Today I had Nick on the R2Kast ๐๏ธ Nick is CEO of Velcourt Group, overseeing a business working across farming, forestry, conservation and rural asset management throughout the UK. ๐พ
We spoke about growing up in Dorset with no farming background, becoming fascinated by agriculture and eventually heading to Harper Adams before joining Velcourt. That relationship has lasted his entire career, taking him from milking cows and the graduate training programme through farm management, a stint managing a huge farming operation in Hungary and eventually into the CEO role. ๐
A big part of the conversation focused on what Velcourt actually does. The farming business manages over 100 farming businesses covering around 52,000 hectares, from dairy and livestock through to arable, potatoes, fruit and fresh produce. We spoke about managing farms for everyone from farming families to large estates and institutional landowners, and how every relationship requires something slightly different. ๐
We also chatted about Velcourtโs management training programme, developing people internally, financial responsibility at farm level and how forestry and conservation are becoming increasingly important parts of the wider business. It was a really interesting look at the scale of the organisation and how it continues to evolve while keeping people and farm management at its core.
Enjoy! ๐