Auctioneers Halls reported their best ever plant and agricultural machinery collective auction result at Shrewsbury Auction Centre on June 1.
The auction, which attracted buyers from across the UK and Ireland, included 60 lots from Martin Kemp, of Burnhill Green Farm, Burnhill Green, Albrighton, who has decided to leave the potato industry to concentrate on combinable crops, such as oil seed rape, wheat and barley.
Mr Kemp explained that his family had been growing potatoes at Burnhill Green Farm for more than 100 years. His grandfather, Cecil, began the business in 1908 and handed over to his son, Paul, who died four years ago at the age of 92.
The Kemp family merged Burnhill Green Farm with Home Farm, Patshull in 1960 and now farms 850 acres, the majority of which is owned by the Crown Estate.
“I have two sons, both of whom work in London and are not interested in coming back to the farm,” he said. “Potato growing is a young man’s job."
“Producing the right thing for the right price at the right time is not easy. I will not miss the volatility of the market, although we had some super years. It took me three years to make the decision, but I don’t regret it at all.”
He has already invested in excess of £200,000 in new machinery and equipment for his new farming enterprise.
The top selling lots from his entries were a refrigeration unit for potato storage at £17,000, a Fiat 100-90 4wd tractor at £8,300, a Massey Ferguson 290 tractor at £4,500, a Dragon 12 tonne grain trailer at £3,550, a root crop washer at £3,500, a Herbert C900 potato grader and a Reco Agrisem 3m discs with press roller at £3,400 each and a Pearson Enterprise 2000 potato harvester at £3,000.
Other leading prices in the tractors and vehicles section were £15,500 for a 56 registration New Holland TM120 dual command tractor, £13,500 for a JCB 8060 six tonne rubber tracked machine, £9,500 for a Renault Ares 630RZ tractor with front weights, £8,550 for a Massey Ferguson 390T tractor with Trima loader, £5,500 for a Hitachi five tonne tracked dumper, £4,200 for a 2011 4CE 840cc quad bike, £3,800 for a JCB JS70 seven tonne 360 degrees tracked machine and £3,500 for a Massey Ferguson 698T two wheel drive tractor.
Top priced trailers were a 2010 Bailey tipping trailer at £9,100, a 2007 JPM 14 tonne dump trailer at £5,000, a Richard Western 12 tonne trailer at £4,900, a Marston eight tonne grain trailer at £2,500, a twin axle Salop trailer at £2,450 and an Ifor Williams trailer at £2,350.
The farm machinery section was headed by a 1990 John Deere 1188 combine harvester at £7,500, a 2003 JD 578 round bale at £6,600, a forager at £4,900, a Simba top till with Spaldings air seeder and a West 2000 dual spreader at £4,000 each, a Keenan feeder wagon Klassik 170 and New Holland D1000 B16 baler at £3,500 each, a Kuhn FC 302 mower with grouper at £3,100 and a Kongskilde cushion air 500 sucker/blower at £3,000.
Auction co-ordinator Matt Williams, from Halls, was delighted with the high quality entries, large attendance and record auction result. He encouraged vendors considering selling surplus plant and farm machinery to contact him to ensure their lots are included in the next auction catalogue for August 3.
