Roger Glennie

Hillhead of Ardo Farm, Roger A. Glennie, Aberdeenshire

Roger’s business has grown from an arable and sheep farm to a successful farming and contracting business over the last 10 years.

Through working closely with his clients and suppliers, he is able to offer bespoke services alongside arable contracts.

Working extensively with Christmas tree plantations and farming businesses, he embraces new technologies to improve both yield and efficiencies such as fast bale clearance with the Octa-quad bale handling system and bale-safe trailer. With the Christmas tree harvesting, Roger has the bulk tree container system, which he says is the first in the UK.

Field drainage, a recent addition, has proven very popular. Not only is he able to reinstate and repair pipes, but using Sonar and GPS, Roger provides the land owner with a map of the area with all the relevant coordinates for every junction and bend noted. This document can prove very useful in the future should there be another blockage.

New markets

Having not been content with a contractor providing propionic acid application to whole barley, Roger self-engineered his own mobile system and now contracts with this, processing more than two thousand tonnes annually.

He has further identified a market for mulching equipment originally used within the christmas tree plantations; to reinstate farm tracks and clear areas of gorse to improve soil.

He is currently trialling the new machinery, which he was involved in the design process with the manufacturer.

Adhering to his three-year business plan has enabled Roger to now employ three others as part of his team.