I grow: “About 600 acres of cabbages and 550 acres of sprouts.”

This week: “There are lots of things happening; we’re spraying, weeding and harvesting.”

Harvest: “We started harvesting new season savoys about a month ago. For our early season crops we’ve got savoy, white and red cabbage in the same field, simply because when the new season starts off, availability and sales volumes tend to be lower, so it saves us shifting about all over the place.”

Plant breeding: “The cabbages you see here today wouldn’t be here in January because they wouldn’t stand up to the frost, unlike hardier, later-maturing varieties. These ones in Aberlady were planted on 14 April and are being harvested on 7 July.”

Industry changes: “When my father started you could have five to 10 acres of cabbages and make that work. In the marketplace now, you couldn’t go out and sell five acres of cabbages. For a local shop it’s far too many and a supermarket wouldn’t be interested.”

Brexit: “Labour is a challenge. We rely on eastern European workers, but the deal is not so good for these guys now because the exchange rate is not as good as it was. I believe there’s a bit of [Brexit] panic going on as well and that may put them off coming to the UK, but we’re looking at new ways to attract and retain labour.”

Audits: “We’re accredited to a number of industry and supermarket standards, that cover everything from our farm and packhouse practices, to ethical trading and the environment. We are also certified to Global Gap standard, which allows us to export to Europe.”

Family: “It’s a real family affair, with different family members involved in different aspects of the business, including field, technical and accounts. There are two generations working in the business and I have three young grandsons always keen to get stuck in as well.”

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Working in the agricultural sector in Scotland

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