Circa 1900
Arthur Hovenden Worth – early pioneer of arable farming in South Lincolnshire, applying the plough to what had been traditionally grassland from which the wealth of the area had been founded on the back of the wool trade.
Circa 1905
A H Worth became very successful with growing potatoes amongst other crops such as cereals and mustard, having introduced and invented a horse drawn dusting machine (Gratton) for the application of a special Bordeaux/copper powder mixture for the control of potato blight.
1910
In order to get his potatoes to the London Wholesale markets and other provincial cities up and down the country, A H Worth laid down a light railway (2ft track) of some 13 miles which touched on most fields on the estate which in turn led to the main line station at Fleet village. Initially the trucks were pulled by horses, but converted to oil engines later. The light railway was eventually scrapped in 1955. Hovenden House, the Worth family’s new home (now a Cheshire Home) was built at this time.
1948
saw the introduction of 2 Massey Harris 21 petrol driven combines, but for a further number of years to come, the main method of harvesting cereals remained with the traditional method of cutting with a binder, carting the sheaves and stacking. Up to the mid fifties, all corn was still threshed by steam power, although by this time a small number of John Deere and Fordson Major petrol/paraffin tractors were beginning to appear. The Fleet Estate was divided into three completely separate farms consisting of roughly 600 acres, all with their own stable of horses, tackle, 25/30 men under the control of a traditional foreman.
1952
saw the introduction of the first sugar beet harvester, which in effect formed the beginning of the mechanisation revolution, which was to take place over the ensuing years. During the fifties further mechanisation took place, and in order to continue to employ the workforce, some of which otherwise would have been made redundant, a series of special crops were grown to occupy these people, such as poppies grown for opium and paint oil, peppermint grown for oil essence, spinach grown for canning, runner beans grown on an intricate overhead wire and cane system for the fresh market, loganberries, etc.
1955
the first grain store and drier with a capacity of 750 tonnes, constructed with pre-cast curved concrete slabs and ventilated floors, was established in the old cattle building at Manor farm.
1956
The introduction of the first practical single row Johnson potato harvester was a turning point in our history of potato production. We worked very closely with Johnson’s of March, continually modifying this machine, both in the interests of output and reduction of mechanical damage. By 1960 we had three Johnson Mark Five harvesters which saw the demise of hand picking, and under reasonable conditions each machine would average four acres a day which was not bad for a single row machine working in 28” rows. Shortly after this, in the interests of less wheel compaction, we opened up to 30” rows.
1963
saw the establishment of the AHW Consortium, which consisted initially of seven local farmers agreeing to grow vining peas for A H Worth. Four new static viners were established at Manor Farm, along with cleaning and chilling facilities, 2 sets of cutters and loaders for fieldwork along with the hire of 7 motor lorries for hauling the vines from field to viner, comprised the basic set. 24 hour working 7 days a week required the best part of 100 men to operate the system, some of which were “ borrowed” from Consortium growers for the six weeks taken to complete this 700-acre operation.
The following year, a proportion of the Consortium member’s potato crop was committed to a central indoor grading line set up by Worth’s, which were to be marketed under the new QV logo in 56 lb paper bags to a panel of wholesale merchants both in London and provincial cities.
1964
The development of six row two-stage potato harvesting was yet another turning point in our potato history. After considerable modification of prototypes, again with Johnson’s of March, two full sets, each comprising one two row digger with left hand delivery; one two row digger with right hand delivery; one two row straight through digger and a pick up loader lifting six rows, were put to work. (One of these sets was used for lifting neighbouring farmers crops) On a good day, one set would lift 25 acres in a day, but invariably the limiting factor was trailer hold up at the store end. After several years of using this system, it was finely abandoned mainly due to high management input and vulnerability to overhead rains. Replacement by two 2-row self-propelled Grimme harvesters was the next stage of development.
1968
The AHW Consortium was formalised into a fully-fledged co-operative to be named The Holbeach Marsh Co-operative (HMC) with A H Worth being appointed as managing agents. With the advent of more Members, the pea acreage had grown to well over 1000, the introduction of 700 acres of dwarf green beans and the commitment of 20,000 tonnes of potatoes.
