A long-established producing area in the UK, Yorkshire is well-known for the vast array of food products it produces, in and out of the fresh produce arena.
The region recently won its five-year battle with Brussels to gain the much-needed Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status for its rhubarb grown in the now famous Rhubarb Triangle - which lies between Wakefield, Morley and Rothwell. The ‘High Priestess of Rhubarb’, Yorkshire Rhubarb Growers’ Janet Oldroyd Hulme has been the woman behind the mission and now it is hoped that the rhubarb industry, which once boasted more than 200 growers and now has just a handful, will not disappear in the face of competition from the likes of the Netherlands and other countries.
Such passion and determination runs through the fresh produce industry in Yorkshire, and perhaps more so than in any other county a sense of pride and confidence in the region and the Yorkshire affiliation is clear.
Support and funding in the area is solid, with the regional development agency, Yorkshire Forward-funded Regional Food Group (RFG) for Yorkshire and Humber, pushing its Deliciouslyorkshire brand forward. Yorkshire Forward’s future is uncertain but, as half of its income is funded by members, the RFG's future is on safe ground.
Another issue that rebounds around the county is the worry that there is a lack of young blood coming into the fresh produce industry, with many family growers, suppliers and independent retailers going out of business because the younger generation does not want to take them on. Some believe that more can be done at school or college level to ensure that children know about the industry that surrounds their towns and are aware of the benefits to be had from a life in horticulture.
The Yorkshire fresh produce industry is certainly living proof of this. Recessional worries have impacted the area, like everywhere else in the UK, but business is generally still booming and many companies are branching out and diversifying where they can.
WESTWOOD SAYS RHUBARB IS WHERE THE SMART MONEY IS
Family business D Westwood & Son has been growing a mix of vegetables, as well as farming pigs and growing cereals for three generations, but believes that the only product worth backing in today’s climate is rhubarb.
As well as 100 acres of cauliflowers, 120 acres of cabbages and smaller volumes of niche crops such as purple sprouting broccoli, the company cultivates 130 acres of outdoor rhubarb and 2.5 acres of forced rhubarb for the multiples.
“It’s the only thing that’s paying at the moment,” says owner David Westwood, pictured. “All the supermarkets put fruit and vegetables on promotion; whether it is two for one or a cut in price, it’s us [the growers] that pay for it. [The supermarkets] don’t pay a penny. You lose money growing vegetables and I have been for the last 18 months - though we have had it very good in the past.
“We have a lot of customers in restaurants in London and the forced season, which we have ready for 1 December, is well sought after by both the restaurants and the multiples.”
Westwood reports a “fantastic” winter for rhubarb production and the crop this year benefited from the amount of cold units stored in the plant’s roots. With the forced and outdoor seasons combined, Westwood can provide rhubarb 10 months of the year.
Always rolling with the punches, the company will open a farm shop on its site next year, after recently receiving planning permission. “We are diversifying and thousands of people have asked us to build our own shop over the years,” says Westwood. “It is the way the vegetable game is going. The government and the powers that be want more local food, but there is no funding, people don’t want to pay a good price for it and pesticides are disappearing.”
YORKSHIRE’S WHOLESALE INDUSTRY IS DOING ITS BEST TO PROGRESS
Yorkshire’s wholesale game has evolved and diversified to survive and again there is a familiar tale among the traders at both Leeds’ Yorkshire Produce Centre and Sheffield’s South Yorkshire Fresh Produce Centre.
Originally a 40 business-strong market, after two location moves South Yorkshire Fresh Produce Centre now consists of five large wholesale companies in an industrial estate just out of the city, which has housed it for 10 years. The council originally owned the site, but now many companies have bought their own units and the other businesses are under a head lease agreement with a private company. Now that lease is coming to an end it is uncertain what may happen in the wholesale market’s future.
“The owners will be alright,” says Chris Webb of wholesaler AJ Webb, which owns its units on the Sheffield market. “I’m sure our business could stand alone and it wouldn’t affect business, but the tenants have no rights and it is a very uncertain time for those renting.”
AJ Webb has invested in its business since its move to the site and has recently added a purpose-built facility to deal with catering suppliers’ orders. “We are now a one-stop-shop for caterers,” Webb continues. “Chefs in this area want to have one delivery and one invoice to deal with. On the wholesale floor, we also use handheld terminals to input orders -we want to make sure that wholesale is a trusted and professional industry. Gone are the days where you could make quick profit. Trade is very good here, if you provide the service.”
