Richard Gibbins and his daughter Emilie trading as floatron® UK have the exclusive sales rights in the UK and parts of Europe. They have taken the marketing decision to sell at a minimum mark up which precludes middle men and keeps them in direct touch with each client where they are at the end of a telephone to help if advice is needed.

The product's health and environmental benfits were so dynamic that Richard received a visit from his local MP, Sir George Young, who was interested in how the farmer had diversified into new areas.

The following article appeared in the September 2006 edition of the Country Landowner & Rural Business magazine.

“Andrew Davis looks at how a chance encounter in a swimming pool led to a diversification success for on South Country Farmer.

The resourcefulness and adaptability of the British farmer never ceases to amaze. CLA members Richard and Hilary Gibbins were highly successful farmers who managed to buy their own farm but, as returns from agriculture have declined, so they have diversified into alternative enterprises to keep their business profitable. Richard took on the floatron agency, for example because it appealed to him on health and environmental grounds and he needed some outlet for his entrepreneurial skill, but it has become a significant income stream.

Last year, the farm won cups for the best farmed farm and for environmental contribution in the Basingstoke Agricultural Society competitions. But 1,300 acres is not a big enough unit for economies of scale, so Geoff Elliott Farming took over the arable operations. The grass is grazed by a sheep flock owned by a local shepherdess, but Richard remains a hands-on farmer. Miles of hedges and thousands of trees have been planted on the farm and much enhancement work to the river has been carried out taking advantage of Environmentally Sensitive Area grants and Entry Level Stewardship. Richard and Hilary Gibbins provide another example of the innovative and imaginative enterprise that is transforming the best of farming in this country.

But how did it all start? Well, to find out we have to go back to the 1930s.

Landowners in the 1930s struggled to find tenants to farm their land. Often leases were rent-free and, in some cases, were even assignable. Basil Porter took the tenancy of Quidhampton Farm, Overton, in 1941 and his family have been there ever since. In 1958, Polhampton Farm was added to the tenancy, bringing the total to 660 acres.

Basil’s daughter, Hilary, and her husband, Richard Gibbins, came into the business in 1973 and became joint tenants in the mid-1980s. Over the years, they took on extra land on contract and share farming arrangements, but the main enterprise was an exceptional dairy herd that won national awards for production. Most of the arable land is on chalk soils, some of which are typical of thin downland.

In 1989, Richard and Hilary came close to buying the farm, but were gazumped and bitterly disappointed. However, the opportunity arose again in 1994 when the previous purchaser needed to raise capital for a new venture and this time the deal was completed.

A small farm nearby, which had been bought in 1991, was sold on lease back and Quidhampton Farmhouse was also sold to help finance the land purchase. A year later, an adjoining 260 acre farm was bought and, again, the main house, buildings and paddocks were sold. No doubt, Richards qualification and experience as a land agent helped and he is the first to admit that luck has been with them but, nevertheless, to progress from tenant to owner of 900 acres is a considerable achievement.

Towards the end of the 1990s, farm incomes came under increasing pressure. The future of milk production looked bleak, not least from regulation placing major constraints on the handling of slurry and dirty water. The fact that the source of the River Test, one of the most renowned chalk streams in the world, was very close to the dairy was a concern in this context. In 1999, the decision was taken reluctantly to sell the cows and cease milk production altogether. The milk quota was still worth a tidy sum despite the uncertainty over the future and the award-winning cows were in great demand.

In the years since, the business has been further restructured to match the current economic climate. Buildings have been converted for commercial re-use, benefiting from an excellent location, not far from two motorways and on a main-line railway. However, as so often is the case, the main diversification came about by chance.
Richard has always loved to travel to gain wider knowledge from the experience of others. He was a John Edgar Memorial Trust scholar in the late 1970s and won a Nuffield Scholarship in 1984 to travel abroad and study the utilisation of arable by-products for feeding dairy cows.

Years later, on a dairy study tour of New Zealand, he dived into a swimming pool and admired the sparkling clarity of the water. The reason for this was an electronic gadget about the size of a large Frisbee floating in the water. Running on solar power, the copper electrodes ionise the water, turning it into a mineral water that acts as a natural algaecide. Not only does it clarify the water, it saves up to 80 per cent of corrosive chemicals such as chlorine or bromine. Fish thrive in mineral water too.

Richard was so impressed that he brought four floatrons home to test them in UK conditions. They worked so well that he contacted the manufacturer in Arizona and became an agent in 2001. Since then the enterprise has grown and large numbers of floatrons have been sold in the UK, Europe and further afield. Now daughter, Emilie, has joined the business, selling by word of mouth, advertising, mail order and the recently improved floatron UK website.”

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