Pines and Apples is an independent agribusiness consultancy company based in Estonia, owned and operated by Simon Boughton. Simon focuses on providing truly independent support and advice to farm-owners ,farm managers, and agri-investors, with the objective of improving their profitability through a combination of increased overall operational efficiency and sustainable costs, importantly whilst maintaining or increasing crop yields.
Simon recognises that a low cost of production per tonne of crop, coupled with good yields is the cornerstone of profitability. Farming becomes more technical every year with large amounts of resource invested in the annual cycle of production, finding the correct balance of input so as to effectively manage production risk requires a depth of experience. Simon has this experience, having been involved in the management of varying sizes of Agribusiness from 500 hectares to 150,000 hectares for over 40 years. His experience ranges from working as a farm manager for private investors for 10 years in the UK. Then for 20 years he worked for Velcourt Ltd as farm manager and business consultant, and then latterly a director. With Velcourt he gained experience of operating large scale farms and providing Agribusiness consultancy in the UK, France, Sub-Saharan Africa, Hungary, Ukraine and Russia. Simon has been based in Estonia for the last 9 years where he was initially Head of Agriculture and then CEO of Trigon Agri, an investment boutique that also manages farms in Ukraine and Russia. In 2018 Simon established Pines and Apples as an Independent Agribusiness Consultancy Company and to date has provided advice to businesses in Ukraine, Kazakstan and Estonia
