Farmer Profiles
The Rose Family
The Rose family originally moved to Mid Coul Farm in 1912, farming around 250 acres in a traditional rotation of crops and livestock. Over the many years that have since elapsed, much has changed.
In the fifties and sixties, responding to increasing and changing demands, pigs and poultry were added to the farm's activities, along with the existing cattle and sheep. Meanwhile the land area was doubled by merging adjacent tenant farms. In the eighties, the farm ceased rearing cattle and sheep to concentrate on developing its arable rotations of cereals and oilseeds. This progressed to growing "conservation" grade oats to be used in a developing market for healthier food and in turn some crops were grown organically before there was any legal definition of what organic meant.
Through the nineties the EU laid down a definition of what "organic" stood for. During this period the current farmer, William Rose, became increasingly interested in organic production methods and the potential to diversify the farm into a sustainable way forward. The poultry operations were sold off and the pig activities were run down allowing the farm to return its main focus to crops.
Further land was converted to organic status and this was used to grow wheat, barley and oats for bread making, brewing and the burgeoning healthy foods market. This was all done in a stockless rotation and the land area was increased dramatically to over 3,000 acres working with a forward thinking and very helpful local Estate.
A review of the farms activities in 1996 lead to the conclusion that more specialism was required to secure the future and that the farm had to get as close to its customers as possible. Around this time, Tesco were making it known that they were actively looking to recruit more organic farmers to supply their customers and William came to believe that the future lay in developing a vegetable supply to meet these needs.
At the start of this process, visits were made to see the best of organic production methods throughout Europe and North America and first crops of carrots, potatoes, swedes and parsnips were planted. A company, Tio Ltd (This is Organics), was formed to market Mid Coul products and a relationship with Tesco was established. Initially produce was supplied through an existing Tesco packer but after a couple of years the relationship became direct.
Since then, the farm has expanded its production and now grows over 500 acres of vegetables, focusing mainly on organic carrots, parsnips, swedes, potatoes and beetroot. Various techniques to control weeds and pests have been developed and in the early summer the fields are a hive of activity. Harvesting of carrots starts in August and continues all the way through the winter by covering the carrots with straw to keep them safe from frost.
The farm still grows various cereals which end up in bread and animal feeds. Most of the organic barley is now malted to be made into the finest whisky by Bruichladdich, where they say "Scotland's purest, most elegant spirit distilled on Victorian machinery by Islanders - Natural Born Distillers"!
More recently, the farm decided to dip its toe back into livestock by buying and finishing about 25 head of cattle. A neighbouring farm became available to rent and the small herd of cattle belonging to the outgoing tenant was bought adding 20 Simmental X cows, 1 Simmental bull and another 30 various Simmental and Limousine X young stock to the existing herd. The finished animals have all been destined for Tesco and plans are being considered to re-stock and fully utilise the 1000 acres of grass in the rotation.
Mid Coul is lead by the needs of the market and the move towards increasing environmental and health awareness by consumers provides us to farm in sympathy with nature and the greater environment. As time goes by, it is certain that Mid Coul and Tesco will forge even greater success together.
