Young farmer finds niche as a small-scale grassland contractor

Starting out on your own after college or university can be a daunting prospect, but for 19-year-old young farmer Henri Gooch, from Framlingham, Suffolk, the key has been finding his own niche within the agricultural sector.

Having grown up on his family’s 120ha farm and recently studied agriculture at Suffolk Rural College in Otley, followed by agricultural engineering, Henri was determined to have a business of his own.

See also: Young farmers: What do they need to succeed?

“I’ve always known that I wanted to be involved with farming, but I wanted to start something up separately,” he explains.

“At college there were a lot of people who didn’t really know how to get into farming on their own – myself included.”

Small grassland contracting

Finding a gap in the local contracting market, Henri set up his own business, carrying out jobs such as hedgecutting and grassland management for smaller landowners.

He said: “I noticed there was quite a lot of work locally with small grassland contracting for people that have little plots of land, mostly around 10 or 15 acres here and there.

“We’re in an area where land is often owned as part of a holiday home, where the owners don’t really understand what’s involved in looking after agricultural land.

“It is land where it’s not worth the landowner buying the machinery, and is a job that a lot of the big farms don’t want to do because their machinery is just too big.”

Starting from humble beginnings with a Ford 4000 tractor, Henri has since had to expand his business and service to meet a growing demand.

“I was so busy at the end of last year that I invested in my new machine, which is a Kubota M4063.

“It’s been running nearly every day since I bought it,” Henri says.

Tractor fleet © Henri Gooch

Future plans

Henri has also started a YouTube channel where he regularly posts vlogs of his working day.

Social media, he says, can be a useful tool to generate new clients, and has already brought in some additional work. 

Having already invested in a new hedge cutter and flail mower, Henri plans to continue expanding the business.

This year, he began making small-bale hay, which he sold to local equestrian outlets, and he hopes to purchase his own baler in time for next year’s harvest season.

He also plans to purchase a small drill to manage local game cover crops and wildflower meadows.