The turnaround in the fortunes of Phillimore Farms bear
all the hallmarks of Simon Beddows' careful, considered
approach.
This is not a man to do things on a whim - Simon brings the same
methodical, rigorous style to his management as he does to his own
extensive cropping trials on Phillimore Farms' 1000ha of arable
land.
Simon's patient, people-focused approach reflects spells on his
CV as a farm mechanisation and cropping lecturer at Sparsholt
College in Hampshire. It was natural that when he took over as
manager at Philliore Farms, he knew the secret to transforming the
farming business lay in its staff.
"There was quite a lot of tension in the team and with other
members of the estate staff, when I came here, and a lot of
confusion about who was supposed to do what."
Simon took each of his new team to one side to discover what
they really wanted from their jobs, what their individual skills
were, and to restructure their roles to allow them to play to their
strengths. This soon delivered benefits and Simon's success in
rationalising the farming operations with the same team and no
staff losses is no small achievement.
But by far the bigger challenge was to tame the farm itself.
"When I came here six years ago you could barely see the wheat for
the blackgrass and other weeds. The estate looked, as someone put
it to me, an eyesore.
"There had been a lot of recreational cultivations and the first
thing was to get the soils back into some sort of reasonable
working order."
To get things back into some sort of order, with a small budget
for new machinery, Simon's strategy was for cheap horsepower. Now
the widely varying soils - from Thames-side "fen" to Chilterns
chalk - receive a pass from a Simba Solo pulled by a Ford
Versatile. Already, improvements are visible. "We don't need to do
so deep with the subsoiler tines, and the fields are more even,
yields are better and there's far less water sitting on the
surface. We're on a journey, but we are getting there."
Simon's approach in transforming the quality of Phillimore
Farms' arable business has hinged on taking logical steps,
identifying problems and devising a carefully thought-out strategy
for improvement. It's the same approach he brings to his
agronomy.
"The first thing I had to tackle was the high weed burden, not
helped by poor soil conditions and an aged machinery fleet. Every
year we hold on-farm trials to explore how we can use chemicals
better. Mulitple applications of glyphosate are key. "I rotate
herbicide use so nothing gets applications of the same active
ingredient in the same year.
"I set a budget and then my aim is to always come in below it. I
check figures monthly and quarterly for the estate's trustees and
accounts, but I'm running my own analysis of how I'm doing all the
time.
But Simon's quiet, unhurried nature belies his impressive
achievements taking the message of farming and food production into
local schools. "Promoting British farming and engaging with the
public is a passion of mine."
Simon has effectively used local media to get farming's message
across - both through writing articles and taking part in
multimedia projects like podcasts. He conceived a dedicated food
and farming marquee at the local agricultural show to demonstrate
basic farming facts to children, and has taken tractors into local
schools as part of the
Year of Farming
and Food. But he's passionate that his message isn't just about
food production, but about how farming can tackle climate change
too.
"Agriculture currently stands at a crossroads. We have to prove
that we can produce food efficiently while looking after and
improving the natural environment. Globally, food production will
become increasingly important in the next 10 years and UK
agriculture has to be fit for purpose.
"We are currently a producer of commodity crops. To continue, we
need to look to producing crops with fewer oil-based inputs like
nitrogen fertiliser and agrochemicals. This is our number one
challenge and by investigating different cropping rotations and
techniques to reduce our dependence on oil, we are also reducing
our carbon footprint."
Farm facts
- Phillimore Farms: 1000ha estate between Reading and Henley on
Thames.
- Arable enterprise on 800ha
- 70ha contract farmed for neighbour
- Cropping includes forage maize and millet
- Picked up local agricultural society awards for best arable
farm in 2005 and 2007.
- Machinery costs slashed.
- BASIS, FACTS and BETA registered.
- Introduced GPS soil mapping
What the judges said:
"Simon has carefully considered and managed risk very well,
in financial budgets, agronomic trials and machinery structure. His
real passion for Phillimore Farms is very apparent."
Key achievements
- Rationalised machinery fleet
- Re-organised farming team
- Instituted own agronomic trials