OUR STORY
We are a family run business that has been farming on the Shotley peninsula since the mid 1840’s. The sixth generation is now part of the business. The holding has a mainly south facing aspect on the North bank of the River Stour with around three miles of river frontage. Farming on the riverside brings its own challenges with a wide mix of soil types ranging from outcrops of London clay to areas of light stony soils.
The farm has more than doubled in size in the last 20 years, this is mainly due to the increase in irrigation capacity and the availability of land to grow more root crops like potatoes and onions. The farm has had some form of irrigation since the 1960s, though this was considerably expanded in the 1990s when the first large reservoir was constructed. This along with expansion of our land base has allowed us to grow more high value produce, with the Help of Rural Development Programme for England we now have three reservoirs the supply around 85% of the irrigation water, with the remainder supplied by bore holes, this is distributed around the farm by about 25km of underground main.
The farm now focuses on growing irrigatable crops with potatoes and onions being the backbone of the business. We have invested substantially in these enterprises including a box cold store and modern machinery to ensure we produce crops to the best of our ability while preserving the environment. This includes using minimum fertiliser and pesticide applications. We now also run a farm contracting business (Stourside Farming Ltd.) alongside our original farm, growing produce away from our home block.