PROFILE Fairfields Farm
Making the most of the humble spud
Judith Tooth meets Essex farmer Robert Strathern who is adding value and flavour to his potato crop
F
inely sliced potatoes grad- ually turn a gentle shade of gold in a deep bubbling bath of sunflower oil. They are moved carefully up a convey- or belt for flavouring before be- ing sealed into little packets and packed into boxes. Fairfields Farm hand-cooked honey, butter and sea salt crisps, a special order for Vir- gin Atlantic airlines, are bound for high places.
Out on the farm, 15 irrigation reels are running 24/7 on the po- tato crop. It’s mid-July, and, like many other parts of the region, there has been no rain for more than two months. In another fort- night, the reservoirs will be dry. “A potato crop normally need
25ml of water a week,” says farm- er Robert Strathern, who farms with his wife, Laura, and children, Angus and Imogen, at Worming- ford, near Colchester. “As we’re in a dry part of the country we work on the basis that we’ll irrigate six to eight times a season – elsewhere it might be two or three. “But this year, with tempera- tures regularly above 25ºC and transpiration rates so high the crop is using 30ml a week – and we only have capacity for 25ml. As a result growth rates are very slow so the potatoes are not put- ting on size very quickly and the canopy is starting to age. So we’re
Right: Robert Strathern grows 13 varieties of potato, four of them for crisps, on
220ha potatoes at Fairfields Farm and land rented from local landlords
looking at lower yields and small- er potatoes.”
Crisp production Robert grows 13 varieties of pota- to, four of them for crisps, on 220ha potatoes at Fairfields Farm and land rented from local landlords. On-farm crisp and fresh produc- tion takes 70% of the crop, with 30% grown on contract for trade. Each week, 50t of potatoes go through the farm’s crisp factory, and a further 75t go through the
“
In terms of labour, Brexit has had a really negative effect on our business
farm’s packhouse. Lifting of the new crop is about to start, with crisping variety Rosetta first on the list.
Robert started growing po-
tatoes on a few hectares on the home farm at Layer Marney. En- joying the challenge of growing a
crop where lots of things can go wrong, he gradually grew more. He began renting Fairfields Farm, a former airfield, from his father, Jim, and soon saw the potential for adding value by washing, packing and grading the crop. Then came the idea to produce crisps from home-grown potatoes.
“It had to be commercially vi-
able, and at the time there were some regional players and big players, but there was a position in the market for crisps with lo-
AUGUST 2018 • ANGLIA FARMER 45 >>
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