Posted on Tuesday 17th June 2025
Richard and Ella Upton with their son Reg.
A farmer who started on a county council tenant holding in Staffordshire says the service is an essential stepping stone for anyone looking to get a foothold into the sector.
Richard Upton ran a successful dairy farming business on a council farm tenancy in East Staffordshire with his wife and business partner Ella, before recently moving to a larger holding on the private Chatsworth Estate.
The couple started their business in 2016 on one of Staffordshire County Council’s farms holdings in Hamstall Ridware. Having a background in farming – Richard’s dad is a Staffordshire tenant farmer as was his granddad – gave them good grounding to secure the tenancy.
I’d always wanted to be a dairy farmer, having grown up working with my dad on his holding, so securing my own council farm was the obvious route,”
said Richard.
Going to agricultural college enabled me to draw up a solid business plan and working on a dairy farm in Yoxall gave me practical experience in running a dairy herd. I was also fortunate enough for my employer to allow me to rear a small number of cattle alongside his own. This helped lead to a successful application for a county farm in Staffordshire.”
Due to the downturn in the dairy market in 2016 which made it hard for existing tenants to move, the holding that the couple started on was a slightly larger progression holding. Richard’s experience and having his own herd meant that he could hit the ground running.
As a larger holding it was better equipped and we were fortunate enough to find a contract with a milk buyer. We invested in building up our herd from 40 cows to 120 in 12 months. Our focus over the eight years has been to keep our operation simple and at low cost.”
Due to Richard and Ella’s ongoing success with the business – consistently making a profit every year bar one when they were hit by severe weather – they were confident that they would be able to move on to a larger holding.
We saw the opportunity come up for a 500-acre holding on the Chatsworth Estate which we were successful in applying for. Without our work and experience on the Staffordshire County Farms holding we wouldn’t have stood a chance. The county farms team let us get on with running our business.”
On advice to potential new tenant farmers in Staffordshire, Richard said:
Keep it simple, focus on profit and invest where it matters. You’ll need a good, strong business plan and really know your figures inside out as you’ll be working on small margins.”
He added:
Staffordshire County Farms provides an essential stepping stone into business. It’s an invaluable public service which also generates revenue. And it means a new generation of farmers can run their own business in Staffordshire and contribute to the local economy.”
Staffordshire Couty Council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for economy and skills Martin Murray said:
Richard and Ella’s business venture is a prime example of how our county farms service can support hard work and a commitment to gaining essential learning and experience in all aspects of running a successful enterprise.
They have shown what can be achieved in a relatively short period of time – progressing to a larger private holding suited to their business growth and opening up new opportunities for new tenant farmers in Staffordshire.
County farms is another example of how the county council supports small businesses, and crucially in one of our key sectors in the rural economy.”