The pair were early pioneers of the crop chemical industry, developing some of the earliest sprayers and methods of chemical application. Mike’s drive for innovation never lapsed. He kept advancing sprayer design and pushing the boundaries of the crop chemical market.

The ambition to innovate and advance the industry set the tone for the company, which to this day is still embraced.

Rob White started working for the business over 20 years ago and he purchased the business in 2004 with his wife Sarah. Evans and Pearce aim to work with farmers to understand their challenges and look for ways to bring cost effective products to market. The most recent project has been led by customer demand and has been enabled by securing LEADER *funding.

At a meeting with Lloyds we were advised funding was available for businesses who could demonstrate a project which would create employment in rural areas. Having secured LEADER* funding, the design, build and mobilisation of a mobile seed processing unit with a full colour Optical Satake Grain Sorter is being added to our business offering, in addition to our existing Mobile Seed Processing service.

The Optical Sorter will help those with nuisance contamination across a large bulk of grain. Its primary role will be the removal of ergot contamination from milling wheat. The bank of full colour cameras detect unwanted colour, with greater differentiation than current monochrome sorters, whilst still checking shape. Reject fractions are ejected using a blast of high pressure air, being very selective it avoids large amounts of desirable grains in the waste.

The new machine will be in service for harvest 2019. With expression of interest strong, potential customers will range from ports, central stores, farmers and feed and seed producers. The additional seed processor creates two new positions and will travel throughout the UK.

We are well known throughout the Southwest for our mobile seed processing service. We process over 4,000 tonnes of seed each harvest and can save farmers up to 60% compared to buying in new seed. The UK is well advanced in the way we collect and administer royalties’ for breeders, ensuring a fair future for farmers and breeders alike.

All items we design have longevity at the forefront of their development and are therefore built to last. We know of some original fans which are still working on farms 20 plus years after we sold them. Our Polycool ducting is not black drainage pipe and Metalcool Pedestals have added strength as part of their design, they are perfect for small seeds such as Oil Seed Rape.

As experts in cooling grain and long term storage, we are called to advise on the slightly less run of the mill requirements. We have systems drying Popcorn in Hungary and cooling shelled peanuts in Texas. Coming up with Grain Fan Assist has reduced energy costs associated with cooling grain. The simple to install conversation kits fit onto existing fans. The system is revolutionising crop cooling for farmers, ensuring fans only run when temperature conditions are at their prime for cooling and automatically switch themselves on and off when temperature conditions are suitable. No longer is it part of someone’s role to remember to switch the fans on and off at dusk and dawn.

Reaching 50 is a huge milestone for our business. Family is at the heart of all we do and with the same team since we took over, who have grown into different roles, we think we are doing something right.