ALL’S FARE IN HANTS FRUIT AND VEG
Promotional body Hampshire Fare was set up in 1991 with funding from Hampshire County Council to combine the marketing efforts of food producers in the region. Tim Brock was taken on as Hampshire Fare manager in 2001, and has been responsible for marketing ventures such as the month-long Hampshire Food Festival. Brock talks to FPJ about fresh produce production in the region, and how the eat-local drive is pushing the area forward.
What are the aims of Hampshire Fare?
Hampshire Fare was one of the first regional food groups in the country, and it is still going strong today, whereas others have disappeared under larger umbrellas over time. We have more than 200 members, from pig farmers to chocolate makers; you name it, we have got it in Hampshire. Half of the members are producers and the other half are businesses such as hotels, bed & breakfasts and universities, which sign up on the basis that they use or want to use local produce and want to be promoted as doing so.
We are a one-stop shop for business marketing and advice. We provide PR advice, as well as having pages in several local newspapers, featuring either tips for businesses, new products or what is happening in the region.
We organise ‘meet the buyer’ events, and work closely with retailers Waitrose, Budgens and Tesco, as well as businesses at the other end of the scale, like smaller local retailers and farm shops. Hampshire Fare publishes a directory that contains details of more than 200 food producers and businesses for the public, and its website details events and farmers’ markets within the area.
Our largest event of the year is the Hampshire Food Festival, which includes cookery demonstrations, 25 different farm walks and numerous opportunities to taste and buy local produce. This year, it will run throughout July, and will comprise 120 different events across the county. We try to encourage the public to get involved with the producers. We also ran the Great Hampshire Sausage Competition on February 14, this year.
Over the last couple of years, Hampshire Fare has been working with more than 500 schools in Hampshire, with the aim of getting children to eat local fruit and vegetables within the right season. It is all part of our drive to get more local produce into public sector catering. Hampshire County Council has been very supportive through its buying team and catering operations. School menus now include milk, organic beef, free-range eggs, pork, lamb and fish, and a proportion of fruit and vegetables that are all sourced locally. With more than 40,000 meals served a day, Hampshire is now leading the way nationally in best practice of local food procurement.
Local produce is good, sustainable food, and we go to schools all over Hampshire to talk to the children about local food, as part of our contribution to the Year of Food and Farming initiative - although, as an organisation, we have been working to reconnect children with farming for the past four to five years. We are busy telling everyone where the food they eat comes from.
Hampshire Fare’s funding comes from a mixture of sources: a substantial amount comes from the council and the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA), and the remainder is found in membership funds - which averages £200 a year for each business - as well as a new corporate sponsorship scheme aimed at local businesses that want to support and be associated with the work of Hampshire Fare.
Is fresh produce production important to the region and the organisation?
Both livestock and fruit and vegetables are very important to this region. We used to have a lot of strawberry fields, but now Hampshire is mostly known for watercress production. Geographically, Hampshire is dominated by watercress. It is what the area is famous for, and it is a unique success story with a long history.
Baby leaf lettuce and sweetcorn producers are also big players within the region, and then you have the other end of the business scale, with small organic farmers and businesses, which have a good deal of success within the region. Waitrose has its farm, Leckford Estate, near Stockbridge, and Sunnyfields is a very successful business in the area. There are definitely two parts to the sector; larger, more specialised growers supplying in the majority to multiples, and mostly organic businesses that are delivering direct to the public or via local shops. There does not appear to be much in the middle capable of supplying the wholesalers, which service public sector contracts. There is now a real demand for local produce in schools, hospitals and universities in Hampshire, so we urge producers to get in touch with us to discuss the opportunities that exist now, which may not have existed two years ago.
D&J Haywards of Langford is one producer that has got involved with Hampshire Fare’s work with schools. The New Forest-based producer has been supplying cabbages to local schools, via the wholesaler it supplies. The future looks good, as fruit and vegetable wholesalers actively seek out more produce from local farms.
At the moment, approximately 40 per cent of the fruit and vegetables procured by Hampshire schools are local. We are aiming for more Hampshire fruit and vegetables to go into the public sector, but it is not easy and generally businesses do not want to go into that area. They are not geared up for it. Organic businesses do not produce enough to be able to make long-term commitments. Times and opportunities are changing, and public procurement is a great opportunity for fresh produce suppliers to supply somewhere other than supermarkets.
