Potato Review

PROFESSIONAL PROFILE Tell us a little about yourself?What did you aspire to be when youwere growing up? My very rst job, while I was still at school, was working as a butcher boy on Saturdays and during school holidays. After I left school, I did a couple of months of butchery and went on to train as an apprentice joiner and blacksmith. I moved down to Lincolnshire from Yorkshire when I was in my mid-20s and decided to settle here. I worked on a dairy farm and then on a pig farm for a while looking after the livestock. I’ve always enjoyed being active and hands-on, but I don’t think I ever had a plan of exactly what I wanted to do, I just made the most of whatever opportunities came my way. How did you embark on your career path and go about achieving your goals – tell me a little about how you came to be in your current position? I started working part-time for a local farmer and he told me they needed a pigeon scarer at Branston. So, I joined Branston Produce, as it was called back then in 1983, more or less as a human scarecrow. It essentially involved trying to keep the pea crops safe from ocks of birds. at evolved and I moved on to pea sampling. I had to travel around 4,000 acres of pea elds to collect samples, which had to be checked to see when they would be at the optimum condition for harvest. We used a ‘tenderometer’ machine, although after a few years I could have done the assessment by putting them in my mouth and testing the ‘bite’ and taste. Gradually I moved into driving the pea viners and combine harvesters during the summer and in winter I would pack the 25kg bags of potatoes ready for market. It was tough, manual work. Seven years later I was encouraged to start working in the factory as a supervisor. I worked as supervisor for several years then took a sidestep into looking after the fuel management at the factory. What experiences have helped to shape your career and inspire you? I’ve been at Branston for just over half of my life and if I had the chance to do it again, I wouldn’t do anything di erent. I nd the travel aspect and getting to meet so many people from around the company very inspiring. In the early days, I worked across every department Branston had, from engineering to the agronomist side of things. ere’s nothing I haven’t done and that’s why I’ve never been bored. e breadth of opportunities and the chance to experience every facet of the process has been really rewarding. What are your main goals currently? I want to continue being part of a business that has a positive impact on the local community. We donate roughly just over a tonne of potatoes a month to various charities and local initiatives around Lincolnshire. Recently, for example, we donated produce to support local families in the area over the summer holidays who would normally receive free school meals. We also go litter picking in the local village as a team to keep it nice and tidy. It’s so important to get involved and develop those relationships with the community around us and it’s a huge part of why I enjoy my job. I’ve lived the dream, and while I’m going down to a more part-time role, I don’t think I’ll ever be ready to fully retire. Tell me a little about your business successes and failures and what you have learned from them. Back in the early days, I used to interview people for jobs at the factory. ere are still one or two of those people working for us to this day. One of the gentlemen I interviewed left recently and said he’d never met someone so dedicated to their job. at’s one of my proudest moments because I genuinely love what I do. ➜ www.potatoreview.com POTATO REVIEW JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 29