The Team

In store we provide qualified friendly staff to answer any queries whether it be feed, clothing or general needs. Amongst our staff we boast awards in animal health and gold certificates from John Deere. We further support our staff by sending them on training courses at local colleges. We now have specialist staff in every one of our country stores to help you find what you need from our 240,000 product lines which range from household to farm supplies to household goods.

Director profiles

 

Mr. Peter Thomas – Chairman
Coswarth, Newquay
Peter runs 1300 acres of predominantly arable farm with his son George, and was elected as Chairman of the Board in 2008 having served as a main board director for 15 years.  Peter is also a director of Kernow Grain.

 

Mr. Adrian Shute - Vice Chairman
Five Oaks, Canworthy Water
Adrian joined the board in 2004 and has now been elected as Vice Chairman.  He farms 600 acres at Canworthy Water with his parents and three brothers. This consists of 400 sows and 150 single suckler cows and 250 acres of arable.

 

Mr. David Nicholls – Secretary
Tregelly, Trecangate, Liskeard
David operates a mixed farm with his son Robert. He has been a board member for approximately fourteen years and as Company Secretary he is responsible for the cooperatives constitution and membership issues.

 

Mr. Geoffrey Bond
East Browns, Langtree, Torrington
Geoff farms at Langtree and Petrockstowe with his wife Julie and their son Thomas. They farm 480 cows over 575 acres. They also run the 22 bed West Heanton Residential Home.

 

Mr. Colin Bone
Boswarva Farm, Penzance
Colin farms 500 acres in partnership with his son Stephen.
He milks approximately 200 pedigree Holstein Friesians with followers and beef plus arable. Colin has been a board member since 1988.

 

Mr. Michael Bowden
Mount View Farm, Constantine
Michael farms in partnership with his two brothers over approximately 550 acres employing 7 full time staff. They run two dairy herds which totals about 200 cows in total. All the stock is taken through as followers or finished beef. The family also run an agricultural contracting business plus a JCB digger and 4 wheel tipper lorry.

 

Mr. Roland Ley
Thuborough Barton, Holsworthy
Roland farms in a family partnership. They farm over 400 acres, on which they keep a high yielding pedigree Holstein herd with followers including a bull beef unit. They also have a flock of sheep.

 

Mr. Eric Sleep
Trevadlock Farm, Launceston
Eric farms 450 acres with his son James, on the edge of Bodmin Moor. He has a heard of 170 dairy cows, all calves are reared for dairy replacements and the steers are kept and sold as stores. He runs a pedigree flock of charolais sheep, winning the National Flock Competition in 2004/2005. Past president of the local YFC, and a member of the local Parish council.

 

Mr. William Thomas
Trevear Farm, Penzance
William joined the board in August 1990.  During his period on the board, William and has been chairman for 12 years. He grows potatoes and packs cauliflowers. He also has a herd of 230 cows made up of milk and beef with his son Richard.

 

Mr. Geoffrey Vernon
East Crowndale Farm, Tavistock
Geoffrey farms at Tavistock with his wife Julie. They have a herd of pedigree Red Ruby’s and a flock of Greyface Dartmoor’s. He is a pharmacist and a member of the Veterinary Pharmacy Group of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. Geoffrey is Chairman and NED of a number of public and private companies in the UK and abroad.

 

Executive team profiles

 

Andrew Cocks BSc. (Hons) Agric. A.C.A. – Chief Executive Officer
Andrew graduated from Seale Hayne College before joining Grant Thornton where he qualified as a chartered accountant. He joined Group 4’s corporate finance department where over a ten year period he undertook projects in the global business’ English speaking countries. Through acquisitions, joint ventures and consortia, projects provided outsourcing solutions in areas such as logistics, manned services, property and technology for both the private and public sectors.

More latterly, Andrew returned to agriculture when he joined SCATS and assisted in its reconstruction into Grainfarmers Plc. He was involved in the consolidation of a number of livestock marketing co-operatives into Meadow Quality Ltd before joining Cornwall Farmers as Chief Executive Officer in 2003.

 

Nigel Weaver – Divisional Manager – Feed & Forage
Graduate of the University of Wales
Nigel joined RHM Agriculture as a sales trainee and focused on the sales of ruminant livestock feeds. Through the acquisition of RHM by Dalgety, Nigel continued to develop his career in the south west of England with sales management posts in both arable and feeds businesses. At the time of the Bibby Agriculture purchase of Dalgety, Nigel was the Regional Sales Manager of the Dalgety West business covering South Wales and the South of England. Within Bibby Agriculture this role developed into Regional Sales Manager for the south of England controlling on farm sales of both the KW and Bibby brands.

Since joining Cornwall Farmers, Nigel has been heavily involved with the integration of the Countrywest sales team into Cornwall Farmers. Nigel now manages Cornwall Farmers’ £20million livestock division including sales, manufacturing and procurement of compound, blend and straights feed
together with overall responsibility for the Agricultural Sales Team.

 

Andrew Bolton – Divisional Manager – Arable
Andrew attended Shuttleworth Agricultural College in Bedfordshire and obtained his National Diploma in Agriculture. Before joining Cornwall Farmers 20 years ago he worked for Fison for a decade where he was involved in chemicals and fertilisers. Andrew’s responsibilities include the procurement and sales of crop protection, fertiliser, seed and other inputs for the arable and horticultural customer base.

 

Brian Tripcony – Divisional Manager – Machinery
Brian left Cornwall Technical College in 1973 having achieved City and Guilds of London Institute in Agricultural Engineering; he also completed a 5 year Apprenticeship with the local David Brown tractor dealership in Liskeard. Brian quickly moved on from the engineering department into machinery sales.
After a successful period of selling he moved into management by taking control of the West Devon and North Cornwall Farmers Co- Operative based out of Holsworthy in Devon for a period of approximately 9 years. In 1994 Brian took control of the machinery division within Cornwall Farmers Ltd. which continues to expand and grow.

 

Christopher Malcomson MBE – Divisional Manager - Retail
General Manager Retail Operations Christopher commenced his retail career with John Lewis as a Management Trainee in London. He later joined Habitat Designs and in a number of Senior Management roles saw the company grow to 60 stores nationwide and overseas. He worked for Sir Terence Conran on the conversion of the Heals Building, prior to overseeing Habitat's move to edge of town sites. Christopher has also run a number of retail companies throughout the Middle East, culminating working for the MOD in developing retail sites on UK bases in Iraq for which he was awarded the MBE.

Since returning to the UK and joining Cornwall Farmers, Christopher has restructured the Retail Operations and Buying Functions and has undertaken significant operational efficiency initiatives to drive sales, improve profitability and develop the team to focus on customer service and development of the Cornwall Farmers brand.

 

Allan Hassall – Chief Finance Officer, MAAT
Allan joined Cornwall Farmers in March 2003 from Clifford Kent Ltd/ Stonegate Horizon Ltd where he was Financial Controller and involved in the acquisition of Thames Valley Eggs Ltd. Allan has had a varied career in Finance having worked for 23 years for the British Railways Board in their HQ Finance Department, Materials Management Organization and Audit Department latterly working on its privatization with Price Waterhouse. After he left BR in 1996 he joined an Accountancy Franchise to work for himself but sold it to move to Cornwall in 1999. Allan has therefore been involved in most aspects of Finance and Accounting including a spell with the BT Police fraud squad on a major fraud investigation whilst working for the BR Audit Department. Allan’s co-ordinates the Finance, Human Resources, Legal and I.T. functions of the business.