A focus on flexibility and output leads AT Bone to add the UK’s first 18m Avatar to its fleet
Since it began in 1957, Hertfordshire-based farming enterprise AT Bone has always taken carefully calculated risks, seized opportunities to expand and been prepared to invest in new areas.
What began as a 70-acre pig farm has evolved into a highly diversified, 11,000-acre operation. Today, the business thrives on a philosophy of flexibility, operational synergies, and an uncompromising drive for output, a mindset that recently led them to invest in the UK's first 18-metre HORSCH Avatar drill.
terraHORSCH sat down with Operations Manager James Ashley, who has been with the business for 17 years, to discuss the farm's remarkable growth and how their latest machinery investments are shaping their future.
A masterclass in agribusiness diversification
Alan Bone built up a successful dairy and livestock farm through the 1960s and 70s at Ware, Hertfordshire. The first big move came in the early 1980s when Alan sold the 120-cow dairy herd to move to Crossoaks Farm, a 400-acre arable farm in nearby Borehamwood.
This was the first in a series of confident moves to expand the business, identifying and seizing local farming opportunities.
From there, contract farming agreements and local opportunities allowed the acreage to grow steadily. “Once the infrastructure is there, you can expand, but only if you do it properly,” says James. “That’s always been the approach.”
Over time, this growth created both opportunity and pressure. More land means more output, but also tighter operational windows.
While the business has expanded significantly beyond traditional farming, it has remained firmly rooted within the rural economy, working with landowners, estates and like-minded clients facing many of the same challenges.
Rather than branching into unrelated sectors, each division has been built to complement farming and support rural asset development. This includes a logistics fleet transporting grain directly to end users and a construction and civil engineering division focused on rural and estate projects. In addition, AT Bone has a substantial property portfolio created from converted farm buildings.
“It’s all still within the same space,” James explains. “We’re working with farmers, estates and landowners, people who are trying to make their land and assets work harder.”
This alignment gives the business a strong commercial edge, combining practical farming experience with a deep understanding of rural diversification.
Based at their new headquarters in Hertford, the modern AT Bone operation is a masterclass in agribusiness diversification.
“If someone wants to develop a yard or diversify part of their farm, we can do the whole thing,” says James. “We understand the planning, the construction, the infrastructure and how it needs to work commercially afterwards.”
Because these services sit within the same business, projects can be delivered more efficiently and with a clearer understanding of the end use. “We’ve done it ourselves, so we know what works,” James adds. “It’s not theory, it’s practical experience.”
The construction and property divisions have become central pillars of the business. The estates portfolio manages more than 200 tenants and provides a stable, long-term income stream that helps underpin the wider business. “It gives us a level of resilience,” says James. “Farming will always have ups and downs, but property and construction help smooth that out.”
Importantly, this diversification supports continued investment into the farming operation itself. It provides funding for high-output machinery and allows long-term decision-making rather than short-term reactions.
“It allows us to keep progressing,” he adds. “We’re not just relying on one income stream.”
A clear approach to cultivation
Farming and managing 10,000 arable acres and 1,000 acres of Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) land requires a clear strategy. While some large-scale operations swear by Controlled Traffic Farming, AT Bone has firmly chosen a different path.
James explains that committing to strict CTF restricts flexibility and forces a business to carry massive capital overheads when expanding. "We don't like controlled traffic, but we love to control the traffic. We're not CTF, but our tram lines are in the same place every year, using RTK. They've got to be, that's just common sense," James says.
“Farming has very tight margins as it is, and the bigger you get, when you're committed to a specific width, the more kit you have to buy. If you jump from 5,000 to 10,000, you have to commit yourself to another drill or two, another combine easily. Financially, that can't work.
“But you can commit to maybe one bigger drill and stretch it longer, because no matter how much money you save with controlled trafficking, it can't make up for the opportunity to take on 5,000 acres.”
The farm's cultivation strategy is highly adaptable, driven by operational efficiency and the needs of their clients. With eight contract farming agreements, AT Bone must cater to different landlords; what works for one may not be preferred by another. “We're not purely direct drillers. We won't commit to one thing, and the Avatar gives us that flexibility,” notes James.
Furthermore, the farm's sheer volume of fieldwork, including extensive baling and spreading 50,000 tonnes of organic matter, creates significant field traffic that requires remedial cultivation.
"We sit down every year and do a cultivation plan (in May or June) for after harvest, but nobody knows what the weather's going to do," says James. For instance, if a dry summer creates natural, deep cracks in the soil, the team avoids unnecessary subsoiling, saving time and money. Conversely, a wet summer causing soil pans needs intervention.
More than 50% of the land is drilled with winter wheat with second wheat, oilseed rape and winter barley in the mix too. Ploughing also remains a vital tool in their arsenal. Because the farm grows a large amount of gluten-free spring oats, rigorous winter ploughing is often required to bury any wheat or barley volunteers, as a single speck of wheat can result in the entire crop being rejected.
Adding flexibility with the 18m HORSCH Avatar
To manage their expanding acreage and maintain output during tight weather windows, the team evaluated their drilling capacity. Previously relying on three drills (a 12m tine drill and two 8m disc drills), AT Bone made the bold decision to replace one of the 8m drills with an 18m Avatar, the first of its size in the UK.
“The Avatar is marketed as a direct drill but as a cultivated drill, it’s fantastic. We may put in another pass behind the subsoiler to level it out, but the cost to do that with a 12m cultivator is minimal. Our 12m Cruiser will leave it level enough that we can go straight in behind,” explains James.