Is Hampshire Fare running any initiatives that help growers or fresh produce businesses in the region?
Our trade development work, ranging from large hotel chains to schools, offers a real opportunity, together with the many marketing initiatives we have on offer. We can help any company regardless of size and scale, a good example being our long-running PR activity with Vitacress Salads. We have benefited from the company’s support, and I know it has benefited from its association with Hampshire Fare.
We give small businesses and growers advice too, and everyone receives the same service. We are trying to get the public to eat more local fresh produce, but there is not a lot of local produce available to the region, as it is going elsewhere. You cannot guarantee supply, but we are working on increasing availability and improving distribution.
What are the issues facing growers or fresh produce businesses within the region?
Like most regions, we have the situation in Hampshire of having a lot of large producers and very small producers, and nothing much in between. There are not many greengrocers out there now, and fresh produce, from places like the Netherlands, offer fantastic prices and packaging, whereas in the UK, we have never been good at packaging and presentation. I have seen the produce coming into London’s New Covent Garden Market (NCGM) and the way UK produce takes a back seat at times, but this is changing, especially as NCGM is pushing local and British food forward. The South East Food Group Partnership has employed a dedicated Covent Garden development officer called Tom Beeston. He is tasked with increasing south-east fresh produce through the market, so this is a tool we can definitely use in Hampshire.
Supermarkets are also getting much better at promoting local produce, and they are waking up to seasonality and taste. We have lost our seasonality in this country, and have forsaken it for produce with a perfect appearance - I believe we should not be eating strawberries at Christmas.
How do you see the future of fresh produce in Hampshire and the organisation?
We aim to carry on with the sound progress we have made so far; for the organisation to continue for another 15 years would be nice. Hopefully the public will become more aware and make more sustainable choices when it comes to buying fresh produce. That way, we will begin to get the growers we have lost over the years back into the region, as the demand will be there.
ORGANIC SWITCHOVER FOR LYBURN
Family-run producer Lyburn Farm has grown a selection of vegetables and farmed livestock on its 500-hectare farm in Landford, on the northern edge of the New Forest, for more than 20 years, and transferred to a totally organic way of farming 10 years ago. A supplier to Waitrose, the business took the retailer’s advice when it suggested the farm should become organic, and has not looked back since. The farm now has 30 arces organic vegetables on its land.
Owner Mike Smales tells FPJ: “Our summer range includes organic runner beans, courgettes, broad beans and squash. We also grow non-organic Halloween pumpkins and Crown Prince squash. As well as Waitrose, we supply to Barfoots, Abel & Cole, Riverford Organic Vegetables and Sunnyfields.”
Smales maintains that the ground in Hampshire can be difficult to grow on. “The land needs a lot of irrigation as the soil is full of sand and gravel, and dries out quickly,” he says. “But we are 100 metres above sea level, so we are not so exposed. The other benefit is the road network in the area. Our customer base is near to the M27 - which gets our produce to where it needs to go. Twenty years ago, we used to have to go through London every night.”
BUNCHED-UP DEMAND FOR ALRESFORD
Geest bought Alresford Salads about seven years ago and Bakkavor bought Geest two years ago, writes Alresford Salads’ Kip Winter-Cox, pictured. And since then, Bakkavor has realised how important fresh produce in Hampshire is to the company.
Alresford Salads supplies watercress, baby leaf salad and organic salad for all the major UK retailers, and is still very much run as an independent company to Bakkavor. Sales of watercress are now double what they were five years ago, when sales were in decline. Now, everyone knows that watercress is healthy and a superfood, which has helped sales tremendously. Consumers are not seeing it as just a part of the salad mix, but an ingredient in its own right.
Watercress is still grown in the same way as the Romans grew it, and cannot be intensely farmed. We make sure that environmental initiatives on the farm are carried out, and that the water used to grow the watercress is tested at every stage. We abide by modern food-safety standards, without changing the traditional way of farming.
Although it is a perfect place to grow watercress, it is very difficult to expand our production areas in Hampshire, as there are very strict planning restrictions in the area. There are a lot of watercress farmers that have found it difficult to put new watercress beds in place. Alresford, in particular, is a very picturesque town, and an expansion of the watercress beds would need more workers and transportation. Also, finding the labour force you need can be difficult in this area, as unemployment is very low. The local people in Hampshire tend to want to preserve their way of life, and so it is difficult to extend the business.
