THIS WEEK saw Jeff Rioch and Colin Milne, both agricultural relationship managers for Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank, reach the career milestone of having served 63 years between them.

Based in Scotland, both started from rural beginnings to accumulate 30 years of agri-business experience to now drive forward Clydesdale’s commercial support for farmers across Aberdeenshire, Angus, and the North East of Scotland.

A key player in supporting the farming sector, Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank is totally committed to providing the expertise and specialist knowledge that is so integral to the areas in which they operate. Agriculture is fundamental to Scotland’s rural economy and a career in the industry has seen both Mr Rioch and Mr Milne build long-term relationships with their clients and gain great satisfaction from watching those farming businesses grow and evolve.

To mark the occasion, the two relationship managers talked about their career paths, their highs and lows, and the biggest changes they have witnessed in the banking sector across their more than half a century collective experience.

Jeff started his banking career in 1987 in Forfar branch as a trainee bank clerk, working up the rungs to become branch manager in 2003 in Dundee High Street. Moving into the Agricultural Relationship Manager role came five years ago, after looking after small commercial business from 2007.

Talking about his progression, Jeff explained: “I have enjoyed all my roles, but, this is the one I am most passionate about. I love getting out and about to see customers and watch them reap the results of our work together as they grow their businesses. Every job has been a learning curve, but at each stage I’ve picked up a better feel for the business, also making friends with some fantastic colleagues along the way as I’ve worked up to the role I have now.”

For the last five years Jeff has been specialising in rural and farming businesses, and has seen enterprises display great resilience, as well as capacity to move with the times: “For me personally it’s been a real pleasure to watch businesses diversify and evolve, whether into renewables, hospitality or farm shops.

"There has been great innovation across the sector, especially now with the younger generation coming through who are so keen to grasp opportunities and diversify, as well as embrace the environmental stewardship aspect of agricultural work. Farming is a business, and to succeed you have to be progressive, prepared to adapt and to keep moving with the times.

“Just like with the bank. I remember when I first started, every month you would have at least 300 statements to match to cheques. It was a long and arduous job and is not something I miss! So, for me I would say that the biggest change during my career has been the massive innovations in technology that we’ve integrated into our operations.”

With the pandemic, it has been much harder getting out to see customers, which is Jeff’s favourite aspect of the job.

“This has been a challenge for me as I relish the relationships part of the job, getting out to meet and develop a customer base across a diverse mix of farming enterprises such as cattle, arable, and mixed livestock farming. This keeps things interesting and is the real heart of our work, by that I mean building tremendous relationships over the long-term. Whether it is Brexit, or Covid-19, I have a lot of respect for the resilience of farmers who typically tend to accept things and move on. For them with whatever happens, it is what it is.”

Colin Milne has had similar experiences supporting customers through the cycles of agricultural highs and lows. Starting his career at the Stonehaven Branch in 1990, he joined as an office junior, getting the team’s 'pieces', making coffee, and also stuffing envelopes. A local to Inverbervie, Colin had rural groundings from the beginning and has spent over 50% of his banking career in agri-business. Coming from rural Scotland, Colin knows farming is in the DNA of the area and how important it is for the bank to provide that specialist knowledge.

“One of the biggest positives I have seen during my time at the bank has been the shift towards sector specific and specialist roles that have been established across the teams. It means that we can offer targeted support by having sector knowledge and expertise, bringing in specialists to meet particular needs across different industries. For agriculture this has been significant, especially with how vital farming is to the economy here.

“Taking stock, the highs have all been about being able to support customers in their ambitions, as well as in their hour of need. The bank has never shied away from being there for our farmers when there have been challenges, and this is because we understand the nature of agricultural cycles and that farming is a long-term business. From completing the acquisition of farms, to dealing with foot and mouth, to a major loss of crops because of the weather, even the best farmers in the country will face bumps in the road at some point. It’s there that I get most satisfaction, being able to help our farmers come out the other side.”

As a long-term endeavour, he reckoned farming will continue to see scale coming to the fore as a decisive factor for business.

“With the cost of machinery and infrastructure increasingly expensive, spending by farms needs to be justified. What we are seeing now is that resilience in the sector often comes with size, so scaling up has become a big trend in recent years. It has given agri-businesses the opportunity to purchase bigger and better when it comes to long-term investments for their farming operations.”

Farming is poised to respond to a radical shakeup in the coming months as a result of Brexit and Covid-19. Not only this, but Colin also believes that the spotlight going forward for the future of farming will be on how it can reduce its carbon footprint, provide environmental stewardship services for the public good, and implement more localised and sustainable farming practices.

“The new generation are riding these currents, but often experienced farmers tend to concentrate on core farming, which is what they are good at. More and more it is important to reiterate how planning for these new opportunities and changes to government legislation will be key, and we always encourage thinking about succession planning if agri-businesses want to keep farming into the future.”