Leeds’ Yorkshire Produce Centre moved to its present location around the same time as Sheffield’s relocation, but to a very different set up. The three remaining wholesalers - Scruton, Gilbert Thompson and H2H Produce - rent their units within a refurbished cash and carry building from a private company linked to Gilbert Thompson. The layout of the building allows all three wholesalers to have comprehensive offices, while sharing a covered interior that creates a square buyers’ walk for customers to walk around.
“We are very fortunate logistically at Yorkshire Produce Centre and we benefit from a good ethnic trade from Bradford, as well as greengrocers and street markets north of Leeds and in Harrogate,” says Ian Palfreeman of H2H. “All you have around here are market towns and a lot of food businesses have appeared in those areas over the years. We travel to the east coast four times a week and make the most of the tourist season.
“The building we are in definitely helps trade as it is almost purpose-built and at 110,00sq ft offers the three companies everything we need; it is a competitive environment where the produce looks good.”
STAYING ALIVE: THOUGHTS FROM THE TRADERS
“Although our customer base has declined we are now serving the best retailers that have been in the business for a long time and know that the way to keep their customers is through good quality produce,” says salesperson Phil Brown for Leeds firm Scruton. “Our business is more sustainable now and we get a lot of demand for regional produce. We do find it difficult to get young people into the industry now though; they’re not born to work.”
“The margins are difficult to find and it used to be easier,” says Total Produce Sheffield’s Christopher Dibble, who joined the company shortly after its relocation to the new site. “There are product shortages throughout the year and these are getting worse. I think it is to do with the weather around the world and sometimes we make money and sometimes we don’t. We are all going to struggle in the future; there should be a ban on supermarkets expanding any more. It is frustrating and it makes life difficult.”
“I have followed by grandfather and my father into this business and I love it,” says Sheffield wholesaler Jack Waters & Sons Ltd’s Brian Waters. “But my son is a teenager now and I wouldn’t encourage him into the trade. The hours are very unsociable, although it’s a very interesting job, but there are easier ways to make money.
“I don’t know if the job will survive the next 10 years, but we have had a lot of interest in local produce and retailers will always support British produce - that is the Union Jack flag packaging power.
“Direct Fruit Supplies relocated out of the wholesale market in Leeds when it moved to the new site,” says owner Michael Marcus. “We serve caterers so there was no need for us to be with the rest and we now have three units in the city centre. We are well-placed to stock all the delis and restaurants in the area.
“I have just bought out Hambleton Produce in north Yorkshire, which has given the company a base in the countryside. We have a £5 million turnover and I want to keep on increasing and hopefully venture into Lancashire, offering the same local and international produce, as well as dry stores.
“We deal with restaurants, hotels, outside caterers and serve some private schools in the area. We work with the chef to find the right product and let them tell us what they want.”
“We can’t complain and every year has been better than the last for us,” says John Hastings - the fifth generation to take over J Hastings Ltd at Sheffield’s South Yorkshire Fresh Produce Centre. “A good deal of our custom is through deliveries - probably 30 per cent - but we still encourage people to use the market. A lot of our customers are retailers and specialist fruit shops, as well as retail markets.
“Street markets will play a part but there are very good fruit shops out there and holding their own.”
THE REBIRTH OF PICK YOUR OWN
The farm shop model has been particularly successful for diversifying farmers in some of the more affluent areas of Yorkshire and many growers have forsaken serving the multiples in favour of growing an array of crops for their own shops and eateries in the area.
Pick Your Own is also a popular summer activity, with not only strawberries, but also raspberries, blackberries and in some cases blueberries pulling in consumers. Salad products, namely lettuce, are also a big draw to local consumers and farm shop The Farmers’ Cart prides itself on keeping its shelves stocked with its own lettuce throughout the British season.
From the 150-acre farm in York, husband-and-wife owners Geoff and Margaret Sykes aim to produce everything the shop and accompanying café needs and so they continually work with the seasons.
“We have had a hard season for our outdoor grown strawberries as the frost set them back, so we have been sourcing from a local farmer, which is only six miles away, to cope with the demand,” explains Nicola Kent, farm shop manager, who joined the company shortly after the farm shop was opened in 2002. “There is a huge demand for strawberries and people do want them year round, but we are as strict as we can and do not sell any foreign produce if we can grow it in this country at any time. It is hard as it is actually turning customers away, but it’s the family business’s ethos, and the values that they started the business with are still strong.”
What with its PYO offer on site, The Farmers’ Cart is thriving, but it resists the temptation to build further on its success. “It’s just not worth going into foodservice - by the time you have delivered it, there is no profit in it,” adds Kent.
