Farmworker of the Year shortlist: Phil Baynes

There are far fewer farmworkers on British farms than there used to be and those that remain are often the linchpin of the business. Long hours, an ability to turn their hand to any job and tremendous dedication are what make our three Farmworker of the Year finalists true unsung heroes. David Cousins reports on the work of one, Phil Baynes

Technical skills on the tractor and in the workshop may be important in any good farmworker, but often it’s enthusiasm that makes the difference between a good worker and a superb one.

Both of those qualities are present in spades when it comes to Cambridgeshire farmworker Phil Baynes. He came to work for Chris Ascroft at Wilbraham farms near Cambridge 24 years ago and has seen the farm grow from 258ha to 670ha, with a further 141ha of contract work.

As the hectares have gone up, staff numbers have gone down. Chris and Phil are the sole workers, with Phil doing the ploughing, drilling and combining and Chris the bulk of the spraying.

Cropping on this light-land farm is wheat, malting barley, sugar beet and canning peas. However shrinking pea margins have prompted Chris to decide to drill 80ha of oilseed rape for the first time this autumn.

All the land is ploughed every year, a task that many tractor drivers would balk at. However Phil says he is happy to spend long hours in the cab, provided it’s the best tractor for the job.

The judges liked

• Unwavering love of ploughing, despite 18 hours-a-day autumn workload
  
• Scientific approach to choosing a new tractor
  
• Keen to do the job right, whether it’s ballasting the tractor or checking tyres

In fact, when it comes to choosing a new tractor, it’s Phil that pretty much decides what make and model to go for. The farm has recently replaced its main ploughing tractor and Phil had five makes on test on the farm.

The farm had each tractor for two days. It was the same land and the same ploughing conditions, allowing them to compare like with like.

Phil used 32 criteria to test each tractor, ranging from fuel use to build quality. These also included small-but-important items such as the position of the radio and how easy it was to clean the tractor’s various windows. It’s another example of Phil’s unwavering enthusiasm for the job, points out Chris.

“He’s spending 18 hours a day in the tractor from harvest to mid-October – the tractor has to be something he wants to drive,” says Chris. “If we’re really busy, he’ll sometimes be on the tractor at 4am.”

When you’re ploughing more than 809ha a year, a love of the job is an important asset, agrees Phil. “I find ploughing incredibly satisfying,” he says. “The biggest field we have is 126 acres and my goal is to plough that in 24 hours.”

Farm facts

• All-arable 670ha farm growing wheat, malting barley, sugar beet and canning peas
  
• All the land is ploughed every year, so heavy workload
  
• Just two people doing all the work

It’s not all about fieldwork, of course. Phil does all the machinery maintenance but also enjoys welding and fabricating. Where an existing tool doesn’t work very well, he’ll design his own.

In fact a frame that allows one tractor to lift another to change the wheels proved a lot safer than the traditional bottle jack and drew praise from the local HSE man.

Likewise, his one-man system for loading the fertiliser hopper has saved time and manpower – an important benefit when you don’t have many staff. “There aren’t many pieces of equipment on the farm that we haven’t modified,” he says.

His keenness to do the job right extends to reducing compaction as well as saving fuel. Front and wheel weights are altered according to the job, as are tyre pressures, and Phil even got Michelin in to weigh the tractor (rather than taking a guess from the spec sheet) so that he knew his calculations were completely accurate.

Wilbraham Farms is also part of RTK Farming, a farmer-owned provider of ultra-accurate GPS signals. This involves regular precision farming training days for tractor drivers, a new area for Phil and one that benefits from his characteristic enthusiasm and technical know-how.

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Read more

Meet the other farmworker finalists Ian Stubbs and

Meet all the other 2012 finalists

Find out more about the 2012 Farmers Weekly Awards including details on how to book tables for the event’s glittering London awards bash