LET ’ S get one thing straight right away . Lister ’ s crisps are wonderful . I was fortunate enough to have a box of Tom and Laura Platt ’ s produce sent for my Facebook Live show recently and I can tell you in all sincerity they are great . What ’ s more my wife thinks so too !

Lister ’ s Crisps is the new business started by the young couple at Sandhall Farm , Skelton by the banks of the River Ouse near Goole just two years ago . They decided to call it something different to their own surname to carry on the family name of Tom ’ s grandfather William Lister .

‘ Our crisp business will be two years old in March ,’ says Tom . ‘ I ’ d had an interest in getting into crisps when I was 17 and had bought some machinery at the time that I ’ d had in store for the next 13 years . I ’ d wanted to get involved with produce that was taken from the ground to a finished product and we have always grown potatoes .’

Tom and Laura ’ s farm runs to 500 acres and they rent further land . The crisping potatoes only make up a small proportion of their overall potato acreage which usually runs to around 200 acres on an 8-10 year rotation . Their hope is that the growth of their crisp business will lead to committing further acreage to it .

‘ We are currently growing five acres of the varieties Lady Rosetta and Taurus specifically for the crisps ,’ says Tom . ‘ Lady Rosetta is an early established variety that we can start lifting in August / September with Taurus coming on afterwards . These two excellent crisping varieties give us a reasonable profile for what we need for our year round crisp production .’

‘ Covid has proved a challenging time for many and that includes our overall

potato business . We have two sectors for our main potato trade – fish & chip shops and markets being one , and the other being prepacks in clear bags to supermarkets . We have grown the variety Sagitta for the last 10 years . It has proved itself time and again as a great all-rounder from chipper to baker .’

‘ When you hear people talk of struggling to buy food it always reminds me of the saying I grew up with hearing : ‘ If you have a bag of potatoes you ’ ll never go hungry ’. Everyone used to have a bag of potatoes in their pantry but these days nearly everyone appears to be going towards easy meals . People don ’ t want to peel spuds anymore .’

Tom and Laura ’ s early crisp trade has been encouraging . They have made great contacts that has led to Lister ’ s Crisps being sold in farm shops , pubs , cafés and other village and town retailers . They have even sponsored Featherstone Rovers rugby league club , where their crisps are now sold .

‘ I played for Featherstone Lions and always liked my rugby league ,’ says Tom . ‘ It ’ s nice to be able to combine putting something back into the game with also getting Lister ’ s Crisps involved .’

Obviously some of the increase they were hoping to make in key areas like pubs and cafés has been stymied by Covid regulations , but they have made ground in other areas and their crisp business growth this year has come from eCommerce , selling through their website and social media .

‘ We are currently producing 1000 bags of crisps a day dependent on orders as the bags all have expiry dates and we want our crisps to be eaten as fresh as possible ,’ says Laura . ‘ We have two people in the processing side , Tom ’ s brother Phil who turns the potato into a crisp ; and Amy Stone , a family friend who took over from my sister after she emigrated . Amy looks after the packaging , accreditations for compliancy and the day-to-day management .’

‘ We have five varieties at present and in 2021 we are expanding our range with two more , plus we will also be offering

the 150g share bags in addition to our current regular 40g bags .’

Tom and his other brother Chris both farm 500 acres since taking on their respective operations from what was their parents ’ William and Mary ’ s farm . Chris also grows potatoes and they work together on the business side of the larger potato enterprise .

‘ We were always brought up to respect hard work . When you ’ re younger you never really know the plan of what you ’ re going to do , you mould your way into it . I studied engineering at Brooksby College and became an agricultural land-based service technician while going through my apprenticeship with Ripon Farm Services at Darrington . I ’ d always been interested in farm machinery , following in the footsteps of my granddad William Lister who was a well-respected engineer .’

Tom ’ s land is heavy silt , being next to the Ouse . ‘ It ’ s very good land and it will reward you , so long as you catch it right . It was a flood plain and would flood every year until the banks were raised . Ironically it flooded with the tidal surge in 2013 , our first year of having taken on the farm . One of those things . When we are lifting potatoes and I have to sometimes almost walk on water I bring out the self-propelled Grimme Tectron .’

Wheat , barley , spring oats and peas make up the rest of Tom ’ s cropping having just had his last season of oilseed rape .

‘ We grow around 300 acres of winter wheat and I ’ ve stuck with JB Diego as it also generates a lot of straw . We generally get a yield of between 3-5 tonnes per acre and last year ’ s freakish conditions

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