P.X.FARMS LTD

Founded in 2003, P.X. Farms provides local landowners, trustees, land agents and organisations with an agricultural solution that is tailored to their needs.

Managing Director, James Peck, believes in providing a flexible modern approach to today’s farming and environmental requirements.  His forward thinking attitude with traditional rural grounding has been recognised and awarded through customer recommendations and winning ‘Young Farmer of the Year’ award in 2006 and a Nuffield Scholarship in 2010 on ‘Arable farming – where next and how do we get there?’.

James says, “In 1996 I started Peck’s Contracting Services whilst studying at Writtle Agricultural College as a means to fund myself through my education and put my learning into action. After successfully running my business, I created a more diverse Agri business called P.X. Farms in 2003 with one member of staff and 1,600 acres.

I am now contract farming and contracting a total of 4,000 acres, offering substantial grain storage and seven bulk grain haulage lorries. My team has now grown to 17 trained and insured staff and three advisors. We have developed to offer a range of services relating to farming and countryside management. We present tailored solutions for existing farmers looking for practical help, new investors looking to maximise tax benefits available by contract farming or trustees managing large estates.

We are firm believers in:

• passing savings and benefits on to each of our customers, regardless of size
• continuing to grow P.X. Farms to reduce fixed costs
• offering a high quality service, treating each farm as if our own
• embracing and investing in new technologies
• striving to exceed our customers’ expectations”

Centrally located in Dry Drayton, four miles from Cambridge, we have easy access to the A14, M11 and A428.  Our current geographical customer base includes Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Suffolk though we are looking at national opportunities so please do contact us to discuss further.

In 1896, the family haulage company, P.X. Ltd, was started and nationalised by British Road Services in 1948 and two years later in 1950, the Peck family bought Dry Drayton Estate (DDE).  Dr Irwin Peck, his wife Mary and four children from oldest to youngest; Lesley, Jonathan, Adrian and Sally moved from his GP practice in Luton, in Bedfordshire, to manage the farm.

The farm comprised of 750 acres and livestock including sheep, dairy and beef, pigs and poultry. In 1954 the dairy herd was disbanded and four years later, the poultry flock was also disbanded.

During the sixties, the sheep herd was disbanded and all land put into combinable crops.  The well know Dry Drayton herd of welsh Pigs were shown regularly at the Royal and Smithfield Shows with the hundred sow herd selling worldwide. The beef unit developed into barley beef and finally into barley bull beef using farm grown barley and straw.

In 1968, Adrian finished at Shuttleworth College, Bedfordshire and became Farm Manager in 1971. In 1978, all the livestock units ceased on the farm.

In the 1980s, DDE joined Cambridge Farmers Trading Company Ltd, a local farmer controlled co-operative.  1983 saw DDE diversify into light industrial premises by converting the old livestock buildings into 35 light industrial units.  The 20 cottages surrounding the farm and industrial units were refurbished and then let as fully furnished cottages.

In the 1990s, a further 150 acres was bought locally in Dry Drayton and DDE established share farming agreements and during the next few years four local landowners asked for their land to be farmed, totalling a further 703 acres.

Dr Irwin Peck died in July 1995.  In 1997, DDE was split into two companies, Dry Drayton Estate and Bushel and Company Ltd. Adrian Peck became Managing Director of DDE to concentrate and specialise on agriculture with support of his son, James Peck.  He joined the farm full time, continuing the family tradition after five years of agricultural studies at Lackham College and Writtle Agricultural College.

In 1998, Peck’s Contracting Services, trading under Dry Drayton Estate Ltd, was established and managed by James and James followed in his father’s footsteps becoming Farm Manager in 1999.

In 2001, DDE converted redundant farm buildings around the farmhouse into commercial offices and called these, The Irwin Centre and these were let to local businesses.  Adrian’s daughter Louise also graduated from Writtle College and pursued a career outside of the family business.

In 2003, Adrian Peck took the opportunity to pursue other business interests and thus looked to contract out the arable operations on Scotland Farm. James set up his own business, P.X. Farms Ltd, on the success of Peck’s Contracting Services and took the Scotland Farm contract as well as other farming agreements. This gave James the opportunity to take P.X. Farms from strength to strength with his own fleet of agricultural machinery.

2006 saw James winning ‘Firestone Young Farmer of the Year’ Award from Farmers Weekly and the final farm building around the farmhouse is converted into a large office for let in The Irwin Centre.

James Peck won a Nuffield Scholarship on ‘Arable farming – where next?’ in 2010 and P.X. Farms continues to grow and provide solutions to local landowners, trustees, companies and land agents.