We receive a lot of demand for the traditional bunches of watercress in this area, but this is very labour intensive, as workers actually have to stand over the plants to pick and bunch it. We are trying to get consumers to buy watercress in bags, as the leaves sold in bags have been harvested by machinery and also have a longer shelf life.
At this time of year, Alresford Salads harvests 40-45 tonnes of watercress a week, and the most important thing is for the produce to be handled correctly at the packaging facility in Alresford. We have installed better and more developed refrigeration systems within the facility over the years. Although Alresford Salads packs watercress, organic salad and baby leaf salad, watercress is the most popular product. Demand, of course, is always very reliant on the weather.
In winter, watercress production naturally slows down, so we look to our growers in Spain and Portugal to make up any lull in supply. Alresford Salads is always looking for ways to reduce packaging and decrease its impact on the environment.
SUNNYFIELDS THRIVES ON LOCAL
Southampton-based producer Sunnyfields sells a wide variety of organic and conventional fresh produce at its farm shop in Marchwood and through its local home delivery service, as well as being part of food fairs such as the one at the Alresford Watercress Festival and its own weekly farmers’ and producers’ market.
Having been established for 21 years, the company has seen many changes in consumer attitude towards produce. “We have been dealing with a lot of requests for local produce just lately,” says the company’s Daniel Russel. “People tend to be steering away from organic produce, and we have been catering for the local drive. It has been happening over the last couple of years, and it has changed the direction of the business. We now label local produce, and sell more of it because of that.
“We do still have call for more exotic produce from overseas, but we steer clear of creating air miles if we can help it,” adds Russel.
STOKE VALLEY WHOLESALE FOCUS
Some 18 years ago, husband-and-wife team Mervyn and Susan Smith broke away from what is now known as The Watercress Company and started their own watercress company called Stoke Valley Watercress. “We started with three-quarters of an acre, and we have slowly built it up to 10a,” explains Mervyn Smith. “We now produce 1,500 two-kilo boxes a week.”
Smith maintains the season suffered a slow start because of bad weather conditions, but says it has been controllable. The company’s watercress crop is grown in pure spring water in Alresford, and is sent to Southampton Wholesale Market, as well as New Covent Garden, Western International and New Spitalfields wholesale markets in London. “Wholesale’s future is in the catering side of things, and I believe most of our production goes to restaurants within London, as well as local shops in the Hampshire region,” says Smith.
WATERCRESS, WATERCRESS EVERYWHERE
Now in its fifth year, the Alresford Watercress Festival is a firm fixture on the Hampshire producer’s calendar, and pulls in more than 10,000 consumers to the town’s streets. FPJ went along to find out what the watercress industry does for Hampshire and vice versa.
Held on May 11, this year’s Alresford Watercress Festival was every bit as much a success as the previous four events. Building on the town’s affiliation with the superfood, the festival celebrates all aspects of the watercress industry in the Hampshire region, with tours of the watercress farms at both Pinglestone and Manor Watercress Farm, cookery demonstrations from celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson, Morris dancing and a street procession, as well as a full food market run by the county food group Hampshire Fare.
This year also marks the 200th anniversary of the first watercress farm opening in Britain and, to mark the occasion, Worrall Thompson helped farmers harvest the first crop of the British watercress season from a watercress bed planted in the shape of the number 200.
Alresford is also the home of the once famous Watercress Line Heritage Railway, which acquired its name because of the vast quantities of watercress it used to transport to London’s Covent Garden Market. This too was available for the public to experience.
Organised by Alresford Chamber of Commerce, New Alresford Town Council, The Watercress Alliance - made up of Alresford Salads, Vitacress Salads and The Watercress Company - Hampshire Fare and The Watercress Line, the festival attracted a record number of people this year and included the launch of The Watercress Alliance’s first recipe book - Watercress: Not Just A Bit On The Side.
Alresford Salads has been involved with the festival from the start, and has seen the event go from strength to strength. The company’s Kip Winter-Cox said at the festival: “The festival started off as a small affair on a Saturday five years ago, but since then it has grown and grown. Watercress is a tasty traditional British leaf, and it is an important part of the local economy in this area.
