What crops do you grow, and where do they end up?

The most important crop to our business is the 800-900 acres of spring barley we grow each year. Some of this is exported, but most goes to the eastern counties for malting to make beer. The chalk down land where we farm has very good soil for growing malting barley, and our barley helps give the beer a distinctive malty flavour.

We grow around 1,200 acres of wheat, which is mainly used to make feed for chickens, cattle and pigs. Our third crop is oil seed rape, which occupies about 500 acres. After harvesting this goes to a company in south-east London for crushing, mainly to make cooking oil. We also grow a small area of linseed, which is popular for use in health foods. Some of our Wiltshire land is let for grazing sheep.

How did you get involved in farming?

I was born and brought up on a farm in Wiltshire where my mother still lives. From an early age I was out on the farm enjoying myself, and as soon as I was old enough I was driving tractors and helping out at harvest time. I never thought of doing anything other than farming.

Who do you work with?

There are five of us. My wife does the accounts and admin and runs the farm office. We also have an arable manager and two other full-timers.

What does being a Red Tractor farmer mean to you?

The Red Tractor shows the public that what they are buying comes from a farm that has been independently inspected and has been shown to be producing food to a high standard and in a responsible manner. Being inspected regularly has really sharpened us up and made us improve various aspects of our farming – such as our record keeping and the way we handle our grain.

Food safety and protecting the environment are both important aspects of Red Tractor standards. What are you doing on your own farm to meet the standards in these areas?

We want to look after the environment and not to damage it in any way. That involves lots of things, such as making sure that pesticides are stored and used correctly and looking at alternatives to chemicals instead of just using the sprayer every time.

We have had birds such as stone curlews, probably because we leave uncultivated areas where they can feed in winter. We’ve got a lot of roe and fallow deer, which is nice to see, and we’ve had a huge resurgence in numbers of brown hares.

Our commitment to food safety means making sure our grain stores are bird-proof and vermin-proof and looking at ways to minimise contamination of our grain, from harvesting until it leaves the farm.

You’re Chairman of Assured Combinable Crops, one of the family of standards and inspection schemes that together come under the Red Tractor umbrella. What does that involve?

As Chairman it’s my job to develop the standards and keep them up to date, making sure they meet the needs of farmers and consumers alike. It’s also important to reinforce to farmers what the Red Tractor is all about and get more of them on board.