Stephen Peachey Agricultural Engineering, based in Rookley, was formed in 1994, and during that time the business has grown considerably.
The company specialises primarily in farmers’ requirements, selling and repairing all types of tractors and farm machinery. For the past five years there has also been a garden machinery section, embracing lawn mowers, brushcutters, strimmers, hedge cutters and chain saws, and they hold the Island franchise for the Stihl and Viking garden machinery and power tools.
“Basically anything you would expect to find in the Stihl or Viking catalogue we are able to source. We keep a selection on site, and if we haven’t got what the customer wants in stock we can usually get it inside two days,” said Stephen, who runs the company along with three other members of staff.
“We started in a small rented unit, and two years in we bought the current premises, a smallholding with 10 acres and a bungalow, and have moved forward steadily since then.”
The company’s core business is agriculture, and despite difficult economic times, Stephen and his work force have been able to keep a busy workshop. He points out: “Crops still have to be grown and machinery looked after. Margins in farming have always been tight so maybe the recession has not had such an impact on our industry as on others.”