Ed Partridge, Senior Ruminant Specialist

Tell us a little bit about your background?

My parents had a family dairy farm and so I was always keen to get involved in agriculture from a young age. I studied Agricultural Business Management at Reading University and after graduating I took a partnership position in the family business and took on a ten year Farm Business Tenancy on a neighbour’s dairy unit to expand the herd.

During this time my father, brother and I took cow numbers from 120 to 550, increased production from 7000 to 11,500 litres and gained a Sainsburys milk contract. As we approached the end of the tenancy, my wife and I had our first child, and reallocating time to family helped clarify a commercial decision not to invest further into the rented unit. I made the decision to exit in the spring of 2019.

Why did you decide to join ForFarmers?

After exiting, I spent six months working on a country estate reassessing what I was interested in. I realised I was still passionate about farming and I wanted to still be involved in agriculture. I was keen to use the skill set I had developed running a large dairy business so I approached ForFarmers who I already had a working relationship from during my time farming. I’d always admired how ForFarmers operated and knew that they had a good working culture.

I took on the role of Account Manager in Monmouthshire and did this for about a year, before I took up an opportunity with my brother to manage a 450-cow herd in Pembrokeshire. This seemed like an exciting adventure to get involved in and I wanted the chance to farm again while I still could.

During these two years, we had our second child, and so again I wanted to have a more flexible work-life balance to support my family. Having reconnected with my former manager at ForFarmers, I re-joined the business as a Senior Account Manager covering from Carmarthen to Aberaeron and now also into South Wales.

How did you navigate this change in career?

When I first joined ForFarmers I was lucky enough to take part in the ruminant academy training which helped me understand the ForFarmers mindset. I also had a fantastic mentor who supported me and shared so much knowledge with me, and stayed connected with my old manager during my time away from the business.

Having run my own business I already had a good understanding of the challenges that our farmers face and this helped me in my role. As part of my farming career I always traded with ForFarmers and the experience of being on ‘both sides of the fence’ has influenced my practice as an Account Manager.

What do you like about your role?

It’s a good mix of strategic thinking and relationship-building, and it also comes with a lot of autonomy. For me, this means it’s very rewarding as your successes can be directly attributed to your hard work. Every day is also always different which keeps it interesting and brings new challenges.

I have also recently been given the opportunity to become the robotic specialist for our sales team. The production and efficiency gains that come with AMS production fascinate me, and I’m really enjoying spending time talking about ideas with the wider robotics team. ForFarmers is leading the way with its quick access data from OptiRobot, and it has been exciting to introduce this tool to both new and existing customers.