62 LODGE FARM APR / MAY 2022 • farmers-mart . co . uk
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CHIPPING AWAY AT A CRISP RATE IS THE POTATO WAY FORWARD IN RYEDALE
CHRIS Berry talks potatoes and TV presenting with Stephen and Jo Rooke of Lodge Farm , Nunnington .
Turning a good deal of old grassland into potato growing land and investing in potato and grain storage have been just two of the many key decisions Ryedalebased farmer brothers Stephen and Tim Rooke have made in their specialist crop .
Their arable cropping land runs to just under 2000 acres , of which 600 acres is down to potatoes through rotational cropping and acreages rented . Other major crops include 650 acres of winter wheat , 300 acres of oats , 100 acres of barley and 100 acres of oilseed rape .
‘ Potatoes are massively the main enterprise and where the major investment has gone ,’ says Stephen . ‘ But it hasn ’ t always been that way . When I was at school we grew about 80 acres of potatoes and when I left school I was encouraged to go into pigs and pig breeding , which I did .’
‘ Tim had a farm shop at the same time as I had the pigs , but in the mid-80s McCain ’ s were coming on strong at Scarborough and were wanting more potato growers in the area . We both then made the decision to come out of our respective other specialisations and to concentrate on potatoes .’
‘ The decision saw our potato acreage shoot up to 200 acres a year and we continually upped our acreage in the 90s . Our land is typical Ryedale land and as such it has proved good for growing potatoes .’
‘ I turned a lot of traditional grassland over into potato growing land and the acreage we now produce with an average of between 16-18 tonnes per acre has gone some way to enable McCain ’ s to grow their business .’
Stephen says that he is more greatly concerned with the quality of his crop rather than necessarily priming the pump and going for greater quantity from his acreage .
‘ I ’ d rather have a smaller yield of quality potatoes than pushing for a bigger yield and at the same time sacrificing the standards we achieve . Everything we do is about producing the best produce we possibly can for all of our respective markets .’
Stephen says that while McCain ’ s are his and Tim ’ s biggest single buyer it is the crisping market that forms the lion ’ s share of their overall sale .
‘ We supply McCain ’ s with 4500 tonnes per year and the varieties grown for them are Pentland Dell that are particularly good chippers and a big standard white variety , along with Innovator that also has a great reputation as a chipper .’
‘ You can ’ t deal direct with crisping factories such as Walker ’ s and Seabrook ’ s where some of our produce will go and so 6000 tonnes of what we produce each year are sold through the major wholesalers such as Cockerills at York and Wolds Produce at Barmby Moor .’
Continued on page 64
‘ Proud to be working with the Rooke family at Lodge Farm ’
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