Bespoke engineering to support fruit growers

When Fruit & Vine managed to pin down Adam for a chat he was, in his own words, “up to my elbows in grease”. It’s a fitting image for the man behind Vegcraft – the Scottish engineering outfit that’s becoming the go-to name for tunnel fruit sprayers, among other agricultural products.

Based near Arbroath, Vegcraft builds every machine from scratch, tailoring each one to the precise needs of growers working within the narrow confines of polytunnels.

While other manufacturers might adapt existing kit, Adam and his team – including brother Gillan, who is heavily involved in the electronics and hydrostatics of the builds – fabricate, weld, and assemble complete sprayers in-house.

They produce one-off machines designed to meet the unique tunnel dimensions and planting layouts of every customer.

In an industry where standard solutions rarely fit, Vegcraft has carved out its own space: a family-run firm bridging the gap between practical farm know-how and meticulous engineering.

Made to measure

Almost all of Vegcraft’s work centres on tunnel-grown fruit. “We don’t really build any sprayers for outside,” Adam explains. “We specialise in the stuff that will be going into tunnels, mainly for strawberries at the moment.”

While that focus may sound narrow, it demands a remarkable degree of adaptability. Every grower’s layout is slightly different, some tunnels are four rows wide, others five or six, and as planting schemes evolve, no two sites are quite the same.

“It’s not cost effective to have a separate machine for each different planting scheme,” he adds, “so they’re coming to us looking for a machine that will fit into all of their tunnels.”

In Scotland especially, where tunnels are often built smaller to retain more heat, there’s no space for even the smallest tractor. Instead, Vegcraft’s sprayers must straddle tabletop fruit beds and navigate gaps barely wider than the machine itself.

It’s a delicate balance between precision engineering and practical field design, producing robust, compact sprayers capable of manoeuvring through tight spaces without damaging plants or tunnel structures.

From bare metal to a working machine

Few businesses today can claim to build machinery entirely from scratch, but Vegcraft is one of them.

“We start off with wheel motors, engines, etc., and everything else is fabricated here,” says Adam. Every sprayer leaves the workshop as a complete custom build – the chassis, framework, and fittings all designed and welded on site.

The only components bought in are specialist sprayer parts such as air-jet fans. “There’s no point trying to develop that for a small market like fruit,” Adam explains pragmatically. “They already exist.” Everything else is a product of Vegcraft’s workshop.

This full control over design brings a simple advantage: flexibility. If a grower’s tunnels or tabletops require a specific adjustment, it can be done there and then, without waiting for factory approval or overseas parts.

Reliability also sits high on Adam’s list. Using established names like Hatz engines ensures that, wherever the customer is in the UK, someone local can support them. Even so, Vegcraft keeps critical parts in stock. “When you’re spraying every second day, you can’t have a four-week lead time,” Adam says. It’s a small operation with big-manufacturer discipline, and the sort of practical insight that growers remember.

Airflow, agitation and innovation

One of Vegcraft’s most notable innovations has been introducing air agitation alongside spraying – a feature Adam says “wasn’t really being done before we entered the market”.

As strawberry plants approach fruiting, their canopies become thick and tangled, making it difficult for conventional sprayers to reach the inner leaves. By adding a powerful airflow, Vegcraft’s machines disturb the canopy so spray can penetrate deeper, ensuring more even coverage and effective disease control.

It’s a system that demands serious power. Their sprayers typically run 75hp engines, with roughly a third of that output devoted solely to generating air movement. “It’s quite a fan when it gets going,” Adam says with a laugh. The setup borrows ideas from orchard sprayers but adapts them to the tighter confines of tunnel-grown fruit.

Over the years, the company has refined not just its airflow systems but also its cab designs, improving operator comfort while keeping the machine as compact and crop-friendly as possible. Each small change, Adam explains, builds on lessons learned from the last build. “Each one’s a slight evolution of the one before it.”

A tailored service and long lifespan

Every Vegcraft sprayer begins with a conversation. Adam and his team spend time understanding each grower’s tunnels and layouts before a single component is cut. “It’s not necessarily in person,” he says, “but we need to make sure we appreciate  everything about their tunnels.”

Scale drawings are often enough, though Vegcraft’s growing experience means they already know most tunnel designs by sight. What matters most is how the fruit is positioned inside.

The machines are built to last. “Often you’ll find growers will keep them for 15 or 20 years,” Adam notes. Repeat orders aren’t replacements; they’re additions. “That’s always heartening,” he says. “They wouldn’t come back if the first one hadn’t worked.”

That loyalty speaks volumes, especially in such a close-knit industry. With few large-scale soft fruit growers in the UK, reputation travels quickly. Vegcraft has never relied on marketing campaigns or exhibitions. “The only advertising we’ve actually done is in Fruit & Vine,” Adam admits. Instead, word
of mouth and assured competence have built a strong and loyal customer base, united by a need
for machinery that fits where nothing else will.

Customer testimonial

Also near Arbroath, grower Allen Innes manages around 3,000 tonnes of soft fruit a year – strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries – all grown on tabletop systems. For a business of that scale, reliability and fit are everything, and it’s why he’s returned to Vegcraft time and again.

“I first started using them a few years ago,” Allen recalls. “Adam made a sprayer for our tabletop systems, a bespoke sprayer.” The collaboration has since expanded beyond strawberries. “He then made me a very special sprayer for three rows of blueberries inside a multi-span tunnel,” he says. “It was an 8m tunnel with a low roof, so Adam made a sprayer that straddled the rows, nice and narrow, with the tank on one side and the engine and hydraulics on another to balance it up.”

That balance between design and practicality is what keeps Allen coming back. Vegcraft’s most recent project for him involves building a chassis to carry UV lights. “They come over and measure everything,” he says. “The quality of their build is phenomenal, and if anything goes wrong, they’re very capable of fixing it. Adaptations are easy, and they’ll listen to any modifications you want.”

For Allen, it’s the relationship that makes the difference. “They’re very easy to work with. Adam and the whole family are very, very good at what they do.” One sprayer, now two years old, hasn’t needed a single visit since delivery, apart from a quick modification to convert it from a four-row to a five-row system.

“They’re not cheap machines,” Allen admits with a chuckle, “but in this industry, most of the stuff’s got to be bespoke made – and if you’re getting something bespoke made, you want it from someone you
can trust.” 

For more information, visit the company website.

Read more machinery news.