Pertwood Organic Farm

The Team

August 2010

The British based Organic cereal producer, The Pertwood Organic Cereals Company (Ltd.) operates from Lower Pertwood Organic Farm (Ltd.) - a 1,850 acre farm near Warminster in Wiltshire. Family member, and Managing Director of both, Tamara Webster recently transferred to the United States with her husband, where he will be working for a number of years.

This necessitated a review of the company's and farm management. Due to an overall expansion in the businesses a number of new posts have been created. 

On farm these include a full-time Silo Manager. Although the grain silos have been on the farm for a number of years they are undergoing a complete revamp with significant investment being made in new technology to increase the capacity and efficiency of the facility. Greg Elliott ( ) is in charge of the silos. Greg is a qualified Mechanical Engineer.

On the Arable farming side the farm has entered into a long-term joint venture with local contractor, Andy Fraser. Andy and his two sons, George and Jonny, are fully integrated into the company's Arable programme. Although Andy has been working as a contractor on the farm for a number of years he has now accepted complete responsibility for all on farm mechanical activities.

Lower Pertwood is very committed to maintaining the heritage of this well established and well known Wiltshire property. Pursuing the slogan 'Preserving the best of our past for the future' the company continues to allocate a certain amount of land every year to be farmed traditionally. This keeps old skills alive. The company has a full-time horseman, Barry Coffen, who looks after the two Clydesdales and the Shire, and also takes care of the well being of the noteworthy collection of vintage tractors including Titan, Waterloo Boy, Emerson Brantingham, Field Marshall and others.

During a recent week, wheat sown by horses was harvested using a 130-year old reaper binder in which both vintage and classic tractors, together with horses, participated. People from the local area were invited to join in the harvesting experience so that they could understand how Britain would have fed itself 100-years ago. Understanding these traditional methods is useful when reminding management and staff of the basis behind the Organic ethos which is to work with nature and to have a very gentle footprint on the landscape.