From farming to land management

Profiles/ David Seed, Cothill Farm, Berwickshire

Profiles

David Seed, Cothill Farm, Berwickshire

From farming to land management, David Seed has built up a thriving business.

Diversifying from traditional farming

David explored different avenues for the family farming business, based in Berwickshire, after a run of bad weather in the ‘80s resulted in several years of poor prices. David’s business now consists of:

traditional farming – 7,000 acres of owned rented and contract farmed land including mainly oilseed rape, winter wheat, spring barley and beans
a small area of organic production, and
a successful land agent and chartered surveyors business which manages 30,000 client acres and 250 rural homes across south-east and east-central Scotland.

Developing new skills

David started a distance learning course with the College of Estate Management in Reading to gain a diploma in surveying in 1989, then spent two years working with a local agent, to gain an MRICS qualification.

He is also currently the President of SAAVA and the Chairman of the CAAV in Scotland. Both organisations are very focused on trying to improve and assist in the dispute resolution process for Landlords and Tenants and in particular the rent review process. SAAVA and the CAAV are independent from the views of landlords and Tenants and aim to help to reduce the time and expense in the process for all parties whilst coming up with a fair answer.

Scottish Land and Estates Membership - a two way street

David recognised early on that it was important to become actively involved with Scottish Land & Estates lobbying and policy work in order to get the most from his membership. His contribution has included:

South East Regional Chairman 2003-2006
current chairman of Land Use & Environment Group, and the CAP Futures group, as well as representing the organisation at various stakeholder meetings.

David comments, “As both a farmer and land agent, I need to ensure my membership organisation know enough about my business to enable them to lobby effectively for changes that will benefit what I do. That can only happen if I speak to them”.