Real Road Trip 2019 – Richard Budd

Fruit and cereal farmer, Richard Budd previously worked in London as a wine broker but has now returned home to the family farm full time. He is thankful for the skill set he has gained by leaving the farm and is using it to boost his business to the best it can be.

“Farming tends to be quite a solitary business traditionally so to come back with those sort of skills and to be able to communicate a bit more about what we’re doing and want to do has put us in good stead to grow the business, as we have in the past ten years.”

Richard finds having strong communication skills particularly useful when it comes to managing his staff. “Being able to communicate with staff on a wider basis is really important. This ensures that jobs are being done the way you want them to be done.”

Richard farms 1000ha with his 2019 cropping including winter oilseed rape, winter barley, winter wheat, winter oats, spring barley, spring beans and spring oats. Over the last four years he has embraced a direct drilling system which has successfully improved soil structure and reduced weed pressure.

Regarding the Real Results Circle, Richard enjoys associating with like-minded people who don’t necessarily farm similarly. “We share a common goal and it’s great to get different ideas from different people”. He hopes that by being part of Real Results Circle he will be able to boost future yields by comparing and contrasting his own results with others using different T1 and T2 strategies.

Richard encourages sustainability across the farm which currently houses 100 contract bee hives. He particularly finds the hives help with pollination across the orchids and encourages the fruit to blossom in poorer years.

In the long run Richard intends to increase the business size by adopting new chemistry and plant breeding.