Whyte Bros Farm, north of Dublin, operates a unique farming system, with 14 family business partners running the 1,600ha farm.

The collaborative journey began in the 1950s when seven brothers took on the family farm.

Rather than dividing the land and operating individually, the family took a progressive approach by pooling resources into a single, efficient, and scalable business.

Since then, the farm has slowly but surely expanded to 400ha of owned land and 1,200ha of tenanted and share farming agreements.

See also: Signature seed dressing helps grow fungicide-free crops

Farm facts

© MAG/Emma Gillbard

• In addition to the core farming operations, Whyte Bros Farm also runs a straw baling contracting business, running three New Holland square balers.
• The family installed a grain drying biomass boiler fuelled by miscanthus. The innovative system has saved more than 1m litres of oil since 2014.
• The family constructed a 7,000t grain storage shed themselves from an old factory from the UK back in 2000. All construction and concreting work was carried out themselves.
• The farm relies on all family workers, as well as two full-time staff and a few student workers at harvest.

Working as a family

Between the original brothers Jimmy, Peter, Eddie, Ollie, Joey, Martin and Anthony, seven of their sons – Peter, James, David, Peadar, Kevin, Joseph and Conor – are also part of the business.

Running the arable and beef farm with such a large number of active partners might sound like a recipe for conflict, but the Whyte Bros say communication, a shared vision and a sense of humour are key to success.

Peadar and Ollie Whyte © MAG/Emma Gillbard

The large-scale operation has allowed the family to drive efficiencies and invest in technologies which otherwise wouldn’t be possible.

“If we had seven separate farms, each with seven separate machinery costs, the overheads would be unsustainable,” says Ollie.

The system has evolved over the years and been modified accordingly.

“Being open to new ideas and ensuring every voice is heard is essential. Having a good sense of humour helps as well.”

Of course, disagreements happen, but they’re embraced as part of the process.

“As the saying goes: if more than two people disagree with you, maybe it’s time to look at yourself,” he notes.

Each of the original brothers still maintains their own farm unit, but these are encompassed into the Whyte Bros business, enabling optimal use of land, machinery and labour.

“Don’t expect everything to always be the same,” continues Ollie.

“Don’t get carried away in the good years, but don’t despair in the bad ones – always think in five-year plans.”

The cousins now form the core of the third generation, embodying a strong work ethic and love of the land, helping the farm to evolve.

Machinery at Whyte Bros Farm

© Whyte Bros

• 12 New Holland tractors
• Three New Holland combines
• Three telescopic handlers
• Five ploughs
• One subsoiler
• A range of cultivators
• Two Lemken combination drills
• A Mzuri strip-till drill
• A disc harrow (to establish cover crops)
• Three New Holland square balers
• A ground conditioner
• Potato planting and harvest equipment

Innovation and pollination

© Whyte Bros

Thanks to the scale of the operation, technology efficiencies have been a huge gain.

One of the standout innovations is the use of an industrial drone to precisely target nitrogen applications in oilseed rape.

Oilseed rape crops are consistently yielding an impressive 5t/ha. Overall nitrogen rates have been cut by up to 40%, with total variable rates between 85-225kg N/ha depending on crop requirements.

“This has been a real winner and given us some huge savings. With fields as far as 56km away, the drone comes in particularly handy to monitor crops,” says Peadar.

Another key factor to such impressive crop yields is the use of beehives to boost pollination levels for the past seven years.

Any unproductive areas in field corners or headlands are planted to pollinator strips to promote beneficial insect populations.

The family are working closely with a local beekeeper, aiming for 2-3 beehives a hectare in oilseed rape fields, which has seen a noticeable yield uplift.

The farm is also involved in a project looking to boost the number of the native Irish honeybees.

Sclerotinia sprays are applied later in the season to maximise the time bees are active within crops. In the event of a spray day, bees are moved or shut away in their hives.

“We grow hybrid varieties as we want that early vigour to build a strong canopy. It is a very profitable crop thanks to low establishment costs, and we are thankfully not impacted by cabbage stem flea beetle like in the UK,” says Peadar.

Oilseed rape is planted early, usually mid-August, in a one pass system with a subsoiler. A seed rate of 30 seeds/sq m on 50cm row spacings is used.

Once the oilseed rape has stopped flowering, the bees will be moved to a crop of beans which will have just started flowering.

The beans are destined as cattle feed for the farm’s 500 head beef herd.

Sap-testing potatoes

© Whyte Bros

Potatoes are a significant crop at Whyte Bros Farm, with 80ha supplying a major supermarket.

Regular sap-testing, conducted every two weeks, allows precise and timely nutrient management in conjunction with fungicide sprays.

“We run a strict fungicide programme every seven to 10 days once the canopy hits full emergence,” explains Peadar.

“We are passing through the crop anyway, so it makes perfect sense to target crop nutrition with trace elements at the same time.

“Foliar potash is key to helping bulking and greening. Calcium helps the potato plant be more resilient to pests and disease and crucially improves skin finish and storability.

“For the weeks prior to desiccation, boron and molybdenum are used to help signal the plant to send its energy to the tuber and harden the skin.”

Importantly, Peadar notes targeting crop nutrition could sometimes mean managing excessive nutrients in order to strike the optimal balance.

“The use of cover crops has greatly helped reduce soil cultivations when establishing the crop. Cultivation passes have been reduced from three to one,” he says.

In-field pollinator strips are also helping boost pollination levels.

The farm grows popular varieties such as Rooster, Maris Piper, and a smaller quantity of Cultra.

Despite Ireland’s maritime climate, irrigation is still used at times, especially for the Maris Piper, which requires the extra skin finish.

Crops are handled delicately, graded at harvest to reduce damage, and stored carefully to maintain quality with full field traceability.

Looking ahead

As the next generation of Whyte’s grow up immersed in the family farm, their story is a strong example of what family, foresight, and a passion for farming can achieve.