The Balloon Tree Farm Shop and Café was born out of the Machin family’s PYO venture 30 years ago. Second-generation owner Matthew Machin farms 60 acres of land for the farm shop, growing brassicas, soft fruit and asparagus to mention a few, and has seen a surge in demand for PYO over the years, with expectations of an especially good season this summer due to the hot temperatures forecast.
Machin also offers PYO blueberries, which he has been growing for six years, and has planted 100 more trees this year to meet demand. “We saw a small drop in enthusiasm for PYO around five to six years ago, but demand has always climbed higher and higher with us,” says Machin.
SYKES HELPS TO GROW SOCIAL SKILLS
Tony and Joan Sykes (left) opened their DeliCentral farm café in Wakefield 18 months ago after five and a half years in catering.
Business is good, says Joan, especially since the business has been sourcing its fruit and vegetables, as well as honey, from community initiative The Able Project, a source for both schools and probation services which offers young people practical and social skills that are not met by the mainstream education system.
“The Able Project only supplies us; it has 35 acres and can provide us with all the lettuce, watercress, radishes and cucumber etc that the kitchen needs,” says Joan. “It means that we follow the seasons exactly and our customers really like that.”
PARRY: LOCAL IS BEST
From the first year of running Fodder in 2009, it has become evident that more and more people are concerned about where their food comes from and the story behind it, writes Heather Parry, managing director of Yorkshire Agricultural Society-owned farm shop Fodder.
Obviously quality, freshness and value remain at the forefront of customers’ buying decisions, but after those local is the next most important customer issue, without a doubt. Each week one of our farmers or producers does a tasting in store and our customers enjoy the samples as much as they enjoy meeting the people who produce their food. There is increasing understanding that food and farming shape our countryside and thus supporting the people who kproduce our food in our area is key to a vibrant countryside.
With the best food and drink reared, grown and produced in Yorkshire it is the absolute best place to trade. Fodder has more than 185 local farmers and producer suppliers so it is busy dealing with them all individually; some of them are too small to deliver and so we work with a local box delivery company who collect for us on their delivery rounds. We are amazed how Fodder has become the biggest customer of quite a number of our suppliers - which is both exciting and a huge responsibility.
We also need to work closely with our suppliers to ensure they have the capacity to grow with us and encourage them to extend their ranges. Our customers love coming to Fodder as we always have something new on the shelves - that is easy when you are starting a business but as it matures it will get increasingly difficult to find new suppliers, so we need to encourage new talent. Fodder’s biggest challenge is to reach out and help more farmers and producers in Yorkshire by stocking their products and to encourage more customers to enjoy the delicious local food that we sell.
PREMIUM RETURNS FROM YORKSHIRE ASPARAGUS
Former cereal farmer Low Moor Farm has found that growing asparagus and soft fruit not only brings a premium, but offers a new way of living.
“It is our 11th year of harvesting asparagus and our ninth for strawberries and raspberries,” explains co-owner Richard Morritt, who runs the farm with wife Ronda, pictured. “We are cutting from 10 acres of asparagus and we have planted an extra three acres this year. It is a new venture and it fitted well with a cereal rotation, as well as suiting the sandy soil. The asparagus crop has been busier this year than the last two seasons, with a reasonably firm development and a higher yield.
“We are lucky in Yorkshire as we have had a settled weather period, which is good for fern development. Yorkshire is a very good brand and the people in Yorkshire always go for regionally grown produce; we have a really good identity here.”
SNAITH PROVES THE CO-OP MODEL CAN BE A SUCCESS
Established on a former Land Settlement Association site, producer Snaith Salads has had to diversify over the years from a development aimed at providing employment after World War Two to the national co-operative it is today.
“We are still a friendly, functioning co-operative and all the growers have an equal share of the business,” says managing director Simon Deighton. “Originally 95 per cent of the members were based in Yorkshire but now only five of our 14 members are based here.”
The co-operative is responsible for more than 50 acres of glasshouses throughout the country and has growers in Lancashire, Lincolnshire and Cambridge. So why has the number of growers declined in Yorkshire? Deighton believes that it is because sons and daughters do not want follow their parents into the industry. “The next generation is generally not interested in horticulture and that means we have to look further afield,” he says. “It is not an attractive industry, but it is a shame as members can make a good earning from growing lettuce.
“Unfortunately it is a lot harder for a young person to set up a business from nothing as grants are being taken away and family businesses do not have those financial restraints.”
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