“Alresford is the capital of watercress farming within the UK and I think this is a great way to celebrate and inform the public about the start of the season.”
Worrall Thompson, an advocate of the watercress industry, was happy with this year’s turnout. “It has been a huge success,” he says. “It has been fabulous; I am really pleased with the amount of people who have come and how great the weather has been, after it poured it down last year. It is great to get the eat-healthy message across Hampshire.”
ENVIRONMENT TOPS BARTER’S CONCERNS
Hampshire farms are our main resource and we cannot find anywhere else to grow watercress as naturally, says Charles Barter, managing director of Hampshire- and Dorset-based The Watercress Company. The levels of natural spring water are very high in this area, so it makes watercress production easy.
As a company, we are privileged to use this county’s natural provisions for our work, and we must protect the resources available for future generations. We encourage wildlife on our farms in both Hampshire and Dorset, and make sure that the environment is being protected. This way we feel we are giving something back to the community, in the same way that the Alresford Watercress Festival gives something back.
There is a natural supply of water feeding major rivers in the Hampshire area, and The Watercress Company has four farms in this area. Watercress sales have always been pretty buoyant in this area, as people recognise it as part of the area’s tradition. But across the UK, watercress demand experienced a lull about five years ago, and other more fashionable salad leaves became popular. As an industry, we said we were not going to sit back, and started a serious PR campaign, which has really paid off.
Watercress production has brought tremendous recognition to Alresford itself, and it has become the capital of watercress for the world, not only the UK. As companies have developed their production and factories, the area’s economy has benefited.
Watercress sales have more than doubled in the last five years, and demand continues to be strong, especially at the start of the season. Production-wise, this season has brought few problems - not to say that growing watercress is without its issues. It is difficult to grow a constant crop to the standards consumers expect, but watercress production does not have many disease issues and has very little need for pesticides.
Two weeks ago, Tesco launched a regional bag of Hampshire watercress into its stores served by its Southampton depot.
Most of the watercress you see on multiples’ shelves is harvested by machines, which removes the problem of finding extra labourers to pick in times of high demand. We can go from picking 20 tonnes one week to 30t the next, so we are able to make that change.
Consumers are moving more towards provenance, and they like to know where their food comes from. The majority of people would like watercress to come from the UK, but once they realise that we grow watercress in the US and Spain to the same standards as the UK to guarantee year-round supply, they become happier.
RESEARCH TO SAVE LIVES
This year saw the launch of a new cancer research project with the University of Southampton, investigating watercress’s anti-cancer potential in relation to breast cancer. The Breast Unit at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester will conduct the intervention aspect of the research, involving a group of female breast cancer survivors.
Funded by The Watercress Alliance producer group, the project follows research carried out by the University of Ulster, Coleraine, which was published in February 2007, and found that a daily diet of watercress could significantly reduce DNA damage to blood cells. DNA damage is considered to be an important trigger in the early stages of cancer. In addition, the research concluded that watercress also increases the ability of cells to resist further DNA damage caused by free radicals.
BOSWELL’S GARLIC BRINGS IN BREAD
The Garlic Farm has established a thriving business on the Isle of Wight in Hampshire, producing more than 20 different varieties of fresh garlic, as well as two types of asparagus. FPJ finds out how important location is to the company, and how provenance has helped The Garlic Farm brand.
The Garlic Farm’s owner Colin Boswell has been growing garlic within the Arreton Valley in Newchurch, Isle of Wight for more than 35 years, and has no fewer than 20 varieties of garlic under trial a year. “My family started growing sweetcorn in this area and then, when I joined the business, I decided to move towards producing garlic,” says Boswell, who also farms six hectares of asparagus for sale under The Garlic Farm banner. “We built up a big business and supplied supermarkets with large quantities of mainly sweetcorn and garlic, but in 1999 we decided to sell that business and set up a new firm - The Garlic Farm - with the aim of focusing on specialist produce for delicatessens and farm shops.”
The Garlic Farm moved from strength to strength, introducing a range of garlic by-products such as pickles and chutneys, as well as offering gourmet garlic like the large-bulbed elephant garlic that is particularly popular with the company’s foodservice customers.
