Family gets business fit for future
The Bridgen family farm across five counties in the west and east Midlands, growing 700 acres of potatoes for processing, 1000 acres of maize mainly for biogas production and 300 acres of wheat as a break crop.
Sam and his brother Will want to follow the family tradition of being progressive to make the business fit for the future.
Sam is responsible for all of the crop spraying and has a Pa1 and 2 to do this.He has also completed a Wami tab course in waste management and this year has taken on full responsibility of spreading operations from the family anareobic digester linked to their potato processing factory and also digestate spreading on contract.
Already this year Sam has been responsible for spreading 15,000 cube, mainly through an umbilical system with a 24m Slurry Kat dribble bar with GPS and a flow meter, applying digestate as a fertiliser to grow crops efficiently and effectively.
This is an area of the business which is growing, especially with inorganic nitrogen prices rising and farmers seeing the benefits of using organic manures to grow crops. These manures also apply more than just Nitrogen as they contain Potash, Phosphate and Sulphur. The business also has a number of tractor and tankers with dribble bars for use in smaller fields.
Sam has always been involved with the farm and went straight from school to work. He wants to be known for providing an efficient and environmentally friendly contracting service and is keen to look to the future at new and emerging farming practices and technologies, eventually taking over from his father.
Younger brother Will studies agriculture at Moreton Morrell College and hopes to go to Harper Adams to study a BSc in agriculture with crop management before returning home to work with Sam in the family business. The future is in good hands.
