Lincolnshire farm shows food production and electricity infrastructure can work side by side

A fourth-generation Lincolnshire farm is starring in a new regional campaign for National Grid, showing how reliable electricity supports food production, business growth and rural communities.

Jack Buck Farms, near Spalding, has become a regional star of The Great Grid Upgrade. The campaign brings the grid upgrade to life through the experiences of local businesses and communities, highlighting the role electricity plays in everyday life and economic growth.

The 2,300-acre family farm grows eight crops, including around 470 acres of celeriac, and produces nearly 19,000 tonnes of produce and wheat each year. Its operations range from irrigation and harvesting to washing, packing and temperature-controlled storage, all of which depend on a secure and consistent electricity supply.

The farm has grown substantially while working around electricity infrastructure on its land for generations and is managed by husband-and-wife team Julian and Penny along with Josh Adams. While infrastructure can affect how a field is worked, Jack Buck Farms adapts its operations around them and see infrastructure and productive farmland as compatible.

Far from holding the business back, the farm is continuing to grow and expand and as modern farming becomes more reliant on electricity, annual consumption has almost doubled, rising from around 520,000 kWh in 2006 to approximately one million kWh today as a result of investments like a £3.25 million in a new packhouse, transforming its washing, drying and packing capacity. It now operates 8,000 tonnes of cold storage, helping extend the season in which produce can be sold.

Julian Perowne, director at Jack Buck (Farms) Ltd said: 

I’ve been working around energy infrastructure for my whole career. We lay out our crops around the pylons, and we coexist, farming and electricity infrastructure together. When new projects are planned carefully and landowners engaged, it can work.

As agriculture becomes more modern and energy intensive, reliable electricity is becoming ever more important to businesses like ours. Come winter, our stores are full and we are washing and packing at our busiest time. The scale of the operation today, from cold storage to washing and packing, means electricity is fundamental to how we grow, store and deliver food.

The farm employs 17 people full time, including Julian and Penny, alongside between four and 150 casual workers depending on the season. Continued growth has seen the business expand its washing, packing and storage operations significantly over the past two decades, and if economic conditions stabilise, it would like to add a further 1,000 tonnes of cold storage to support future expansion.

Ben Muncey, Portfolio Director at National Grid said: “Jack Buck Farms is a powerful example of how essential electricity is to modern British farming. Our job is to deliver the network the country needs while working closely with farmers and landowners so that vital infrastructure and productive agriculture can continue side by side.”

The campaign forms part of National Grid’s wider commitment to supporting communities across the country, ensuring homes and businesses have the power they need while enabling economic growth for decades to come.

Find out more information about The Great Grid Upgrade.