John Edgar

It is a story of success, of hard work and taking the opportunities that arise.  The Rees family moved to Stakes Farm, Upham, south east of Winchester in 1918.  When David Rees took over in 1963, the mixed farm was 169 acres but, over the years, the pig and poultry enterprises were expanded and five adjoining farms were purchased, taking the total to nearly 1,000 acres.  David’s son George joined the business in 1996, his sister four years later.  In 2006, they sold up at Upham and moved to the South Lynch Estate, 2,300 acres near Hursley to the south west of Winchester.

            A couple of weeks ago, there was a farm walk at the estate under the auspices of the John Edgar Memorial Trust.  We rode round on a tractor and trailer stopping at various enterprises along the way.  There is a dairy herd of 450 cows, 300 of which calve in the autumn, 150 in the spring, with the milk sold on a Marks and Spencer contract.  10,000 pigs are fattened each year, the weaners coming from a 600 sow high health indoor pig unit in Yorkshire leased to Rattlerow Farms Ltd.  David Rees told us that the past couple of years have been horrendous for pig production with substantial losses.  Although prices have picked up, he wonders whether there is a profitable long term future.

            The arable is fairly conventional with wheat, barley, oilseed rape, peas and herbage seed in the rotation.  After two year of herbage seed, silage is taken in the third year for the dairy herd.  Arable land is also farmed on contract for other landowners, taking the total to over 4,000 acres in a 15 to 20 mile radius, down from a former maximum of 10,000 acres.  Contractors are brought in to augment their own resources; as David said ‘let them buy the expensive kit!’ 

            We reached the high point of the farm at Farley Mount with stunning views to the south.  The monument on the summit was built to commemorate a horse, Beware Chalk Pit, so called because it jumped 25 feet into a chalk pit with its owner Paulet St John, 3rd Earl of Bolingbroke on its back whilst out hunting in 1733.  Just a year later it won a race with the same rider, the Hunters Plate on Worthy Down.  It is surrounded by 68 acres of unimproved chalk grassland leased to Hampshire Country Council for a peppercorn rent as the Farley Mount Country Park, attracting 140,000 visitors a year.  The estate has two Higher Tier Countryside Stewardship agreements and is a member of the Winchester Downs farmer cluster, collaborating with neighbouring landowners to coordinate nature conservation projects.

            Like most modern estates, there are a number of diversified enterprises.  Four multifuel biomass boilers provide the heat to dry grain, timothy grass, maize and woodchip whilst solar panels generate 66 Kw of electricity.  A planning application has been submitted for 45 acres of solar panels to generate more electricity to feed into the National Grid.  200 acres of timothy is grown mainly for the equine market.  The latest venture is oat milk started last September for sale to independent coffee shops.  400,000 litres need to be sold annually to be profitable but they are already up to 25,000 litres a month.

We had a most enjoyable afternoon on the Hampshire Downs and returned to the grain store where we enjoyed local beer and an excellent hog roast.  However, the main purpose of the day was to launch the John Edgar Trust Management Development Scheme for 2023/4.  This will give another dozen young people the opportunity of first-rate training in business management, and benefit from the Trust set up in John Edgar’s name.  John Edgar was a Hampshire farmer who died at the early age of 48 in 1970.  His many friends and admirers gathered round to set up a trust fund in his memory, which has been used ever since to provide business management training to young people in agriculture and ancillary professions from across southern England.

The objective of the course is ‘to enhance leadership and management skills within agriculture and the land-based industries’.  It comes at a time when farming is changing faster and more dramatically than at any other time, when opportunities exist for those brave enough to grasp them.  The aim is to identify and inspire the leaders of the next generation.  One past scholar told me how his experience of the course transformed his life and career, giving him the confidence to pursue his ideas.

The course is aimed at young people who have received formal education and who are a rung or two up the management ladder.  Their chosen career should be agriculture or closely allied to it, such as land agency, marketing or processing.  Applications are invited before the deadline of 28th May, so anyone who is considering applying has little time to gain more details from the website www.johnedgartrust.org.uk and express an interest.  I know from personal experience the value of this course and would urge any young person to apply for a life-changing experience.