The company has focused on establishing The Garlic Farm brand over the last nine years, making sure its presence was felt at food shows and farmers’ markets throughout the UK. “The brand has really grown on the back of the annual Isle of Wight Garlic Festival in Newchurch, which has been going for more than 25 years now, and we have expanded from there,” explains Boswell. “It has been great to have the opportunity to specialise, and I have travelled across the world to bring interesting garlic varieties to the farm. This year I will go to the Turkish/Iraqi border to look for different varieties of garlic, and then we will work on the varieties closely with the French breeding company we always work with.”
Over the last five years, the farm has really seen a change in the way both customers and consumers perceive it. The Garlic Farm’s motto - ‘For all things garlic’ - and its marketing strategy have put the Isle of Wight firmly on the map within the garlic industry. “Garlic is the kind of plant that adapts to wherever it is grown,” admits Boswell. “But it obviously works here in the Isle of Wight, and we get a lot of demand for it in this area and across the UK.”
The advantages of being a producer in Hampshire are numerous, according to Boswell. But the main advantage of the region is the levels of sunlight it receives. “It is the same reason that people have success with tomato production under glass within this area,” he insists. “It is the intense sunlight we get and, what we don’t get in temperature, like the Mediterranean, we get in sunlight hours. It is a good place to grow anything, but logistics-wise we are geographically stunted in the Isle of Wight. But being in the Isle of Wight enforces a strong identity. Plus, the Garlic Farm offers a next-day delivery service nationwide to all of its customers.”
The business is also a welcome boost to the Isle of Wight’s economy, employing local people to work within the farm’s shop, on-site chutney factory and within the fields, where both asparagus and garlic are harvested by hand.
Garlic is sown at the farm from September to February, and harvest starts on the early garlic, like Early Violet - which accounts for 10 per cent of the volume grown - from May, with other varieties ending in July.
The most popular variety, Solent Wight, is harvested mid-June and, once dried, will last until February. The Garlic Farm grows 100,000 tonnes a year of the Solent Wight variety on 35 acres, leaving the rest of the farm to other niche line garlic bulbs, such as Iberian Wight, purple hardneck garlic and wild spring garlic. Due to the many different garlic varieties grown at the farm, the business can guarantee a year-round supply.
“We work on a wide rotation and only grow garlic one year in 10 on the same land,” says Boswell. “Garlic is prone to disease, so it is particularly important to have clean soil. But it has been a good season so far; we have seen so much rain that the bulbs have become bigger, and customers tend to go for size. Garlic needs a lot of water throughout the season, however, so we will probably have to irrigate the land before the end of May.”
Asparagus has always had a place on the Boswell family farm, and it currently produces 20t of the vegetable a year. The Garlic Farm has been having some success by sending purple asparagus directly to restaurants in London. “It really is excellent quality, as we grow a small amount for the early market and we grow it well,” says Boswell. “We have been growing a purple asparagus this year; it is difficult to grow and we only have a small acreage at the moment, but it is a really sweet vegetable that has been very popular at London’s Borough Market and with the restaurants in that area.”
The wet weather at the beginning of the year stunted the growth of the farm’s asparagus crop, but warm weather after Easter has brought the crop along, says Boswell. “We started harvesting in the last week of March, which is later than usual for us,” he reveals. “But the slow start to the year will bring better quality and a higher yield in the long run. We will probably harvest the crop until June 20, this year.”
The Garlic Farm supplies a total of 800 delicatessens and farm shops throughout England and attracts 15,000-20,000 visitors to the on-site farm shop a year. And, recently, the company has received more demand from restaurants looking for a point of difference. The Garlic Farm marketing manager Darren Rayner says that the company is now ready to promote the brand over the whole country.
“The company has moved forward quite significantly in the last two years,” he explains. “We have moved from reactive to proactive. Customers are now looking to us to introduce them to new garlic lines.
“I have seen every part of the business and have had a very thorough amount of training, which makes it much easier to talk to customers about our products. I have worked in the field planting garlic and asparagus, and then I have been involved in the harvest, as well as spending some time in the kitchen and dispatching departments.
“We have been working on our offer to the north of England. I think that our brand is pretty well known within the south of England, but we still have work to do in the north. We are currently in talks to supply the Musgrave Group, and through it Budgens, with loose and netted garlic.”
