Vinny Farms is a family partnership growing potatoes and combinable crops, predominantly in the Vinny/Lunan valley area of Angus in the East of Scotland.
The business farms on a mixture of owned, tenanted, and seasonally let land with a total cropped area of some 1500 acres.
About
Vinny Farms is based at Newmill of Balgavies, Forfar, where the Reid family have farmed since 1961. Partners of the business are David Reid and sons John Reid and Sam Reid.
The Reids, as well as their long-serving team of permenant staff, pride themselves on attention to detail and producing good yields of top quality crops.
Potatoes
500 acres of potatoes are grown annually on a 6-7 year rotation. Of these, approximately 70% are grown for pre-pack ware and supplied to Albert Bartlett & Sons (Airdrie) Ltd. Supply is almost year round, with freshly harvested potatoes supplied in late September right through to cold-stored product hitting the shelves the following July/early August.
30% of the potato acreage is dedicated to seed production.
Pre- Basic Maris Piper is multiplied twice before being offered for sale to trade and farming customers. Late planting, early harvesting, and state of the art storage and handling facilities ensures quality which customers have grown to rely on and come back for year after year.
A small area of Hermes is grown for the Egyptian export market.
Certified seed is multiplied once before planting for maincrop ware production.
Combinable Crops
- Winter barley is grown for the animal feed industry.
- Oilseed rape is grown for crushing in the vegetable oil and bio-diesel markets.
- Spring barley is grown to supply Scotland’s thriving whisky industry.
- Winter wheat is grown for feed, and also to supply the distilling industry.
- The business is a member of Montrose based Co-op, Angus Cereals Ltd, with 800T of storage used for some of the farm’s cereal production, whilst the remainder is dried and stored on farm before sale.
Land
Vinny Farms has expanded steadily over the years and currently farms approximately 1000 acres of combinable crops. About one third of this area is on land owned by the business, whilst two thirds is on land rented on two nearby estates on long-running arrangements.
70% of the 500 acres of potatoes grown by the business are grown on seasonally let land from eight different landlords spread throughout Angus. Long-running relationships have been established, cemented by the respect that the firm shows to rented land whilst carrying out its operations.
The partners in Vinny Farms are enthusiastic about the future of farming and are keen to continue the steady expansion of the business. Opportunities to rent from, or provide services to, other landowners are always sought.