The substantial investment farm businesses need to supply Britain’s major retailers was highlighted when Sainsbury’s chief executive Justin King visited Elveden Farms in Suffolk.

The visit to the 22,500 acre farm estate was arranged following a meeting between King and National Farmers’ Union (NFU) president Peter Kendall earlier this year. King spent three hours touring the farm, looking at its arable and vegetable operations and finishing in the shop and café restaurant, which sells produce under the Elveden brand.

During the tour he was shown the farm’s new grain store, its state-of-the-art onion drying and packing plant, and found out how the business was also farming with strong environmental credentials.

It grows about 70,000 tonnes of vegetables every year on 3,500a of land, as well as rye, barley and wheat. The estate includes about 3,500a of protected heathland and amenity woodland and commercial forest. In all, 90 per cent of the land is designated as a site of special scientific interest.

Elveden farm manager Lindsay Hargreaves said: “This visit was a chance to show Mr King an example of British farming at its best, but also an opportunity to explain the challenges we are facing.

“We are a major supplier of field-scale vegetables such as onions, potatoes and carrots to Britain’s supermarkets, but [the business] has needed significant investment to get where we are today.

“That is an investment that needs to be recognised and rewarded if businesses like ours are to remain profitable in the future.

“We also stressed the need for more effective communication between retailers and suppliers, right down the supply chain to farm level.”

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