Hello, my name is Edward Metcalfe.

I am a new graduate farm consultant taking over the Countryside Stewardship Management Service (CSMS).

I have always had a fascination for farming and worked on my family farm for as long as I can remember.  After finishing school, I went to Sparsholt collage in Hampshire to study agriculture, which allowed me to look at different paths within the agricultural sector.  I decided I liked the idea of farm consultancy or Agronomy so went to the Royal Agricultural University where I studied agriculture for three years before finishing and joining the Farm Business Survey which allowed me to see real farm accounts and where farmers may be struggling.  I worked there for around one year before joining the farm consultancy group.

I am now looking to push the CSMS and grow it, helping to protect farmers against short notice and sometimes stressful, RPA visits that risk losing some on your much needed Countryside Stewardship payments.  The service keeps all the records required by the RPA which are collected over four meetings on farm or via a Team’s call.  This then allows you, as farmers, easy access to a consultant and saves you the worry of getting penalties for not meeting the RPA requirements.