Our Company History
Established in 1957 as a family-run farm, ATB has since grown in reputation to become the multidisciplinary company we are today. Here, we look back at our journey.
1957: Farming Enterprise is Established
Alan Bone established a traditional stock farm with some arable land, located in Ware, Hertfordshire.
1960s: Start of a Family
Our founder, Alan Bone, started a family with his wife, Audrey. Together they built a successful stock and dairy farm.
1970s: Alan The Stockman
By now, the farm had expanded to include over 3500 chickens, 250 breeding sows and 120 dairy cows. Alan was in the top 10% in the country for production of litres of milk per cow.
Early 1980s: The Big Move
The family moved to Crossoaks Farm, a 400 acre arable farm in Borehamwood with a small stable yard, and sold the herd to fund the expansion of the arable enterprise. Alan’s favourite remaining cow, Honey joined them in their new venture at Crossoaks.
Late 1980s: Acquisition
ATB acquired our first digger, along with a spray contracting business and covered many acres of land per year through contract spraying.
Early 1990s: Arable Expansion
We significantly expanded our arable enterprise to 2000 acres.
Early 2000s: Sports Solutions is Born
ATB Sports Solutions is formed in partnership with Rob Kendle and the amenity side of the business starts to expand. We also brought a farm down the road from Crossoaks and converted buildings into industrial lets which has been run alongside a stable yard. We built a new state-of-the-art grain store and drying system at Crossoaks to deal with the ever increasing arable enterprise.
Late 2000s: Labour of Love
Arable enterprise stood at 3500 acres and formed a number of long-standing relationships with local landowners. ATB purchased a farm in Hertford which allowed the business to expand the arable enterprise further by building more grain storage. ATB also then had the space to house a suckler herd of Aberdeen Angus crosses and a small herd or grass fed highlands and revisit a labour of love.
Late 2010s: Growing in All Fields
The arable enterprise undergoes significant expansion through a partnership with Pilkington Farms. This doubled our cropped area to over 6000 acres and doubled our fleet of lorries. Our years of experience building and developing our own farm sites has resulted in us delivering civil engineering for other clients.
