Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2010 | Page 80

country life

Island Life - October/November 2010

Photo: Left - Bun pictured with his daughter Sarah
June 1992. Top: Ben Symes (Father) pictured 1978

After a steady start to the agriculture
adventure, Bun and Nick began picking
up a few share farm contracts, and

Newport and Yarmouth, which is close

would have a tractor mounted sprayer

to 1,000 acres.

and doing 12-metre width.

“We deal with a lot of businessmen

“We are looking to upgrade the

moved up from smaller machines to

who want someone to farm the land, so

sprayer so it can put much higher

four-wheel drive tractors.

we do it on a share farm basis, where

volumes of water on to vegetable crops.

we do all the work, and if there is any

Everything is getting bigger, quicker

running four combines. There was a big

surplus from grain sales etc, we have

and has more technology.”

need for them because there were quite

a share of that. We did it on a much

a few medium sized arable farms that

smaller basis in the past, but obviously

looked at has GPS, so you can just set

couldn’t really justify the cost of what

farms are getting bigger now, and

in the width and off you go. Obviously

would have been between £30,000

thankfully we are doing it on bigger

you have so many jets on a 24-metre

and £40,000 for a new combine. So

units,” he explained.

boom, but with the new technology,

Bun recalls: “By 1982 we were

we were picking contracts for 200 to

He continued: “The sprayer we have

Bun reflects on the changing face of

even in a field with triangles in corners,

300 acres at a time, and by 1986 we

Island farming, and accepts: “There

instead of overlapping, the jets only

were 2,250 acres with four combines.

are nowhere near as ma ny ‘dairies’

come on when needed, so there is

Ironically we are doing more acreage

as there used to be. At one time we

never any overlap.

now with just one combine. We can

were doing 14 different dairies with a

“You have a screen with a picture of

manage about 12 acres an hour. And

small trailed forage harvester. Now we

the field in front of you, and as you go

with the self-propelled forager we did

have a self-propelled forage harvester,

along, it is just like a kid colouring it in.

220 acres of grass in a day.”

and now we are probably doing more

It really is unbelievable, and I couldn’t

In 2000 brother Nick decided he had

acreage, but on fewer farms with

possibly have thought such things

had enough of ‘working all hours’, so

bigger herds. What you are seeing is

would eventually be used when I first

he moved to a job with the IW Council.

fewer dairy herds, but the ones that are

started doing this job.”

But Bun’s enthusiasm did not waver.

remaining are a lot bigger.

His farm was initially a 260 acre unit,

“When it comes to arable, probably

Meanwhile, his 30-ft header combine
steers itself with ‘magic eyes’ like

but it has now been expanded towards

the average size when we started was

miniature television screens on stalks

Cowes and Newport to take in close to

250 to 300 acres. The units are much

either side of the header. He smiled:

500 acres.

bigger now, with a viable arable unit

“That means you can let go of the

He and his staff also do full farm

more like 600 to 1,000 acres. With our

steering wheel to roll yourself a

contracts on other parts of the island,

crop spraying we use a self-propelled

cigarette, or whatever, and off it goes.

including Great Park Farm between

24-metre sprayer, but years ago we

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“There doesn’t seem to be any end
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