What is the idea behind the festival?
Aside from a lot of great cities, countryside and stunning beaches, the south coast is the best part of the British Isles to grow sweetcorn and we want to celebrate that fact. We probably won’t get a PDO, but we can certainly have a lot of fun trying and it raises money for our charity, Chestnut Tree Hospice. It also brings the whole business together for a team building event as we all volunteer to help.
When did it start?
We came up with the idea after a community barbecue many years ago. People couldn’t believe how good the sweetcorn was, so it literally grew from the embers of a 40 gallon drum converted into a barbecue. If you give people a good time, they will come back.
What will be the highlights this year, on 16 July?
We are doing a closed-loop farm tour, with demonstrations showing the life cycle of sweetcorn from seed to plate, including the recycling of waste to make energy and fertiliser. It sounds a bit geeky, but people love seeing that kind of thing in action, as it challenges their assumptions of what modern agri-business is all about. The farmers’ market and Sussex provenance tent will also be a hit, plus there will be plenty of hot food and it’s important to mention, some Arundel Gold ale.
What kind of atmosphere do you want to create?
This is a community event. Through openness and engagement on local issues, we’ve generated a lot of community support for what we do and how we farm. Our belief is simple - get everyone involved and treat them well. We’re expecting close to 5,000 visitors this year, but weather may still play its part. We only had to dust off the old Cornfest banners back in June to bring about thunder, lightning and torrential rain. All good for the crops, but wellies are advisable.
When will your sweetcorn season begin this year?
We plan to harvest our first crop on 14 July and it’s the first pick from a number of locations along the south coast.
What kind of volumes are you forecasting for this season?
About 23 million cobs until the end of September. Others try and wring it out longer, but the quality and sugar levels deteriorate quickly after that date and the consumer only has to have one bad experience to stop buying. They won’t be fooled by what may look like golden fresh corn (even if it’s British at that stage) if it doesn’t deliver quality.
How early is the season?
It’s going to be an early season but not the earliest on record, which was in 2006. The key to getting ahead of the curve is during drilling time, when you need dry soil and warmth for strong emergence. March this year provided a record period of perfect weather, allowing us to get into the fields and blast out of the blocks. The sunny April and May did further good, but without rain for 12 weeks the crop was dealt a setback in June.
What kind of varieties are you producing?
Varieties are key to size, yield and eating quality. We crop sequentially through 12 weeks, with a changing varietal mix from our own 20-year breeding programme as the seedhouses weren’t keeping pace with what consumers were demanding. Sweetcorn is fascinating in that its quality is so affected by the sunlight, regardless of varietal selection. If you go above the South Downs microclimate and into more clouded skies, the performance of many seed varieties starts to change. Add the impact of hotter days and cooler nights of inland locations and all the performance measures change dramatically. Cattle maize doesn’t have this same problem!
How would you describe the UK sweetcorn sector in general?
It’s a mature sector driven by canned and frozen product, so at least the consumer knows what it is. Our job is to deliver the promise of the fresh corn experience and in so doing, win the hearts, minds and repeat purchase of the consumers. Most retailers understand the potential of what this means and work collaboratively to deliver the offer and increase penetration, weight of purchase and frequency.
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