David is the third generation of his family to farm at Screveton and took over the running of the family business in the early 1980s following a serious accident to his father. At that time the farm was 250 acres and over the next decade was increased to 650 acres. (He now farms 1100 acres.) Even so, by the mid 1990s he could see that, to create a sustainable business, the operation would need to expand. As he did not want to purchase more land he looked for other partners with whom to share machinery and labour.

David established a joint venture farm business called Farmeco (of which he is still a director). He was instrumental in introducing four local farms to collaborate. Farmeco now farms over 4,000 acres with one set of machinery and labour. This gives bargaining power for joint purchases, and shares information, problems and opportunities. Each unit can keep its individuality and the owner can diversify and gain outside income while remaining in mainstream agriculture. Establishing this business model has allowed each farm to remain in broad acre farming while allowing them to diversify.

Farmeco are part of a joint venture group that share experiences and benchmark costing. David and Farmeco are available to help other farmers who wish to join together.

Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming