Our Team

The Copas family work closely with their staff at all times and each section of the business has regular team meetings. In the spring and autumn a staff conference is held for all personnel, giving the opportunity to assess past activities and review the way forward together. Once a year all staff meet with their team managers for a performance review and these can be held more frequently if the staff member wishes. This is a time to review an individual’s future and talk through any problems. Training needs are also discussed and reviewed on an ongoing basis to keep personnel trained to undertake their roles, to grow within the business and to keep pace with any changes in legislation.

Estate Office

Our Estate Office is at Hedsor Park Farm in Taplow, where 11 of our full time and part time staff are based. We are a friendly team with a wide range of attributes and the office is open from 8:30am – 5:00pm each weekday. We provide a full back up service for the business which includes most legal, accounting, surveying, planning and administrative requirements.

Construction Team

Our construction team is made up of 20 full time staff members supported by local sub contractors. Together they cover all the construction disciplines supplying a fully comprehensive service to the estate, maintaining all estate properties and infrastructure. In addition, they project manage all new development on the estate.

Arable and Workshop Team

Our small but perfectly formed arable team is dedicated to suppling the attention to detail required to run a successful arable enterprise. In the months of July and August, during harvest they are supported by members of the wider estate to bolster numbers at this busy time of year. In the winter months they are focused on machine maintenance and carrying out general estate maintenance work.

Pick Your Own Team

On the Pick Your Own team we have a dedicated full time team focused on growing the best produce possible for our customers. During the picking season of May to October, the team is bolstered by young seasonal workers and students to assist with customer service and the running of our two farm shops.

Maintenance Team

With an estate as wide and diverse as ours, you can imagine that maintenance is like a never ending story. We are fortunate to have a dedicated estate maintenance team who have an amazingly wide skill set to solve all problems they are confronted with…. or most of them anyway!

Geoffrey Copas

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Geoffrey Copas has just celebrated his eightieth birthday and throughout his entire life farming has run through his blood. It was always his ambition to pass on an increasingly efficient, well-managed and profitable business which could remain viable and sustainable without the need for Single Farm Payments and this he has achieved with the support of both his family and employees. His lifetime of experience has meant that Copas Farms Estate has not only grown, but it has flourished into the successful, well-managed and profitable business it is today. Whilst having passed the day-to-day running of the Estate to his two sons, James and Richard, Geoffrey remains on hand to impart words of wisdom and still attends the monthly estate meeting to keep abreast of activities.

Geoffrey has never been frightened of challenges and pushing boundaries. His strong ambition to ensure that the Estate can remain viable and sustainable has kept him driven to ensure best use is made of assets at the same time as exploring every possible way in which diversified activities can support the farming operation.

Geoffrey communicates well at all levels and will use his skills at every opportunity to ensure a dialogue which raises awareness on the challenges of farming whilst striving to remain viable and sustainable. Change is not always generally well received so he considers it important to convey the rationale behind our activities, particularly where it involves a need to diversify. As part of this exercise he regularly attends Parish Council meetings and Farming Forums with Councillors on the District Councils. Geoffrey also attends the annual Farming Conference in Oxford as well as meetings held throughout the year by the National Farming Union, The Council for the Protection of Rural England, The Country Land and Business Association and local Agricultural Groups and Associations. Not only is Geoffrey happy to spend time meeting or talking on the telephone, he additionally meets once a year with members of The Worshipful Company of Farmers and Excellence Groups to share experiences and help fellow farmers and landowners. Hosting visits to the Estate and regularly writing letters to the farming, local and national press also help to spread the word.

Geoffrey can never be described as ‘switching off’ and relaxing, but countryside pursuits, worldwide travel and spending time with his grandchildren all help.

James Copas

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James, born in 1974, is the older son of Geoffrey Copas. Growing up on the family farm it soon became apparent that James had a passion for farming and everything related to it. From a young age his weekends and school holidays were spent with his brother on the farm sweeping up, making boxes for fruit and plucking turkeys at Christmas. This interest has never waned and set James on a path to return to the family farm.

James attended St Pirans School in Maidenhead where he struggled with dyslexia. He moved on to Millfield School in Somerset, which had a specialist dyslexia unit, and left after 5 years having achieved A Levels in Geography (A), Accounts (B) and Business Studies (A). Pursuing his interest in farming James moved on to Harper Adams University in Shropshire where he completed a Degree in Agricultural Land and Farm Management.

After a gap year travelling James returned to the family farm in 1998 to take over the arable business. Since then he has undertaken his BASIS in Crop Management, FACTS Certificate and the OCR Level 3 in Road Haulage. Under his guidance the farm has gone on to win the Best Farmed Farm in the Royal East Berkshire region on seven occasions, the Best Overall Championship Farm in Berkshire on two occasions and Best Large Farm in South Buckinghamshire on three occasions.

Today James is the Operational Director of Copas Farms Estate overseeing the two Pick Your Own fruit farms, a substantial in-house estate maintenance team and the arable business.

James lives on the farm at Coney Meadow in Cookham with his long-term partner Tina and daughter Grace. When not at work, James enjoys country pursuits, travelling and fine dining.

Richard Copas

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Growing up on the family farm in Cookham, from an early age Richard’s life was intertwined with the farm, working with his brother in the farm shop at weekends and school holidays being spent sweeping yards, making boxes for the fruit and plucking turkeys at Christmas. At school Richard was dyslexic however he excelled at mathematics and it seemed logical this would set him on a path to dealing with the financial affairs and structural planning for the family’s farming business.

Richard’s educational route took him through St Pirans School in Maidenhead, Millfield School in Somerset and the School of Agriculture of the University of London at Wye College. He joined Copas Farms in 1998 where he progressed through the business to head up the management teams for office, financial and legal. Focusing on this path Richard studied and achieved a Membership of The Association of Chartered Certificate of Accountants in 2003 and went on to a Fellowship in 2009. He gained a Master of Science from Oxford Brookes University in Real Estate Management in 2005 and a Masters in Business Administration from Ashridge Business School in 2014.

Despite being virtually 100% desk-based, Richard can still be found driving the lorry at harvest or helping the construction team when the pressure is on.

In 2021, Richard was awarded a Nuffield Farming Scholarship to study the mechanisation of the cherry harvest, which involved study trips to USA, Chile and Europe.

Richard lives at Innisfree Farm in Little Kingshill with his wife Charlotte and children Laura and George. When he has the time, Richard likes to play 5-a-side football and enjoy country pursuits.