Crop Services, Roxburghshire, is Farmers Weekly Contractor of the Year.

From crude mounted sprayers to state-of-the-art, green-on-green systems and floppy discs to cloud storage, Scottish Borders-based Crop Services – and its customers – are reaping the rewards of a technology-focused approach that is transforming data into yields.

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The family-run outfit remains the largest independent spraying contractor in its territory, which stretches from the Tyne to Angus and from the east coast across to Dumfries.

It is led by Douglas Stephen, who has continued to build on the foundations of the Crop Chemicals business established by his father in 1962.

With headquarters in Kelso and a satellite site in Fife, it offers the full suite of contract spraying and spreading services, from crop protection products and fertiliser, to lime and Fibrophos.

Also under the Crop Services umbrella are agronomy and engineering divisions – including a Sands sprayer service agency – as well as mobile seed dressing, pressure washer hire and grainstore cleaning, and Country Corner retail stores.

Machinery

Flexibility is key when it comes to contract spraying, and Crop Services is geared up with a range of machines for every eventuality.

There are demount spray packs on high-speed JCB Fastracs, lightweight McConnel Agribuggys and high-capacity Sands Infinitys.

For added application accuracy, there’s a Yara N-Sensor to determine real-time nitrogen, plant growth regulator and desiccant application requirements.

The most recent addition is Soil Essentials’ first 24m Skai spot sprayer, used to hit volunteer potatoes in broccoli, and docks, nettles and thistles in grassland.

The fleet can cover every tramline width from 12m to 40m, and there’s enough reserve capacity to pick up any extra work and react rapidly to agronomist recommendations.

Douglas endeavours to buy British where possible, takes a horses-for-courses approach to machinery spec, and aims to keep the same operator on each machine.

This simplifies maintenance, aided by a Fleetio smartphone app for daily and weekly vehicle checks.

Any flagged issues are shared with managers and engineers, prioritised according to severity, and the resulting remedial work logged.

Expenditure is diligently recorded, with costs interrogated to ensure each vehicle is not kept beyond its economic lifespan.

Staff and customers

Training and development are cornerstones of the business. Staff turnover is low, with the longest-serving members of the 50-strong team having been in post for more than 30 years.

The firm works with schools and colleges as part of a youth placement scheme. Most recently, this has included two local engineers and three agronomists.

Douglas also helped launch a school countryside day, involving 1,250 primary pupils annually, and supports the motor neurone disease charity started by his friend, Doddie Weir, through the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation.

What the judges say

“The adoption of technology has been the driving force behind Crop Services’ growth – adding value to its spraying and spreading division, and improving application efficiency to improve yields and profit margins.”