Shropshire Farming Talk with Richard Yates

This proved to be a fascinating insight into large scale lettuce and spinach production.

In 1990, third generation farmer Philip Maddocks, fresh out of Walford College and inspired by a stint in California, began his own enterprise on the family farm with 15 acres of cauliflowers and 10 acres of iceberg lettuce.

Fast forward to 2023, and the business extends to 3,500 acres, half of which is owned. Philip expects to harvest 95 million heads of whole head lettuce, making them the second largest grower in the UK and the biggest UK producer of baby leaf with 7m kilos.

Ten years ago, Philip, farming alongside brother Richard, constructed a plant on site to prepare bagged salads ready for the supermarkets producing over 2 million bags a week.

We toured this facility which operates 24/7, yet is shut down for cleaning for four hours every day. Such are the rigorous hygiene standards required by their buyers.

In the winter, salad from their 300-acre farm in Seville keeps their factory supplied. PDM employs 300 full time and a further 400 seasonal staff for planting and harvesting.

Brexit has proved to be a massive spanner in the works in disrupting EU labour flows. A village has developed on the border straddling Staffordshire and Shropshire, which houses 550 staff.

There is an onsite doctor and dentist, and also a well-used football pitch. Uzbeks and Kazaks comprise most of this year’s labour force, most have never cut lettuce before, and PDM prides itself on a 60 per cent return of their staff the following year.

Prior to Brexit, Romanians largely worked here.

This year’s wet spring and lousy summer delayed operations on PDM’s fields as well as mine. The boss admitted this would be his worst financial performance in 30 years of trading.

It would be galling to plough in huge tracts of your contracted lettuce crop when the supermarket has over estimated requirements and says they have enough! Adopting large scale automation is the next challenge.

In 2018, the Holstein dairy herd was replaced by the largest full blooded Wagyu herd in the UK comprising 500 head.

This black breed has its origins from Japanese draught animals, renowned for their unique meat marbling. The ethos is to produce elite genetics and sell semen globally. We sampled some excellent rib eye steak, some of which is consumed in London’s top restaurants.

Wagyu beef has a unique taste which comes at an exorbitant price.

Typically housed and grain fed, then slaughtered at two years of age when the flavour is at its most intense. This bucks the trend of discerning meat consumers selecting grass fed animals, with the concomitant USP story of them relaxing in the leafy meadows.

I imagine there is room for both at the table.

Richard Yates, a farmer from Bridgnorth