The UK’s largest farming and growing enterprise, The Co-operative Farms, has announced record profits for the year to January 2009.
The success of the group’s Grown By Us range has played a major part in taking profits to a record £5.7 million during 2008 - this is more than double the 2007 figure of £2.5m.
Now the group’s md Christine Tacon says it plans to continue to increase the amount of its produce sold in Co-operative Food stores. She said: “With the wettest summer on record, food price inflation, the economic downturn and volatile markets it has been an eventful 12 months.
“But, despite the difficulties, we had a good harvest, benefited well from fluctuations in currency and, most importantly, continued to increase the depth of penetration of our Grown By Us range into our food stores - something we are keen to extend even further in the future.”
Fresh produce features heavily in the lines supplied by the farms and the Grown By Us range includes potatoes, onions, strawberries, peas, broccoli and apples.
Tacon said The Co-operative Farms is working towards supplying 25 per cent of all the British-grown fresh produce sold in Co-operative Food stores by 2011.
“It is an ambitious target,” she said, “especially with The Co-operative acquiring Somerfield. It will mean effectively doubling the size of the farming business. We are developing schemes for working with other farmers to use their land and labour to help us achieve it.”
Other highlights for the past year included major investments in a new potato grading facility and potato storage at Carnoustie, near Dundee, and new potato storage facilities at Coldham in Cambridgeshire.
The Co-operative Farms has production on some 60,000 acres spread across 15 different sites from the north of Scotland to southern England.
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