The loneliness of the long distance sterilising contractor

“Join BCS and see the world!” was not part of Kevin Clarricoates’ job spec, but as an agricultural worker he certainly sees a lot of the UK!

His employers Boston Crop Sprayers offer a specialist soil sterilising service in the battle against Potato Cyst Nematode (PCN) and Kevin, his JCB and soil steriliser equipment have worked their way across Lincolnshire, Shropshire, Yorkshire and Suffolk.

On  August 12th Kevin set off from Boston on his JCB to return 3 months later on November 13th,  applying Metam510 soil sterilants over 400 hectares on the way!

Kevin has worked for BCS for 14 years and over the years has travelled all over the UK working for major potato growers and has even been to Scotland but 2010 was without doubt the longest period he has been away.

Starting North of Lincoln in August Kevin moved to Staffordshire on the 1st September  then into Newport, Shropshire, using the same B&B in he has relied on for many years and where he has become very good friends with his hosts.

On 1st October came the big move from Newport to Thirsk in Yorkshire. This move is about 170 miles and because of motorway restrictions takes 7 hours. Kevin spends about 3 weeks in Yorkshire working closer to the Humber Bridge. Kevin drives over the bridge into North Lincolnshire for a couple of weeks’ work before moving on to Suffolk for another 3 weeks.

Working away from base obviously has its problems and it's a bit of a joke that Kevin has more JCB fitters’ names in his phone memory than friends. BCS have 2 soil sterilisers but with the loss of Telone in 2008 only one machine has worked to capacity.

MD David Hildred is very appreciative that he has such good operators and recognises that asking someone to work away from home and live in B&B for three months is a big thing to ask. “The application is very specialised and hazardous and we can only have highly trained, competent operators so we are unable to use casual workers. Kevin has built up an excellent rapour with many growers over the years and visits many of the same growers year after year.

“The machine Kevin uses is our own unique design for use with the JCB. Since Telone has now been officially withdrawn from use there is no other soil sterilant than Metam for the effective prevention of PCN. We had been applying Telone for over 20 years.” 

Boston Crop Sprayers sister company Richard Austin Agriculture provide a comprehensive lab service for potato growers. PCN is an increasing problem in the UK with the potential to compromise yield, quality and adversely affect the intrinsic value of land. Regular sampling and analysis for PCN is crucial in planning the use of nematicides, rotational policy, varietal selection and overall management of the potato crop.