The decision was largely driven by output and weather resilience. During the exceptionally wet autumn of 2023, pulling a 12m drill resulted in too many visible wheel marks.
“We don't like wheel marks. So, what can we do in those conditions to go wider? We're on 36m tramlines, so when we're drilling at 18m, you've just got one wheel mark, then you're on a tramline.
“If it is a real wet one, you sacrifice the width of the track that you don't bury the seed. But then you've always got a little 3m power harrow in the shed to cover the seed up. It was just more efficient. We had to take the plunge, it was the only way we could do it,” says James.
The Avatar wasn't deployed straight out of the box without careful consideration. The farm opted for a few custom modifications, specifically changing the star wheels and covers to prevent blockages caused by the stony land in some of their fields.
Being an early adopter of the 18m model also means navigating a few practical and technological realities. “I've had no issues this autumn. The only thing is the drawbar to wheel is a long distance, you can ground out where the jack is. So, we have simply knocked out a few cambers in gateways with a mini digger.”
Currently, the drill features two 9-metre sections rather than individual coulter or narrow-width shut-off. This results in an estimated 8% overlap, increasing seed costs. “I should think the next generation you'll be able to get half-width sections, which is down to where you want to be really, in an ideal world,” suggests James.
Seed-to-soil contact is key
For James, who operates the drill, seed-to-soil contact is key for maximum output, and the investment is essential to the farm's continued success. "Drilling to me is the most important job on the farm," he asserts. "If I know it's gone in right, well-sown is 60% grown".
Having drilled 5500 acres in this past season with the Avatar, it is too soon to compare yields, but James is very happy with the operation so far. James knew a neighbouring farm was very pleased with a 12m Avatar, even in a wet season, and they were not direct drilling either. “All you need is just the top to dry out, you’re not moving any soil, you just need it to hold you. The coulter pressure will allow you to punch it in.”
“We really liked the Serto, but it wasn’t wide enough, and the Avatar offered 18m while still having a 3m transport width.”
A primary concern of James is headlands. “If you look at people’s field yield maps, it’s always the first 15m that will let you down, because that is where you are turning with everything. It gets a pounding but with the Avatar, you’re 9m from the edge which reduces compaction.”
Pulled by a 410hp John Deere 8RX on tracks, due to a lot of flint on the farms, James has noted that not requiring huge horsepower has been another benefit. “It’s a great combination, and only needing a 20-tonne tractor helps keep diesel costs down.”
“I’m doing 55 acres per hour at 13kph, I’m not going fast or stressing. I’m not wrecking tractors by pushing them to the limit, and I’m burning just 50 to 60 litres of diesel an hour: it’s a dream.”
Although moving to 25cm spacing was not a driver for purchasing the Avatar, James has noticed that the crop has tillered out beautifully with no increase in pests. “The spacing definitely helped with weeding.”
Despite the Avatar's success, James has decided to keep an 8m disc drill stating it is still the ideal tool to follow the plough, especially when preparing ground for their gluten-free oats. With second-hand values being relatively low, retaining it for specific jobs is a logical choice.
An extensive on-site parts store and workshop enables AT Bone to service and maintain their machinery in-house, extending its reliability and working life. 
An extensive on-site parts store and workshop enables AT Bone to service and maintain their machinery in-house, extending its reliability and working life. 
An extensive on-site parts store and workshop enables AT Bone to service and maintain their machinery in-house, extending its reliability and working life.
Logistical considerations
Operating a machine of this size across a vast area comes with unique logistical challenges. AT Bone farms a 30-mile radius, with 6,000 acres concentrated in the north, 1,200 acres in another block, 1,000 acres in the south, and various smaller parcels, including land inside the M25 motorway around London.
"The biggest problem is traffic," James admits, noting the difficulty of moving agricultural machinery through heavily populated areas near London. Managing the team across this spread is equally demanding.
“I think there comes a point we wouldn't want to go any further than we are now. We're not at our stretch, by any means. Everything is accounted for in travelling overheads. I just think life becomes very inefficient.”
When it comes to the 18m Avatar itself, transport has been surprisingly straightforward. The drill folds neatly to three metres. "Honestly, it's no different to towing a trailer," James remarks.
While the business is always open to taking on more land, James notes they are reaching the limits of geographical efficiency. If they were to secure an additional 1,000 acres further north, they would likely relinquish 400 acres in the south to consolidate their footprint and reduce travel times.
Massive output from the Leeb 8.300 PT
The commitment to high-output, reliable machinery extends to their crop protection strategy. AT Bone runs a Leeb 8300 PT self-propelled sprayer, operating it in tandem with a dedicated bowser to maximise in-field efficiency. If the sprayer leaves the shed, the bowser follows.
Pushing through a massive 1,700 to 2,000 hours a year, reliability is paramount. Because of the intense workload, the farm operates a strict replacement policy, trading the sprayer in for a new model every two-and-a-half to three years while it still holds a strong second-hand value. For James, the performance justifies the investment: "It’s the third Leeb PT we have had. You can't buy a better sprayer on the market."
By pairing highly adaptable, common-sense farming strategies with high-output, reliable machinery, AT Bone continues to navigate the tight margins and unpredictable elements of modern agriculture. A combination of diversification, practical experience and high-output thinking is what will keep AT Bone moving forward.