Pupils at a primary school became business leaders for the day when they were handed a budget of more than £85,000 to choose a new telescopic handler for a neighbouring farm.

The youngsters were given a presentation on the role of the machine, the performance required, how dealers would provide service back-up and how to assess the three short-listed contenders’ quotes.

They were also given pictures of them, asked about styling and appearance and were promised the telehandler they chose would be the one bought by the farm.

As a result of evaluations by the 10 to 11-year-old year six pupils at Barnham Primary School, in Suffolk, a JCB Loadall 531-70 Agri Super was bought by Euston Estate. On the day it was delivered by local dealer, G and J Peck, farm manager, Matthew Hawthorne, took the Loadall to the school for the pupils to admire before it was put to work.

Matthew said: “We haven’t had a JCB loader on the farm for many years, but the Loadall’s design, styling and features put the machine ahead of its competitors – and I think being British built helped too.

"I’m happy with the children’s choice. It has the edge on all-round visibility, it’s a lot quieter than the two other machines we considered, so it scores well on driver comfort, and it generally feels well built.

“This was an interesting project that opened the eyes of pupils to the different factors involved in making an important purchase and got them working with some large monetary numbers,” he added. “I’m convinced more schools and farms could work together to the benefit of pupils from diverse backgrounds, who would understand more about what goes into food production while learning key skills.”

The new Loadall, built at JCB’s Staffordshire plant, can lift 3.1 tonnes and take a 2.4 tonne load to a height of 7m using a telescopic boom.

The JCB Loadall 531-70 Agri Super will handle a range of routine tasks, such as loading bales and grain on the Euston Estate, which grows 1700 acres of grain and oilseed crops, 1000 acres of maize for a bio-digesting electricity generator, and 16,000 tonnes of sugar beet. It will also be engaged in forestry and general maintenance work.