Winning Farm Managers make a difference for Velcourt
Velcourt has announced this year’s winners in its farm competition.
Stewart McCallum
The company, which provides farm management and consultancy across a number of sectors including arable and dairy, holds an annual competition to find the very best among its farm managers.
In order to judge the competition, Chief Executive James Townshend and Chairman Robin Malim visited each of Velcourt’s 36 farm managers.
Simon Eddell Rougham
The leading farm management company has held the awards for more than 20 years and elements include husbandry of crops and livestock, business development and commitment to the Campaign for the Farmed Environment.
Mr Townshend says: “We believe that it is the people that make the difference at Velcourt, and that is certainly true of all our award winners. The standards were particularly high this year and our job was far from easy. We have some excellent talent among our farm managers and these awards go some way to recognising the hard work they all put into the business.”
Somerset’s Radstock Co-op’s Farm Manager Stewart McCallum scooped the Andrew Waite Trophy and the Dairy Trophy. He managed to turn the cooperative around from being a loss-making concern into a profit-making dairy farm.
Simon Eddell, at Rougham Estates in Suffolk, was awarded the Chairman’s Cup. He impressed the judges with how much he’s progressed since taking on the farm in 2010.
Mark Edgecombe
Mark Edgecombe, Farm Manager at Woodsford Farms in Dorchester, Dorset was presented with the Velcourt Trophy. He was judged to have achieved the highest standard of excellence in animal and crop husbandry, and overall management of the farm resources under his control.
Mr Townsend says: “We were very impressed with Mark’s performance. He has managed to reduce the cost of production, increase the return on working capital and maximise profitability.”
Andrew Cullinane at Martin Lodge Farm and Andrew Lensen at J Goodley & Sons Ltd were runners-up in the Velcourt Trophy.