The company is also moving onto new pastures. As well as building an extension to The Garlic Farm shop, which will provide visitors with a garlic-themed café, the company will have a total of 10a of organic production from 2010, and is in the process of converting the land. “It is what the kind of customers we attract want, so it is a natural progression to offer a selection of organic garlic,” says Boswell. “What we do is local, but not so strong on organic, so there is an opportunity there.”
OUT OF THE DARKNESS
Waitrose-owned Leckford Estate near Stockbridge originally started life as an arable farm. More than 70 years on, the company is now better known for its diversity, including English apples and pears, free-range poultry production, milk production and mushroom production, which accounts for approximately five per cent of the retail mushroom category in the UK. FPJ talks to the Winchester-based company about the changes time has brought, and the issues facing growers within the region.
The founder of the John Lewis Partnership, John Spedan Lewis, bought Leckford Estate in 1928 as a 2,000-acre arable farm. After the depression in the 1930s, the farm doubled in size and, in 2000, John Lewis’ food retail chain Waitrose took over the management of the farm, and production started to go directly and exclusively to its stores.
Now the Leckford Estate brand includes mushrooms, apples, pears, juice, eggs, flour and milk, which are all produced and packed on site near Stockbridge.
Although the farm’s biggest unit is its mushroom production, this started relatively late in the farm’s history, in 1986. “The soil in this area is poor quality and very chalky, although it filters the water through,” explains the company’s farm manager Justin Coleman. “Growing mushrooms indoors was an obvious solution, and when a law was passed 22 years ago that meant you could no longer burn wheat stumble on fields, the company had to find a way to use straw from its wheat production more efficiently. So recycling it back into compost to grow mushrooms was the solution. Mushroom farming is the ultimate recycler, as all the spent compost goes back on the fields.”
Leckford Estate uses a Dutch shelving system to grow two different types of mushrooms within 16 dark rooms, producing 30 tonnes a week. “We grow small open and closed-cup mushrooms for individual packs, as well as using out-grade sizes that cannot be used in the normal packs for the Waitrose Cooks’ Ingredients pack,” says Coleman.
Leckford Estate grows mushrooms 52 weeks of the year, but Coleman believes mushrooms are used less through the winter. Because of this, Leckford Estate and the Mushroom Bureau are encouraging consumers to eat more mushrooms in the summer months. “Demand is really good for mushrooms in the winter, especially from this area,” says Coleman. “We have increased our branding, and consumers can identify where the product comes from. We are now trying to get people all over the UK to eat mushrooms raw in salads or barbecue them in summer, as demand is usually highest in winter.”
Coleman has noticed a drive for regional sourcing in the south of England. “People want to know what has happened to their food,” he says. “And provenance has become very important, especially when it comes to branding our Leckford Estate mushrooms. Consumers are really impressed by the fact that in the space of 24 hours, the mushrooms have been harvested and are on the shelves of Waitrose. Local sourcing has got a really strong following within Hampshire.”
Leckford Estate harvests a mushroom crop every day of the year, with the exception of Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, and employs a very intense growing method.
“All sorts of things can make mushroom growing challenging, but you can control the atmosphere within the rooms more than with outdoor cropping,” maintains Coleman. “Mushrooms need to be monitored closely, as when they begin growing they can double in size every 18 hours, so it has to be a very controlled harvest.”
It takes 17 days for the mushrooms to sporn in a mixture of straw, manure and water, and a further fortnight to grow through a casing mixture, which holds all the water on the surface. Once the mushrooms have been harvested three times, the compost is then mixed back into the farm’s land.
Coleman insists that it is a good time to be a mushroom producer. “The current economic climate in Europe has represented a real opportunity for English mushroom growers to supply the UK market,” he says. “Only 30 per cent of mushrooms sold in the UK come from domestic farms and, with the euro rising and production costs increasing, the price of mushrooms will go up. So growers should move towards growing mushrooms and, more so, go into producing locally grown mushrooms, as that is what people want.”
Leckford Estate has had success with its Cox apple production, which makes up a total of 80 per cent of the farm’s apple and pear production. “Because of the chalky soil in this area, the apple trees have to work harder to grow, and taste better and sweeter for it,” reveals Coleman. “The soil does not hold water well, so we cover the ground surrounding the trees with straw, creating a mulching effect to conserve water.”
