We farm: “120 acres of potatoes, feed wheat and feed barley. Our combinable crops are mostly winter, with 60 acres of winter barley and 600 acres of winter wheat.”

Family: “I farm alongside my father, David. I have one sister, Amy, who is studying primary school teaching. I came home to farm in 2008, after gaining a certificate in machinery and crop production in Kildalton College, which was a two-year course.”

This Week: “My day is made up of grading and packing potatoes in the morning, followed by deliveries and then digging in the afternoon. We have an automated unit for grading and packing, and have enough cold storage in the yard for 1,300t of potatoes, keeping them at 2-3°C.”

Potatoes: “We grow 120-150 acres of potatoes every year, rotating the potatoes throughout the farm in a once-every-four-years rotation. We supply to wholesalers, who then sell produce on to supermarkets and other sources. We also supply to the chipping market. The varieties we grow are Queens, Maris Piper and Rooster. Maris Piper is our main variety.”

Grain harvest: “We finished harvesting winter barley last week. It went very well, the moisture was below 16% and we averaged a yield of 4t/acre. We sell the straw on the flat to farmers. The grain prices are very disheartening. Like most farmers, we are regretting that we had not forward sold this year. We sell our grain straight off the combine to Whites Agri and Drummonds Agri.”

Future: “I would hope to expand and maximise our potato enterprise, although this is difficult with the amount of acreage we have. We may look into gaining more land, or try new ways to maximise our current yield. We need to find a new market and make the potatoes more marketable and easier to sell. At the moment, there are too many potato growers and the market is saturated.”

Horses: “I have four horses and I am a member of the Ward Union hunt. I compete in three-day events and show jumping competitions, which takes up a lot of my spare time.”

Quotable Quote: “What’s for you, won’t go by you!”