Meet the Farmers Growing Healthy Food for You

In the UK there are around 3,000 potato growers, all passionate about providing you the best, most nutritious crop they can for your healthy meals. Here are just a few of our growers who want to share the lengths to which they go to produce the perfect potato and why they think potatoes are such a healthy food:

South West – Reuben Collins
Reuben is the fourth generation of potato growers on his family farm in Cornwall, where he produces fresh potatoes for a major supermarket chain as well as his local farm shops. 

Reuben likes nothing more than a good filling jacket potato when he comes in for dinner as he says they are so simple to make and give him a healthy, quick meal with no effort. He has also spent time at community food and farming events promoting his produce and getting people interested in where their food comes from.
Wales – Nigel Raymond
Nigel farms over 3,500 acres with his family in West Pembrokeshire.  The farm includes dairy, beef, sheep, arable and potatoes.  Nigel, who is married to Collette and has a young son, returned to the family farm in 2003 after studying Agricultural Business Management at Wye College University.

Nigel has helped develop all sectors of his business and in particular expand the potato enterprise up to 285 acres of salad crop and main crop potatoes which are marketed through a major retail supplier throughout supermarkets in Wales.
South East – Matt Spanton
Kent based farm manager Matt was born into farming and studied at agricultural college.  He now runs a 3,000 acre farm in Faversham, supplying all the major retailers with local produce. 

Brought up on potatoes, Matt is keen to show everyone how easy it can be to fit potatoes into busy meal times, and believes they can be used in hundreds of different ways.  Matt featured in the Many Faces TV advert which aired in July 2012.
Western England – Angela Cliffe
Originally from Lancashire, Angela studied for an HND in Agriculture at Harper Adams, and worked on a farm in Tasmania for a year as part of the course.  Based on a farm in Somerset, Angela works for a retailer packer, and is responsible for all of their activities in the south west, working with growers on all aspects of growing crop to ensure delivery of quality material to the customer. 

From 2004 to 2011, she co-ordinated the ‘Local First for Fresh’ campaign to 13 retail stores in Somerset and Devon, delivering new potatoes direct from the farm to the store daily. Angela is married to David, an Environmental Consultant, with two daughters and two step-children. Angela also plays tennis, and is the secretary for her local club.
Eastern England – Kevin Stokes
Kevin has been farming at Farndon Fields, Market Harborough in Leicestershire since 1983. The business has grown from small beginnings. Initially the farm consisted of 140 acres, made up of three acres of potatoes that were sold in the locality, at the door.  Today, the farm area is 550 acres with a thriving farm shop business, and a team of over 50 employed. 

Six varieties of potatoes are grown on 40 acres for sale through the farm shop 12 months of the year. Kevin is hands on with growing and harvesting the potato crop throughout the year. Vegetables, soft fruit, Christmas trees, as well as other arable crops are also grown on the farm. The farm shop won an award for ‘Farm Shop of the Year’ in 2008.
East Anglia – Mike Newling
Mike has been based on the family farm at Four Gotes in Cambridgeshire for three years.  The farm is 850 acres of prime silt land, and Mike is a working director alongside his father. They grow wheat, oil seed rape, barley, sugar beet, vining peas and potatoes.  The family have been farming in the area for 100 years and Mike’s late grandfather, John, was one of the first growers of Maris Piper.

All potatoes are for the fresh chipping markets, as well as some London restaurants, whilst others go into Ireland and Scotland via various outlets. One of Mike’s aims is to continue building good relationships with local merchants and to strive for high quality chips for end customers. Mike also has a passion for art, skiing, music and golf.
Yorkshire – Amanda Cornforth
Amanda has been working on her family farm on Sutton Bank in North Yorkshire for two years. Prior to that, she was a journalist for seven years. Amanda works alongside her father Derek, boyfriend Matthew and mother Susan on the 250 hectare arable farm that has been owned by the Cornforths since 1922. 

They have been growing high-grade seed potatoes for ten years, planting around 30 hectares each season, and also grow mini-tubers. Amanda is heavily involved with the potato side of the business. She co-ordinates sales and deals with administration but also grades, bags and works in the field. Amanda breeds Angora goats and is a rally driver in her spare time.
North East – Mark Robson
Mark’s family have been farming in Northumberland since 1923. Mark farms at Wooler and works in partnership with his parents at Kelso on another farm that includes a seed operation. All together Mark farms 1,200 acres across the two sites. Mark supplies various outlets, including  pre-pack for retail markets, co-operatives, processing for crisps, salad potatoes and seed.

Mark also has a poultry breeding unit and farms other arable crops. Mark completed his Business course at what is now Northumbria University. Mark and wife Sarah believe in cooking healthy wholesome food for their family of three children.
North West – Robin Cropper
The Cropper family have grown and sold potatoes for the last seven generations. Robin runs the 488 hectare farm in Ormskirk, Lancashire with his brother John, producing fresh potatoes for chip shops in nearby Liverpool and Manchester.

Most of the 6,000 tonnes they produce each year are consumed within a 30 mile radius of the farm – a fact that they are extremely proud of. With three young children of their own, Robin, a single dad, is keen to show everyone just how quick and easy potatoes are to cook with.
Scotland – Peter Grewar
Peter farms in both Perthshire and the Black Isle in family partnerships with his wife Lucy, parents, and cousin Euan. Grewar Farming grows over 1,500 acres of potatoes, mainly for the supermarket pre-pack market, but also supplying the seed and organic sectors. Barley, wheat and oilsee rape are grown in rotation.

Peter and Lucy have two young children, Charlie and Eve, and the family eat potatoes with every meal. Peter is keen to promote potatoes as the superfood that he believes they clearly are. Peter is also a part time ski patroller at Glenshee.