Management matters

That he can refer to over 3,700 acres of barley, wheat and rye, with 12,000 tonnes of grain storage, not to mention 100 acres of peas and 370 acres of sugar beet, as a break crop, highlights the scale of his latest role.

The investment in kit and infrastructure required to sustain such an operation is staggering, not least because the estate’s Breckland soil is so sandy it just runs through your fingers.

“We have to work really hard to make sure it doesn’t blow away,” says Andrew. A 240,000-metre network of pipes feeding 46 irrigation reels and 24 linear systems, maintained by 12 full-time workers, keeps the crops growing, while a fleet of 32 tractors is constantly ferrying crops from field to refrigerated storage facilities. Along with careful management, these allow the estate to sell onions for 11 months of the year.

Although they might not be the most expensive item in the shopping basket, onions are not cheap to grow. “Our new grader cost £3.5 million. Every onion is scanned 30 times.”

Investing in resilience

With irrigation playing such a crucial role in Elveden’s farming enterprise, safeguarding access to water is a key part of Andrew’s job. The estate already has two large reservoirs, but it still relies on nine boreholes to top up supplies, especially during prolonged dry spells such as experienced this summer.

“Because of climate change and the ongoing water shortage in this part of the country, I’m pretty sure we are going to see the amount of water that we are allowed to abstract reduced significantly in the not-too-distant future.”

To prepare for that, the estate has just invested £3 million in building another large reservoir. “One of my main aims is to de-risk what we do here as much as I can. Without water, this land would be completely unproductive. The water is almost more valuable than the soil to us here.”

Diversification is also an important part of Elveden’s land-based de-risking process, with the estate’s 4,200 acres of woodland home to a successful Christmas tree operation, which specialises in large trees for corporate and municipal customers, and a unique 150-acre, 17 species instant-hedging business.

People management

Nevertheless, it’s working with people, whether in the local community, those employed by the estate, or the tenants living in Elveden’s 250 let houses spread across four parishes, that Andrew sees as the most important aspect of his role.

Andrew also ensures that all the estate’s 220 employees are fully briefed on what is happening across the business. “It’s just good staff management. It’s about engaging with everyone so they feel involved.”

“Over the summer, for example, we’ve taken people from the pubs and the farm shop out around the farm to better understand where some of the things they sell come from.”

His approach to people management was partly inspired by John Giffard, the owner of Chillington Hall, one of the estates he previously managed.

“He was the Chief Constable of Staffordshire, in charge of about 2,500 policemen and women, but he knew all their names. He taught me a lot about chains of command and the responsibility of office.”

Future plans

As part of the strategy to diversify and de-risk the estate, several large new projects are in the pipeline. An AD plant, partly supplied with muck from a tenanted pig rearing business, will eventually deliver liquid digestate fertiliser around the estate via a new network of pipes, while a deal has been struck to build a garden centre in the old walled garden.

“It’s certainly a very exciting business to be involved in.”

Elveden in numbers

• £3,000,000 spent on new reservoir
• 240,000 metres of irrigation pipe network
• 22,286 acres total size of estate
• 6,008 acres of protected heathland
• 800 deer shot each year
• 250 let residential properties
• 200 red list species on heathland
• 2 pubs and hotels
• 1 farm shop

Find out more about Elveden