Newsletter and Case Studies

A County Farms newsletter is produced periodically by NPS Group and distributed free of charge to tenants of the county farms estate. Copies of previous issues can be downloaded using the links below:

Case Studies

These case studies illustrate the way that NPS Group is managing the farm estate on behalf of Norfolk County Council.

Practical approach to helping farmers

NPS Group takes a partnership approach to working with tenants and developing their businesses, with the aim of creating a sustainable County Farms Estate for the benefit of both landlord and tenant alike.

For example, for a number of years NPS have worked closely with Sam Hill, an arable farming tenant with 220 acres on the county estate at Ludham in Norfolk. Sam wanted to install new grain silos, which would need planning consent. NPS agents visited the farm and discussed the development with him. They have considerable expertise in the planning process, so they had the capability to do the application more quickly than Sam could himself. Without charging any payment, NPS made drawings of the scheme and prepared a planning application for Sam to submit to the local planning authority. They then negotiated with the planning authority directly to resolve their queries and enable consent to be granted. When the works went ahead, NPS provided a funding contribution by paying for construction of the concrete bases upon which the silos stand.

Sam is a qualified sprayer tester, and contracts his expertise to neighbouring farms. His sprayer testing business was advertised at no cost in the County Farms newsletter, which goes free of charge to his target market.

NPS Group received a letter from Sam in which he expressed his gratitude. "My experience of NPS has been one of thorough satisfaction in every respect. I have found their staff very fair, straightforward to deal with, and helpful — particularly to those prepared to help themselves, with a practical approach taken wherever possible in an effort to reduce time, expense, and waste."

Funding business support groups

The future viability and sustainability of the County Farms Estate can be made more secure by ensuring that the farms use industry ‘best practice'. NPS Group are taking practical steps to promote the sharing of knowledge that improves efficiency.

In Norfolk they have, with the assistance of the Norfolk Rural Business Advice Service (NRBAS), established two support groups of local farmers. In 2006 the ‘Denver Debaters' were formed in the West of the County, and in 2008 the ‘Amber Debaters' were formed in the East. They are funded by NPS, and their meetings are chaired by a member of NRBAS. However, NPS do not exert any influence over them — the philosophy is that they are run by tenants, for tenants.

The longer-established Denver Debaters are a group of a dozen farmers with farms in the range of 50 Ha to 200 Ha. They meet two or three times a year at Denver Windmill in an informal, relaxed atmosphere. Prior to each years' round of meetings, the participants are asked to fill in a simple questionnaire that looks at the fixed costs their businesses incur. The completed forms are analysed by NRBAS to identify trends and define benchmarks for comparison.

The meetings are an opportunity to discuss issues such as the length of tenure versus the investment needs of the business, and investigate cost-saving measures such as collaboration over the use of farm machinery. The two groups have organised reciprocal farm visits, to increase the potential for tenants to network with one another. NPS and NRBAS are jointly investigating the availability of grant funding to provide both groups with opportunities for study tours and project development.