Casestudy// Contracting business start-up

what he says is still a ‘big decision’ and with a £25,000 loan he bought a well-used Bateman RB15 sprayer. It was a machine he knew well, having been one of its previous operators.

While he says winning the Farm Sprayer Operator of the Year competition in 2010 was not the main instigator for the move, it certainly gave him more confidence. At the same time he was working towards gaining his BASIS qualification.

“I didn’t really have much work lined up. Even our own farm was rented out. But, by coincidence, at the same time a larger contractor in the area gave up spraying operations. It wasn’t a huge area, but it was a big help to me. There also wasn’t much other competition at the time.

“One big step forward came with gaining a large area of potato work – with weekly blight spraying providing regular work. Interestingly it was probably the crop, which at the time, I had the least experience. It did, however, influence my decision to specialise in spraying,” he adds. Nevertheless, during the early years he wasn’t in a position to concentrate solely on spraying or be picky about what work he did. “You need to keep the cash coming in, so I would do any work I was offered – driving a lorry hauling sugar beet, carting bales. I needed this work to keep me going,” he stresses. “As things moved on I realised if I stuck to, and specialised in, spraying I could get more work.”

Over the years Rob has owned and run a succession of sprayers, mostly Bateman self-propelleds – some more successful and reliable than others. His current line-up still includes a rare RB Trac 190 he bought specifically for applying suspension fertiliser. “I’ve decided to take a break from that work at the moment, because it can involve huge distances and, because I can’t influence the logistics, I feel I’m not in control of my own work,” he explains.

He has also picked up more spraying, particularly in the summer with late sugar beet fungicides and the end of blight programmes. This is because at the time these applications are required, the farm’s skilled sprayer operators are often needed elsewhere.

However, he notes, this skills shortage is a double-edged sword for contractors: “On one hand I pick up spraying the farm doesn’t have the operators to do, but the drawback is it makes it very difficult for me to find any skilled staff to help me out. It does make it very difficult to expand,” he comments.