1969
The formation of a Frozen Vegetable processing and marketing group took place called Frozen Quality Ltd (Froqual) This was a group comprising HMC, Essex Peas and T A Saul. A H Worth were appointed managing agents, and the headquarters were based at Worth’s offices at Fleet. The prime objective of this group was to retain farmer influence in the market place, hiring processing facilities with Frigoscandia at Kings Lynn and Christian Salvesens at Peterborough, and selling product direct to all leading Multiple Retailers including M&S.
1974
The formation of a grain marketing co-operative called Lingrain took place, originally based a Weston. This group was initially formed by a group of 25 farmers, with once again A H Worth playing a leading role. This group was to rapidly expand, moving and building a substantial grain drying and storage plant with direct ship loading facilities at Boston Docks by 1984
1986
Management Development Services (MDS) was formed by a leading group of farmers with Worth’s at the forefront, a training organisation to provide two years management experience for graduates wishing to take a career in the agricultural, horticultural. food processing and food technology industry.
1980/90
This period saw further considerable development in the use of electronics in potatoes grading, packaging and soil removal, mainly in conjunction with Lockwood Graders. Also at this time, Worth’s became the first suppliers of weight-graded trays of four over-wrapped washed baking potatoes to Marks & Spencer. Potatoes were being lifted with the latest self-propelled Jumbo buffer tanker harvester from Grimme, which gave considerable improvements in output with less mechanical damage over and above the earlier models. Two Class Dominator 96 combines now harvested our 800 acres of wheat, with over half the crop being dried and stored by Lingrain at Boston Docks. This period saw our first foray into growing Iceberg lettuce for Tinsley Foods, and Brussels sprouts for the freezing industry.
1990/2000
As always, the potato crop continued to be the main focus for the farming section now called Worth Farms, supplying our own QV Foods and its retail customers, Marks & Spencer and J Sainsbury. Potato acreage was now exceeding 400 acres, still sticking to our sacrosanct 6-year rotation, but now being supplemented by additional land rented from neighbouring growers on an annual basis. A sophisticated 8-foot Herbert grading line permanently installed in the old hanger building at Top Farm was now handling this additional tonnage. By 1991, the 2 Class Dominator combines had been replaced by a 22ft cut Massey Ferguson, enabling for the first time cereal harvesting to be completed by a single machine and driver. Also at this time, cauliflowers had been introduced to the rotation; Worth’s had become members of Elgro based at Kirton, who were now marketing this new crop on our behalf. Co-operation with other local cauliflower growers enabled us to improve harvesting efficiencies. Carrot acreage was now up to 130 acres, supplying freezing customers based on Frigoscandia sites at Kings Lynn and Grimsby, with sprout production exceeding 1000 tonnes per annum supplying J Sainsbury and Tesco via Bedfordshire Growers at Biggleswade. By the end of this period, lettuce production had increased to over 50 acres, now supplying the wholesale over wrapped market with vacuum cooled Iceberg in our own branded trays packed at Manor Farm.
2000/2009
Having reviewed its farming policy, by 2001/2002, Worth Farms had increased its arable farming acreage to 4500 acres. This increase in area had been made possible from land acquired from various Farm Business Tenancy (FBT) agreements and Contract Farming arrangements. Potato production increased to over 900 acres lifted by 2 self propelled Grimme rubber track laying harvesters, graded into one tonne boxes over the much-modified Herbert line still based in the old Hangar at Top Farm. For economic and crop simplification reasons, the growing of sprouts, cauliflower and carrots were phased out of production during this period of acreage expansion. Part of the acreage was now being rented to specialist salad and brassica vegetable growers, in order to compliment the arable rotation.
Spring 2003 saw introduction of the auto steer technique for cultivating potato land using a new John Deere 8420T with Green Star auto steer. Various pieces of large equipment, including rubber tracklayers, were introduced to cope with the expanded acreage and contracting operation. A 6m Vaderstad drill and Cat55 was purchased to drill winter wheat and contract drill vining peas for Holbeach Marsh Co-operative. The first Agco Challenger 765 tractor arrived on the farm during 2004, with a RTK base station transmitting a local differential signal for accurate auto steer in 2007. Worth Farms became a Limited Company in 2007. For 2008, a Class Lexion 600 rubber track laying combine with 10 metre header using telematics was purchased to harvest the farms 1700 acres of wheat and various other contract opportunities.
