Witham Group: A century of agricultural expertise

As part of our 100 year celebrations, Farmer’s Mart have recently taken a look back at just one of the major industries that we have had the pleasure of working with over the past century, Agriculture.

The historian Arnold Toynbee created the idea that between 1750 and 1830, there was an ‘Agricultural Revolution’. Toynbee and other historians of the time presented the Revolution as the work of ‘heroes’:

• Jethro Tull promoted the use of the seed drill and the use of horses to pull machinery rather than oxen.
• Charles ‘Turnip’ Townshend introduced the turnip and the Norfolk four-course rotation of wheat turnips barley clover onto his farm.
• Robert Bakewell used selective breeding to develop the New
• Leicester sheep and the Colling brothers promoted the selective breeding of Longhorn cattle.
• Thomas Coke of Holkham publicised these new ideas by inviting hundreds of people to his ‘sheep shearings’, i.e., agricultural shows.
• Arthur Young wrote about the new methods and spread ideas more widely.
• The Parliamentary Enclosure Movement was said to have destroyed the old threefield system and created the modern ‘patchwork’ of enclosed fields.

The history of the tractor then began in the late 1880s, when petrol engines provided an alternative to steam, which had driven the power farming revolution for almost 100 years. Britain was the world leader in developing agricultural steam power, and the earliest record of steam working on a farm was in Wales in 1798, when a stationary engine was employed to drive a threshing machine. High costs and the limited number of uses meant few stationary steam engines  here installed, but this all changed when portable steam engines pulled by horses, and self-propelled traction engines, started to arrive in the 1840s.

Their mobility meant much greater versatility, attracting contractors and large farms while providing a worldwide growth opportunity for British industry. While  Britain was focused on steam power, tractors with petrol engines were starting to arrive on American farms. Whatever and whoever was ultimately responsible for the expansion in the agricultural industry, there is one thing that is certain, the improvements in farming methods, machinery innovation and transportation infrastructure, has helped farmers increase their capacities and output exponentially and are continuing with technology to do so today.

As the demand for machinery and industrialisation grew and transport evolved from horse and cart to vans, ploughs and steam engines to tractors and combines, so too our Witham business expanded. Our product range changed with the times from making cycle oils, candles and carbide to making lubricants and greases suitable for a growing number of agricultural engines and a wide variety of new machinery and equipment being used across the farming industry.

Supporting Farmers for 100 Years

Since then, supporting farmers and related agricultural industries has been at the forefront of the business for many years. Witham’s heartland of East Anglia is known for its high food producing land and in turn, a whole variety of machinery and vehicles are used to work and harvest the crops, all needing lubricants to keep them turning. However, it’s not just in the East of England that Witham’s reputation and agricultural expertise is prevalent. The Group is now a preferred supplier to many agricultural buying groups throughout the UK and proud of its work with larger farming estates and other agri-linked businesses throughout the whole of the UK.

Heavily involved in the agricultural community, Executive Chairman Geoff Bottom was intrinsicality involved in helping set up the first LAMMA show back in 1982. LAMMA Show is the United Kingdom’s leading agricultural machinery equipment and service show. Since 1982 the LAMMA show (which originally stood for the Lincolnshire Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers Association) has grown to over 900 exhibitors, with in  excess of 40,000 attendees and is a show that Witham still exhibit at and support almost 40 years later. Nigel Bottom, Group Managing Director, is also heavily involved as a Trustee on the Board of the Lincolnshire Agricultural Society, on the advisory board of the Midlands Machinery Show and has been supporting other events, such as Royal Norfolk Show, Suffolk Show and Yorkshire Machinery Show plus other local agricultural business in many formats over the past 25 years.

From helping with the Bishop Burton Agricultural college and their agricultural engineering lubricant syllabus, to carrying out factory tours and visits to young farmers groups, Witham continually support the farmers in their quest for efficiency, protection and performance from all their farm machinery and help customers understand the importance of how lubricants work and their role in the longevity of machinery and vehicles. Witham is passionate about putting the right oil for the right application and spends a lot of time with customers and farming groups, explaining how the correct oil can avoid breakdowns in the field, costly repairs and improved efficiencies.

A Product Range For Whatever Size Of Business

From engine oils, to universal oils, transmission fluids to gear oils and brake fluids, the new Agricultural Range of products from Witham is all about quality, choice and ease of ordering all under one roof. The range of agricultural products also includes, greases and chain oils, biodegradable oils, paints for  outbuildings, sheds and cladding, rust prevention and cleaning solutions as well as products for vintage and classic farm vehicles, coolants and floor and  workshop paints. Our new website has a complete section dedicated to agriculture with case studies, a download and resources section, technical advice and information about storage of oil and an online lubricant finder.

Sustainable Support For Agriculture

Now venturing into the latest product developments of environmentally sensitive and biodegradable products, Witham are constantly keeping up to date with the latest farm vehicles and machinery to offer the best oils and greases to match or exceed the OEM requirements. Also innovating outside the box, using alternative food safe and water safe new lubricants, such as the best selling new Witham Prolan lubricant range made from sheep’s lanolin, Witham are keen to work with all their customers to help them become more sustainable and improve their own environmental credentials. Nigel Bottom MD. explains:

“Offsetting our carbon footprints is not enough – we shouldn’t be creating them in the first place.” Being maybe the first global lubricant manufacturer to make lubricants in a carbon neutral blending procedure has helped push our business’s environmental credibility further. This new technology is helping landowners and farmers, as well as many other business owners find a supplier who is genuinely producing some of the first carbon neutral made lubricants in the world”.

The Witham Group are proud that its partnership with agriculture continues to develop, from the single-family farmer to large estates and buying groups, agricultural suppliers and online distributors, Witham will always put people and farmers first. Nigel adds:

“There have been many occasions over the past century where we have gone to a farmer in the middle of the night to help with an oil leak or problem, without a thought, as we know the pressure they are under at certain times of the year. Many of our farming customers have relationships with our business spanning over several generations and we look forward to looking after all our agricultural partners and their families over the next 100 years’.

To read more about our longstanding involvement with the Agricultural sector, see what our customers say and to shop our full range of products for Agricultural use, please click here.