About the Edgley Family at Kensham Farm
Kensham Farms is a family-run farming partnership, established by Bryan and Alison Edgley shortly after their marriage in 1955. Originally, it was a traditional mixed farm covering just over 100 acres.
In the 1960s the main enterprises at Kensham Farm were milk production from a herd of Friesian cows, egg production (selling eggs both wholesale and retail) and production of grain for use in home milled and mixed poultry and cattle feeds.
The dairy cows were sold in 1971 and egg production ceased in 1992. Bryan and Alison's youngest son Charlie joined the partnership in 1985 and has greatly expanded the arable cropping side of the business through tenancies of neighbouring estates and farms.
Today, Kensham Farms remains focused on innovation, investing in precision farming technologies to enhance productivity and promote sustainable crop production. As part of this commitment, the farm became a pilot participant in the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) following the passage of the Agriculture Act 2020, providing valuable feedback to Defra.
In an increasingly volatile agricultural environment, diversification has played a crucial role in ensuring the business remains profitable and resilient to global weather changes and geopolitical challenges.
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Farming Policy
The farmed area has grown over the years and is now around 2,300 acres of which 700 are owned by the partnership and the balance is rented from or contract farmed for local landowners.
In 2013 a new purpose built graindryer and store was built at Kensham Farm, the Svegma graindryer installed by BDC Systems has the capacity to dry 46 tonnes per hour and is linked to new storage bunkers that hold 3,000 tonnes and a conveyor to the existing grainstores.
In 2019 we invested in a further 1,400 tonnes of storage capacity at Kensham Farm to make better use of the new graindrying facility.
Arable crops grown are predominantly milling wheat, with some winter barley and spring wheat, all sold exclusively through our farmer owned co-operative Openfield.
We are proud to share hosting Open Farm Sunday with our neighbours Laceys' Family Farm. We also host regular farm walks and visits from local Scout groups, charities, Berkshire College of Agriculture and Chiltern Arable Group.
Conservation & the Environment
Wildlife conservation on the farms was formerly under the Government Entry Level Scheme (ELS) including 6 metre buffer margins around many of the fields (some planted with wild flowers, some left fallow) and field side hedges cut in alternate years rather than annually.
We are participating in the Sustainable Farming Incentive Pilot Scheme and have created winter bird feed, nesting cover and pollinator features as well as utilising existing habitats from past 'set-aside' and ELS schemes.
We own Cadmore and Bolter End Commons which we manage for conservation and the benefit of local folk with their dogs. We have created some permissive bridleways for horse riders on the Commons, and manage the conservation of trees and wildlife under the Forestry Commission Woodland Grant Scheme (WGS).
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