News

November 2017 – What wildlife would you like on your farm?

When thinking about the farm business we often think about what market opportunities there are, what grant and subsidy opportunities there are, how we can control cost and how we can realise the value of the natural assets we have.

The reality of all this monetisation and budgeting is that a pretty common starting place, and indeed an important one, when talking with new clients is to ask them what their aims and objectives for their land are.

October 2017 – Prepare to get lucky

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity, Seneca (1st Century Roman philosopher).

Failing to prepare and as a result failing, leaves scars which are hopefully built upon and should (in theory) be learned from. Memories of a student failing to prepare for the seed dressing team burn bright.

September 2017 – Nothing beats being a farmer

Two friends meet for the first time in twenty years. George asks David “How’s your IT business treating you?”  “Not bad, I have thirty working for me, we own our office, have three holidays a year and the mortgage is nearly paid off.

August 2017 – For what it’s worth

I am sure that this publication will be analysing the speech The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP gave at the WWF Living Planet Centre on 21 July in much the same way as other industry journals. Or perhaps Mr Gove’s “vision for the future of the natural environment” will already have been side-lined by his colleague The Rt Hon Liam Fox MP’s comments about American jet wash chicken.

For Sale – New Buckhurst Farm, Mark Beech, Kent

New Buckhurst Farm, Mark Beech, Kent, TN8 5NR

A charming farm with stock buildings, arable land, grass land and woodland extending to approximately 70 ha (173 acres).

Please see full particulars here.  Guide Price £2,000,000

July 2017 – Road to Shangrila

I had been thinking about entitling this article something along the lines of ‘Keep it simple’ but the more eagle eyed among you would no doubt have noticed a certain similarity to our article last month, in the title at least, and the message within the prose will be broadly similar too; although in this instance I’m applying that mantra so that you too will be able to follow the necessary steps to agri-environment enlightenment.

June 2017 – Keep it simple stupid

‘Complexity is your enemy. Any fool can make something complicated. It is hard to make something simple’ Richard Branson.

The longer I spend running businesses, both for myself and for clients, unravelling complex family structures, mediating in family disputes, helping to improve the profi tability of small and medium sized businesses, the simpler I like things to be.

May 2017 – Slow learners

What would you do if you found a contractor instructed by a utility working on your land without prior agreement? Assume they have a statutory right to be there and let them carry on, or take issue and confront them? This sort of occurrence happens far too often.

April 2017 – Battles on the village green

Those of us managing private rural estates will most likely have a small fi eld or patch of land in the village that is owned by the estate but also used by the local community, maybe due to a footpath that crosses it, or if it forms what is viewed by many as the ‘village green’.

March 2017 – One eye on the detail

While we gaze thoughtfully in to the future anticipating the opportunities and pitfalls that Brexit might throw our way it would appear that those in government, and more particularly in Defra, are not doing the same. No surprise there I hear you say?