It’s with great sadness that I have to announce that Malcolm Benjamin, former editor and publisher of Farm Contractor & Large Scale Farmer, has passed away at the age of 73, following a battle with oesophageal cancer.
Benj, as he was known to everyone, began his publishing career working in sales for British Farmer & Stockbreeder before moving on to What’s New in Farming. He was hired by ACP Publishers as advertising sales manager, working closely with Anthony Collier across both Amenity Machinery & Equipment and Farm Contractor.
In 2007, Benj and his wife Beki purchased ACP, and he stepped into the editor role while still handling advertising sales.
He worked closely with manufacturers of all sizes across the industry and gave new writing talent opportunities to work on the magazine. He and Beki would stay on as owners until Benj’s retirement in late 2020, at which point Farm Contractor was sold to Lewis Business Media.
I was hired by Benj in 2015. Despite having some practical farming experience as part of my family’s contracting business, it would be fair to say that I didn’t really know a thing. As an editor, Benj was patient, guiding me through the parts I didn’t understand and always available with a new idea that would help me turn an article around.
It’s no exaggeration that I wouldn’t be sat here now, editor of Farm Contractor, without Benj and Beki. When the business was sold to Lewis Business Media, his presence was sorely missed, and I have regularly looked back at how he would handle situations, approach new topics, and deal with manufacturers to guide how I run the magazine now.
I’m sure I haven’t always gotten it right, but I always hoped he saw that I was trying to continue what he and Beki had done. His advice has rarely steered me wrong.
But the best representation of the man is likely the response I’ve had from the people he worked with; the people at companies who, six years after he retired, would still stop me at shows to ask how he was. He seemed to have endless capacity to work with people. He was missed when he retired from the industry. He is still missed now.
My condolences go out to Beki, and Benj’s friends and family.