Meet the Yorkshire policeman's son with no farming background who became one of UK's biggest potato growers

Bradley has now reached the grand old age of 31, talks as good a game as he plays, and is destined to achieve far more in the coming years. He was recently one of the guest speakers at the Future Farmers of Yorkshire Spring Debate held at the Pavilions of Harrogate.

Bradley said that not coming from farming stock could have proved more helpful than hindrance.

“My biggest positive is that I’ve not come from a background where somebody is saying we’ve always done it this way. I’ve got new ideas and I’m always asking the question why are we doing it this way, why don’t we do it that way?

The recent Future Farmers of Yorkshire debate asked whether regenerative agriculture is the future for all UK farmers. Bradley has his own strong opinions.

“You can’t take away everything that is already there and still expect to make a profit. So, before you go into regenerative farming you need to put profit first, because if you’re in business and you’re not making any money then you won’t be able to feed your family or pay your bills.

“You can’t let anybody move you away from profit. After you’ve achieved that, then using livestock in the rotation, reducing chemical usage, reducing fertilisers is all well and good.

Bradley doesn’t hold back over his feelings about certain farming practices that have been adopted widely in recent times.

“There is the other side of regenerative farming that I think is the biggest load of bull in the world, like direct drilling.

“Ploughing has its place, like everything does in agriculture including regenerative farming. It’s all just about using it in the right place. You’ll never grow a 5-tonne wheat crop doing min-till and direct drilling.

“I’m going to take the best principles out of regenerative farming. I’d have cattle, spread muck and reduce the amount of artificial fertiliser. I wouldn’t have to have my own cattle. Swap straw for muck, use biosolids, all things that help. I’d have peas, potatoes, wheat, barley and maize in the rotation - all these things can help your soil and get the best wheat possible.

Bradley is from Pontefract, lives in Darrington and presently rents land but his first studies at Barnsley College were in technical theatre, putting on productions and concerts in theatres and arenas. He’d had an interest in farming from his early teens.

“I was 14 when local farmer Philip Morrell who had Suffolk sheep and Dexter cows gave me half a dozen chickens. I sold their eggs on my paper round. When I was 16 I was on work experience on Maurice Wilson’s arable farm at Darrington. He took me on after that.

“I never went to university. I saw an advertisement for a job up in Scotland working for a contractor and thought it was a good opportunity to get away from home for a while. I was 19. It was in Pitlochry. I hadn’t realised how far up in Scotland it was until I got there.

“I did some combining, a lot of grass work, digger work and construction. It turned me on to contracting and showed me a way into agriculture.

Having wanted to come back home and having been offered a job driving a combine for the summer Bradley returned after two years.

“I ended up carting corn, not combining, but I also started hedge cutting, all of it for John and Robert Wilson of Maurice Wilson Farming.

“I found this old Bomford hedge cutter in some weeds on another farm, spent a little bit of time on it and in return for using the Wilsons’ tractor on my hedgecutting contracting jobs I had to cut their hedges for free.

“I did a season with it, earned a bit of money and bought a second one in 2012 that was a bit more user friendly and more aesthetically pleasing.

“My contracting just grew from there. I was helping a few farms with potato planting. I was corn carting and hedge cutting and then I started helping Peter Batty plant and lift his potatoes, which brought me into the potato world.

Last year Bradley grew just short of 1000 acres of potatoes. This year he’s growing 700 acres. He grows solely for McCain’s and the varieties he’s growing this year are Innovator, Royal, Pentland Dell, Elland & Fontaine.

“We grow the variety that the land suits. Royal suits sandy loam; Innovator wants heavy land; that’s why I have a spread of varieties. We grow from Bawtry to the Yorkshire Wolds and in the Doncaster and Selby area, including two 200-acre sites at Goole Estate and in Bawtry. We are looking for more land all the time and up to 2-3 years in advance.

“Potatoes make up 95 per cent of our produce business, with carrots making up the rest and going to Hartley’s.

“My relationship with Hartley’s happened through sheer luck. They used to freeze peas for Swaythorpe Growers. When Swaythorpe decided to build their own factory in 2017 it was the last harvest Swaythorpe and Hartley’s had together.

“I heard Hartley’s were starting back out growing peas. I rang them to ask whether they would like any help drilling them. They invited me into their boardroom and asked if I’d like the whole job. It was the biggest turning point in my business.

“We cultivate, drill, spray and look after 2,500 acres of peas for them and we vine 5,500 acres. Hartley’s own the three pea viners that we operate and we supply all the back-up gear, the trailers, the staff, everything.

“When I came out of that first meeting with Hartley’s I knew I’d done something fantastic, that it was a game changer, but I also thought what the hell have I done? How can I cope with going from a 2-man-plus-me operation to having to get up to 14 members of staff in peak period.

“Today we have 2 Dewulf self-propelled potato harvesters that cost £350,000 each and we run a whole fleet of machinery.

“There’s a lot of pain and heartache goes with it, but it’s a long term burn to reap the rewards and I’m hopeful of moving in to my own farm later this year.