When Titch Hill Farm, part of the Sompting Estate near Worthing owned by the Croft/Tristram family for over 250 years, brought its farmland back in-hand in 2022, it quickly became clear the existing 1960s grain set-up was no longer fit for purpose. Drawing on McArthur BDC’s grain handling expertise, farm manager Mark Heritage now has a future-proofed post-harvest system.
Previously, Titch Hill Farm had no drier, its storage capacity was limited, and access was tight for today’s large tractors. As more crops were grown, harvest became a race against time – cutting one crop and having to sell it quickly to create space for the next. If grain came off above target moisture, harvest had to stop.
“We were losing valuable harvesting time waiting for moisture to drop,” explained Heritage. “With more arable, we had outgrown the old system.”
Titch Hill Farm is a 360ha downland farm comprising 190ha of arable (winter wheat and barley, spring barley, OSR) and herbal leys. A small herd of pedigree Sussex cattle and a flock of Texel cross sheep play a key role in the farm’s ecosystem by grazing the cover crops and herbal leys, whilst providing valuable manure through the winter for next year’s crops.
A new grain store was constructed ahead of harvest 2024. The priority then was to install an intake system and drier that was capable of handling increased output efficiently, with minimal manual input.
Heritage first became aware of McArthur BDC after watching a YouTube video featuring Olly Harrison (Olly Blogs Agricontract) talking about his Mecmar drier. Further research – and then an initial meeting – confirmed that McArthur BDC’s approach went beyond simply supplying a drier.
“After the first discussion about how I wanted the system to work, I got the impression that the McArthur BDC team understood exactly what I was trying to achieve,” Heritage said. “When the plans came through, they matched what I had in mind.”
Rather than treating the project as a standalone drier installation, McArthur BDC designed a complete post-harvest system tailored to the farm’s layout and operational demands.
At the centre is a D20t automatic electric mobile grain drier from Mecmar, fed by a Skandia 40tph I-Line trench intake conveyor with a 6m long intake-section located in McArthur BDC supplied precast concrete troughs.
Crucially, McArthur BDC’s expertise ensured that intake capacity, drier throughput and discharge flow were correctly matched. Installing the largest suitable capacity drier within the site’s space constraints was key, but equally important was ensuring the 40tph intake could feed the drier consistently, ensuring the smooth discharge of dried grain without exceeding the capacity of the grain store.
Automation was a major requirement. Heritage wanted the system to run to preset controls, allowing continuous operation with minimal supervision during peak harvest pressure.
The Mecmar drier features a touchscreen control panel with full remote monitoring capability, enabling operation via a computer or any mobile device.
“My partner Natalie works alongside me, and I wanted to be able to help remotely if needed – even if I was driving the combine,” said Heritage. “Being able to monitor and control the drier from my iPad was a massive plus.”
Grain tipped into the trench intake is now automatically conveyed to the drier. Mid-level sensors initiate the burner and drying cycle, while top-level sensors stop intake and the Mecmar’s built-in aspirator removes dust and chaff to improve drying efficiency.
Once target temperature is reached, the drier moves into a cooling phase before the integrated moisture monitoring system verifies final grain moisture. The crop is then automatically discharged into store or held for outloading.
The Mecmar’s control panel can be programmed to record performance data, allowing the monitoring of drying times, fuel usage and moisture trends – valuable information when reviewing harvest performance.
Given Titch Hill Farm’s coastal location, the Mecmar’s galvanised construction was an important consideration, providing protection against corrosion from salt-laden air, helping safeguard long-term reliability.
The McArthur BDC team successfully completed installation and commissioning ahead of harvest.
“I couldn’t have been happier with the whole process,” said Heritage. “Throughout the project, communication was excellent and the install team worked to a very high standard. Everything was explained very clearly and knowing that support was, and is always, available if needed is very reassuring.”
The result is a fully integrated, automated post-harvest system that allows Titch Hill Farm to harvest on its own terms. Crops can be harvested, dried efficiently and stored safely, without the previous pressure to move grain immediately to create space.
For Heritage, the advice to other farmers considering similar investment is straightforward: “Speak to McArthur BDC first. From design through to installation and commissioning, the whole process was straightforward. The new system has made a huge difference by allowing us to efficiently streamline our harvest operations and meet not just our current requirements, but those of the future.”