Real Road Trip 2019 - Simon Beddows

Simon Beddows – Dunsden Green Farm, Church Lane, Dunsden, Berkshire

Farm manager Simon Beddows runs Dunsden Green Farm in Berkshire, a 1000ha unit including 750ha of combinable crops. Simon spent five years working as a lecturer at an agricultural college before realising that practical agriculture was the route for him.

He believes a hands on approach and getting thoroughly involved with the land is key to success. “It’s important to have a feel for the job and the more you’re involved with, the better feeling you have for what seems to be the right thing to do.”

In terms of agronomy, Dunsden Green Farm has extremely variable soil types including clay cap, chalk and gravel therefore the farm responds well to varied applications. As a result, Simon tends to vary his nitrogen fertiliser, seed rates, herbicide applications and does variable work with growth regulators and fungicides. This ensures he doesn’t over use products and is applying what is required to the correct area. The farm is also involved with agri-environmental schemes, HLS and a DLS until 2021. The diverse environment allows Simon to dedicated areas not suitable for growing crops into conservation schemes and woodland.

He is eager to source information that will aid his growing decisions and aims to work with any trial for three years or more to provide accurate, reliable results. ”I don’t take what people tell me, I need to prove it for myself. You need to have some substance behind the decisions your making.”

He joined the Real Results Circle last year and is enthusiastic about putting Adexar® and Librax® to the test for the second year. He is keen to get involved with any type of trials which will provide beneficial information that helps confirm what is effective. “It’s a great benefit because we can pull actual farm results and then work out what the average yield is likely to be from varying different products. Most of the farmers that are involved with these trials are those who are keen to innovate.”