Andrew Tickle has lived at Johnsons Farm for the majority of his life. He started his own Agricultural Services business in 1983 and developed a Contract Packhouse for fruit and Veg in 1992. As farming trends have changed the services Andrew has offered have adjusted to suit the market forces (at the time) and he has now decided that the time has come to develop the land use at Johnsons Farm which has been permanent pasture since the early 1990’s.
Andrew was looking to grow a crop which fitted into a specialist niche market and that could flourish in poor soils. Situated on the very top of the North Downs in Kent, the Grade 3 soils on the farm are very heavy with lots of flint over chalk and so a hardy, woody plant with good roots was required.
To read our FULL STORY please click here (as published in The Fruit Grower 2015.)
