Spuds the way you want!
Three Musketeers LTD is a group of six family owned farms co-operating to predominately provide a supply of fresh potatoes to the UK Market and abroad. We farm approximately 32,000 acres on the Heritage Coast of Suffolk. We grow many varieties of potatoes from large bakers to small salad potatoes.
Our free-draining sandy soils enable a continuous, reliable supply throughout the year. A unique selection of land and over 10,000 tonnes of storage allows us to fulfil any planned customer requirement. Through the summer months, from the start of Early Suffolk Maris Peer, we can have up to 12 harvesters lifting fresh crop. This is supplied to customers as Wholecrop, Size Graded or washed into Jumbos.
All our farms are Red Tractor Assured Produce, Tesco Nurture, Leaf Marque, Field to Fork and Sedex accredited. Our site is also BRC accredited.
We have good relationships with both UK & European hauliers that will transport our produce to your site when you need delivery. It’s because we deliver what you want and when you want, that we refer to our service as ‘Spuds the way you want’!
Our sister company Suffolk Produce is owned by the same six family farms and markets Carrots (including heritage), Onions, Parsnips, Shallots and Beetroot.
For more information on our range of products please Contact us here >
"I don’t usually write this kind of letter, but I just had to tell you that your potatoes were wonderful. They were unmarked, fresh and had that taste that I thought was long gone, thank you so much."
Mary, Brentford
Our Growers
Three Musketeers trades as mutual, so we are 'owned' by farms and are an extension of their farm office! We serve our growers as carefully as we do our customers. Being a mutual means that we work to maximise farm gate returns and re-invest any profit back into the business. We work closely with our farms to ensure that their potatoes are grown on the best fields available, with varieties chosen carefully to match the soil type in each field.
With an average rotation of 6 years and integration of new resistant & tolerant varieties we are looking to farm away from PCN issues and avoid chemical use where possible.
The variety of land and location of our farmers gives us a unique blend of sand land which we can cover with fleece to push crops early through to stored crops off heavier land on the Essex border.
We don’t trade potatoes, we help our farmers to market them!
If you are interested in becoming a new member farm please Contact us here >
RH & R Paul
Robbie Crossfield of RH & R PAUL manages the Broxtead estate 2,700 acres although only 1,200 acres is farmed; the remainder is carefully managed heathland and woodland. The entire farm is in HLS and has been farmed for 4 generations since 1912. Following the October 1987 hurricane, over 300,000 trees have been replanted to maintain the existing wooded areas. The farm prides itself on having a mix of Cattle, Sheep and ponies to graze and maintain the rare heathland.
Mann Potatoes
Mann Potatoes (Mann Group) is a 5th generation farming business covering over 4500acres run by Peter Mann, alongside his father and uncles. The family has farms at Iken, Knoddishall, Alderton and Bawdsey on the beautiful Sandlings Peninsula. Hill Farm at Iken has over 200 acres in HLS, focussed mainly on the recreation of water meadows to encourage wild bird activity year round.
A W Mortier (Farms) LTD
Managed by Alex Barclay, AWM are proud to have been supplying the British fresh produce market for over 50 years. 2,700 acres of farmland embraces schemes including HLS and ESA, running alongside in-house conservation projects, such as mixed flora bumblebee strips and extensive hedge planting.
Wantisden Hall Farm
Tim Pratt Farm Manager of Wantisden Hall Farms. The land has been owned by the Kemball family since 1946, but the land has a continuous history from when Wantisden Hall was built in 1550. Producing a variety of root crops the farm has developed over 6.5 miles of underground irrigation mains and over the past 25 years created 50 acres of lakes to provide a secure supply of water for crops and a wonderful habitat for wildfowl.
History - farmers
and the area
Three Musketeers now trades as mutual, so we are ‘owned’ by farms and are an extension of their office, so we serve our growers as carefully as we do our customers. Being a mutual means that we work to maximise farm gate returns and re-invest any profit back into the business.
We work closely with the farms to ensure that the potatoes are grown on the best fields available, with varieties chosen carefully to match the soil in each field.
The ‘Sandlings’ extend from Kessingland in the north to the Stour estuary in the south. It is a low-lying coastal area of astonishing variety – the mix of shingle to beaches, crumbling cliffs, marshes, estuaries, heathland, conifer plantations and farmland that makes the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area so special. These habitats are home to many species of wildlife that are scarce or absent elsewhere.
A source of inspiration to countless artists, writers and musicians, the Suffolk Coast and Heaths is a landscape rich in history but largely spared from modern development.
Check out our Blog > to read more about what we are up to
New Grader
Three Musketeers Group open New Potato grading facility
A large number of guests attended our Opening day for our new Grading shed mid May to see the new operation officially opened by Dr Therese Coffey. Dr Coffey has been MP for the suffolk Coastal region since 2010 and is currently the Conservative candidate in the next general election. Edward Blanchard, Managing Director for 3MS, said: "This is a project that has been talked about for several years and has finally come into action. We're a relatively small company, particularly in terms of our number of employees, so it's a massive achievement to be able to put such a modern piece of equipment into our business. As a company owned by collaborating growers here in Suffolk and working to market their produce, it's imperative that we generate the best returnfrom every sale that we make". Mr Blanchard said the new grader will help sales to existing customers as well as opening doors to new ones. It will allow 3MS to grade potatoes on behalf of other growers in the area which was of mutual benefit to everyone concerned.
Praising 3MS investment and vision to bring this new grading line into operation, Dr Coffey said "As a Minister for DEFRA, it is very encouraging to see farmers investing in the future in these difficult times. This equipement adds considerable value to this important potato growing region, with 3MS having found a solution to increase their output while saving money. I know they are also keen to help other farms in Suffolk realise higher values for their crops".
3MS needed a new building to house the grading line, and this was erected in a "record-breaking" eight weeks by PFG Fabrication. 3MS were sucessful in gaining a Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) grant in conjuction with the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) and received £250,000 towards the investment. This is one of the largest projects in the country to be funded by these grants and, after reviewing the business plan for 3MS, HSBC provided the finance for the remaining investment.
Three Musketeers' growers wanted to get their grading right and maximise their income from the smaller-sized fractions within the crops, while still adding value to the larger sizes that are no longer in demand from the UK retailers. 3MS are looking to add more value to the sales they have currently, by serving the retail packers with specific sizes and selling the rest elsewhere.
The new SUPAFILL 600 potato grading line was supplied by Haith, with some equipment also coming from Tomra and Dijkstra. It will offer an increased hourly output, and will reduce the requirement for the older and less efficient graders on site to be used as much as they were previously. The inbuilt infra-red sorter removes stones and soil from the potatoes before they pass through visual grading by trained staff and are then sorted into sizes by the vertical grading module.
3MS who were featured in The Vegetable Farmer in March last year, are a major supplier of new and early maincrop potatoes to the fresh potato market. Around 95% of their potatoes and onions go to major retailers and processors with the remainder being sold to local wholesalers and retailers. The group of six farms has expanded its business considerably in recent years, with an increased acreage and tonnage of potatoes. Each farm operates its own staff and planting/growing/harvesting equipment.
