managed under a HLS agreement having previously been in the Cotswold Hills ESA.

James is also a member of the Molson Coors Growers Group steering committee and the local NIABTAG technical committee. He represents the NFU Combinable Crops Board on the Red Tractor Crops & Sugar Beet Board.

He also runs his own well respected agronomy and seed business, spanning the three local counties. In addition to his duties as chair of the Welsh Crops Board, Andrew is also a member of the Pembrokeshire Agricultural Society Council and Estates Committee.

The joint venture has a mix of owned, tenanted and contract farming agreements, growing milling and feed wheat, milling oats, feed and malting barley, peas, beans and, for the time being, oilseed rape. 

Due to the complex nature of the soils in South Herts, ranging from heavy clays to gravel, Jamie and his colleagues cover a wide range of cultivation and drilling methods. However, a happy medium of min-till normally takes place on 50% of the land farmed. All grain is sold through Openfield going to homes relatively locally, usually within 50 miles.

At home, the family farm has diversified, with an 80-horse livery and riding school, with all hay and straw produced in house.

Having been involved in the NFU locally since returning home from Harper Adams in 2005 Jamie has gradually become more and more involved at a regional level and now, as well as being Hertfordshire NFU County chair, he is also East Anglia Combinable Crops Board chair. He is also an ex-Cereals Development Programme participant, and keen to get others involved in these types of initiatives.  

Jamie is passionate about achieving the best for cereal and oilseed producers, and proud to represent the cereals interests of East Anglia members.

Cropping includes wheat feed, malting barley, oilseed rape and beans, all of which is direct drilled.

Olly also rents out office accommodation in converted barns that used to house cattle. Alongside the arable enterprise, he recycles tree waste into biomass and some composting.

Olly also represents the NFU Combinable Crops Board on the Red Tractor Crops & Sugar Beet Board.

He farms 900 acres of combinable crops, wheat, oilseed rape, oats, barley and beans.

Alongside this, he lets out some permanent pasture for sheep grazing and all the land he manages is covered by a HLS scheme. The business uses precision farming techniques extensively and is beginning the journey into conservation agriculture.

Andrew is also involved in a joint venture machinery sharing agreement with a neighbouring farmer.

Having achieved an OND in agriculture, Peter has subsequently farmed a mix of owned and rented land of varying soil types growing predominantly winter cereals and oilseeds, and spring beans. He has represented the cereals policy interests of Nottinghamshire growers through many facets of the industry, including the NFU since 1981 and a six-year spell on NFU Council.

Focus has been on achieving high yields with attention to detail, operating as a sole trader with the assistance of contractors for specific tasks as required. Peter has had a grower representation role on AHDB’s Cereal and Oilseeds Research & KE Board for six years while overseeing significant levy investment for growers. Special areas of interest are IPM and PPPs.

Additionally, Peter has seats on the PGRO RL Pulse Committee and also on the AHDB RL Wheat Committee. Now chair of East Midlands Regional Combinable Crops Board, Peter currently has a role in the Red Tractor Technical Advisory Panel overseeing the standards review.

James also farms in partnership with his wife on 300 acres in North Yorkshire, growing combinable crops and running a small flock of New Zealand Romneys. With a large ELS/HLS scheme, the farm is LEAF Marque accredited. 

James is a governor of Askham Bryan College and a director of its farming company as well as a council member of the Institute of Agricultural Management. Prior to moving to Yorkshire, James managed the Montreal Estate in Kent and has previously been a director of Southern Farmers and RAMSAK.  

On graduation he was employed by Booker Farming as a trainee manager with various placements in Yorkshire, Norfolk, Essex and Lincolnshire plus a tree nursery and head office function experience. The permanent roles for Booker then included assistant manager in Hampshire and Farm Manager in Essex. When CWS Agriculture purchased the company, the Essex role expended to 2500 hectares from Saffron Walden to Chelmsford as Farmcare Ltd Essex. This was an all combinable crop operation for Pension Fund owned land and a range of contract farming operations for local land owners.

In 2002, Andrew moved to Cambridge to manage the Trumpington Farm Company, a 2500 hectare combinable and root crop operation. This business was developed to include venue hire, extensive HLS, amenity work and renewables. His corporate farming experience has been a benefit when managing private agribusiness. In 2006, he gained a diploma in business management with the OU.

Nine years ago, he took up the role of Farms Director for Thurlow Estate Farms Limited on the Suffolk, Cambridge and Essex borders. The predominantly combinable crop operation required restructure. The business now operates as one having re-organised cropping, machinery, working practices and infrastructure. The operation is now in a strong place to adapt to the ever changing focus of agriculture and environment.

Alongside professional activities he has been NFU branch chair, IAgrM branch chair, local FWAG and NFU regional crops board chair. These roles have broadened his understanding of the politics that influence the industry and the issues it faces.

Wheat is predominantly grown for the feed market, spring barley for malting, OSR for Openfield, legumes for seed contracts, and grass for cattle; grazing and silage.

Heather splits her time between the family farm and Elsoms Seeds Business Development Department. Here she is tasked with looking at new potential markets, exploring developing ones and researching changing political, economic and industry ideas.

Heather previously developed and managed the Energy, Forage and Hybrid cereals portfolio for the business, following a successful career trading grain for local and national merchants.

After selling the milking cows in 2003 the family went down the path of min-till to cope with the heavy copper marl soils, and now operate a min-till/direct drilling system with the help of livestock to produce their crops, whether that be FYM or sheep grazing crops in the spring.

The Atkins are host to Agrii’s Staffordshire & Derbyshire iFarm site, as well as being an Agrii Digital Technology Farm. They work alongside South Staffordshire Water to trial projects for their spring scheme, by trialling different methods of establishing crop, ideas to reduce chemicals and nitrogen from entering the water courses while trying to improve biodiversity on the farm.

Rob is currently the vice chair of the Uttoxeter and Burton NFU branch and is chair of the NFU Cereals Development Programme for 2022. 

The business runs a diverse rotation consisting of winter sown wheat, OSR, barley and oats, and spring sown beans. The business has recently begun to grow potatoes in the rotation again after an absence of nearly 40 years.

The business also runs around 250 breeding ewes and has a biomass enterprise.

Having been at Burgate since leaving college in 1981, Peter fully took over the business in 2021.

His land is part tenanted, part contract farmed and part stubble to stubble contracted. Cultivations have been non inversion/min till for 15 years, recently moving towards direct drilling wherever possible.

There are a mix of variable soils, from weald clay, greensand to chalk. Being solely reliant on arable cropping, the aim is to be as efficient and lean as possible.

Peter is a past Surrey County chairman and currently Surrey NFU Council representative.