The company starts to harvest its top fruit in September and stores the fruit until early February. Other varieties grown include Russet, Braeburn and Royal Gala, as well as Conference and Comice pears. The orchard now stands at 200a and creates a production of approximately 1,000t a year. “Volume-wise, the mushroom farm is the most important part, but the apple and pear orchard plays its part and adds to our offer,” says Coleman.
The company started to trade under the Leckford Estate brand 20 months ago, and has found that it attracts a good deal of attention throughout the south of England. “We are producing sweet and dry apple juice under the new brand, as well as a Cox apple cider,” says Coleman.
“Also, as well as mushrooms, we provide a range of free-range eggs and flour, and our own whole free-range chickens will be launched into local Waitrose stores this month, followed by a traditional whole milk from the estate. It is doing very well, and consumers are obviously aware of where their food comes from, and are committed to local production where they can be.”
CONTINUING THE WINNING FORMULA
In addition to its 2,500-acre organic farm at Overton, in Hampshire, Laverstoke Park purchased a 122a site at Lymington two years ago, which comprises three 1a glasshouses that have been converted to grow organic produce. FPJ finds out what has been happening at the site.
Laverstoke’s main open site at Lymington produces brassicas, leeks, onions, potatoes and parsnips, and the three glasshouses contain a range of organic produce, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, leafy salads, aubergines, peppers and French beans. A total of one acre of basil is also grown under glass for the retail market. A two-year organic conversion programme has been in place to convert it to a fully organic site, with final certification having been gained in January.
Now a rarity, the glasshouses were built from 1969 to 1972, and have complete open spans providing a large open space, which helps considerably with cultivation and planting. There were originally four such houses on the site, but the gales of 1987 destroyed one and it was never re-built, which leaves room for a further glasshouse to be constructed.
At Laverstoke Park, there is wide diversity in the firm’s organic and biodynamic produce and activities. The operation follows nature, but also uses the latest scientific techniques and equipment, which includes a fully equipped and staffed biological and chemistry laboratory. The trend amongst consumers now to demand healthier, tastier British food puts Laverstoke very much at the forefront of supplying this demand.
“We make our animals and plants healthy - not only treat them when they get sick - and I consider that this also carries through to the consumers of our produce,” says owner Jody Scheckter. “However, because there is such a ready availability of medicines and cure-alls, this philosophy has been largely forgotten both in farming and in the way people live their lives today. We produce much of our own food for our animals, and in doing so we adopt the same principle as producing food for people.”
The pressure is on, and it is certain a great deal more will be heard from this organic operation on two sites, which are unique in the world.
Laverstock Park has recently introduced a new biomass boiler from Heizomat to its glasshouse site. The 17-tonne piece of equipment will produce 1.5 megawatts of heat for the hot-water system in the glasshouses from the cubic metre of wood chips burned each hour supplied by local demolition and waste company G Farwell Ltd - normally destined for landfill sites. The installation of the boiler required the installation of a complete new heating system and associated pipe work, as well as an up-to-date electrical system.
Laverstoke’s fresh production manager, Mike Mallett, who previously grew fruit and vegetables in Suffolk, says: “The boiler is doing everything we have asked for it, and produces large amounts of heat very quickly. This is important for us, as the three wide-span glasshouses contain a huge volume of air.”
Mallett believes there is a future in the supply of fresh, clean wood chips from the forestry industry, once the coppicing business gets underway again, and landowners realise what they can gain.
The water supply to the hot water system has been a cause for concern to the company. A water collection programme has been put in place, with two lagoons holding a total of one million litres. Supplied from the roofs of the glasshouses, the system required new aluminium guttering, which was formed on site from large seamless coils of material by Radcot Guttering, using an ingenious machine with scissor lift, which works at the level required. The roofs can provide 11cum of water an hour in a typical UK rainfall situation. The water is then combined with that from the borehole to provide better quality water and reduce costs. The flexible irrigation systems can be adapted to specific crops.
There are eight permanent members of staff on the field vegetable and glasshouse sites, with additional seasonal workers when required. A New Holland 4WD 55hp tractor is used in the glasshouses, as well as Massey-Fergusons, together with a Fendt tool-carrier on the outside land. As the right labour is hard to find, every effort is put in to find solutions that can reduce the input and cost.
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