PROFILE R H Maddever Farms
Farming without favouritism
Judith Tooth talks to Andrew Maddever about the challenges and rewards of contracting.
“P
art of what I enjoy about contracting is working with different people,”
says Suffolk farmer and contrac- tor Andrew Maddever. “Without it farming can be very insular.” Andrew farms in partnership with his wife, Sarah, father, Hugh and mother, Ann. As well as the family farm at Whepstead, near Bury St Edmunds, there are five contract farming agreements and additional land on farm business tenancies, spread from Laven- ham to Newmarket.
Two full-time employees work across the business: Jamie Mat- thews on sprayer and combine, and Jamie Drury on cultiva- tions, drilling and fertiliser. Sa- rah looks after crop recording, health and safety, staff training and pay roll. She also works as a grain buyer for Harlow Agri- cultural Merchants. Farm secre- tary Cheryl Lee is responsible for book keeping.
Andrew and Sarah’s son, Hen-
ry, is back on the farm for a few weeks before starting his second summer with OJ Neil for the rye and straw seasons, having com- pleted the first year of his degree at Easton and Otley College.
Meeting expectations “I enjoy the chal- lenge of meeting everyone’s expec- tations – which are very var-
ied, with some focusing largely on the aesthetics of their farms and others entirely on the bottom line,” says Andrew. “But they are thought of and treated as one unit without favouritism.”
On one of the farms 130ha of
flower rich margins and winter bird food have just been sown as part of the new Simplified Stew- ardship scheme. Yield mapping and 11 years’ of contracting ex- perience on the farm made it clear year on year which areas were not performing. Now, with
“
I’m assuming there will be no support, and trimming costs to suit
those out of production, average yields across the rest of the farm will rise. “We’ve got a mix of 4m and 6m margins, and larger areas of less productive land, including a 20ha plot of very wet land that couldn’t economically be drained. The scheme gives a very good fi- nancial return, and that’s what I’m most excited about, that’s the >>
Father and son, Hugh and Andrew Maddever
Kabuki marrowfat peas are grown on contract to ADM
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