GOOD LANDLORD TENANT RELATIONS ARE KEY TO SUCCESS
The Tenant Farmers Association (TFA) would like to congratulate some of its members who have been nominated for national awards in the Farmers Weekly Awards 2008 and Natural England's Future of Farming Award 2008, which the TFA actively supports.
TFA National Chairman Greg Bliss said “I am really pleased for these members who have been rightly recognised for their achievements. Their experiences also show how important it is on tenanted holdings to have landlords and tenants working together to achieve good results”.
Chris and Richard Gordon are regional winners for the South West for the Future of Farming Award. They are tenants of the Ministry of Defence on Salisbury Plain where they have a dairy and cereal farm which is in the process of converting to organic status. They have combined traditional and modern farming methods to enhance both soil fertility and bio-diversity.
Richard Gordon said "The MOD have been very supportive of us when we decided to enter for this award. We were surprised when we found out that we were regional winners, but it is nice to be recognised for what we are doing."
Ian Waller from Buckinghamshire is a regional winner for the Future of Farming Award in the South East and is also a finalist for the Farmers Weekly Countryside Farmer of the Year. His large arable farm consists of woodland, hedgerows and ponds, which supports a diverse range of wildlife, including nationally rare butterflies. It was one of the first and largest farms to be accepted into Natural England's Higher Level Stewardship Scheme. Mr Waller has been fortunate that his landlord has been very supportive of the various environmental schemes which he is involved in as a new tenant.
As Mr Waller commented "It hasn't been easy at times, but there is room for environmental farming as well as conventional farming."
Keith Siddorn from Cheshire has been highly commended in the North West region for the Future of Farming Award and is a finalist for the Farmers Weekly Countryside Farmer of the Year. His family have farmed the same farm for over 100 years where it has gone through considerable changes. It used to be a traditional dairy farm, before converting to continental beef. He now runs a herd of Traditional Hereford sucklers and fattens over 5000 bacon pigs a year for Marks & Spencer. Every acre of land is under some form of stewardship plan. Mr Siddorn admits that it can be difficult at times as a tenant to farm environmentally as he has to obtain permission from the landlord; however his landlord has been very supportive with the plans.
Mr Siddorn entered the competitions as a benchmarking exercise explaining "There are very few farms in the area who farm like we do, so we wanted to be able to look at how we were doing on a national scale."
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Ref: MR20
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Date: 4 September 2008
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Notes for Editors:
For further information contact Greg Bliss on 07850 716042 or Jenna Stroud, TFA Communications and Events Coordinator on 07887 777157/0118 930 6130.
The announcement for the National Winner of the Future of Farming Award will be made on the 19th of November at the National Award Event at Ragley Hall.
The winners of the Farmers Weekly Countryside Farmer of the Year Award will be announced, along with the winners of the other categories on Monday 27th October in the Great Room at the London Grosvenor House Hotel.
The Tenant Farmers Association is the only organisation dedicated to the agricultural tenanted sector and is the authentic voice of tenant farmers. The TFA lobbies at all levels of Government and gives expert advice to members.
