NCGM urges more British growers to supply the market at BFF event

Wholesalers, growers and suppliers came together on 20 September for a special morning at New Covent Garden Market to mark the start of British Food Fortnight.

The event celebrated the quality and value that UK producers offer wholesale markets, catering and hospitality, as well as marking 50 years since NCGM relocated to Nine Elms.

Check out special features on the market’s anniversary in the next issue of FPJ, our Apple and Pear Special.

In a typically rousing speech, chair of the Covent Garden Tenants Association, Gary Marshall, urged more UK growers to supply the market and “become one of us”.

Marshall is full of optimism for the future of UK wholesale markets and says he is keen to support British growers amid the mounting pressures they face.

The market needs continuity of supply and quality produce though, he stressed. “We don’t want to be an after-thought… But if you’re in it with us, we’re in it with you.”

NCGM also works closely with food redistribution charity City Harvest. The organisation’s CEO Sarah Calcutt, who is also a non-executive director at the Covent Garden Market Authority (CGMA), spoke of the need to be “loud and proud” of homegrown produce.

The challenge for traders at the market is that UK producers have faced intense economic and climatic challenges in recent years, making it harder to find reliable British suppliers – especially since wholesale suppliers can’t match the volumes taken by the supermarkets.

Nevertheless, demand for British produce from NCGM’s hospitality customers is reportedly stronger than ever.

Nick Padley, the sales manager of Sidesalads, said English growers are “few and far between now”, adding that still supply NCGM “are the ones that have reinvested in the business to ensure the quality and consistency of the product, and the way it is presented, packed and graded”.

He cited suppliers such as Portwood Asparagus and G’s, which are “always being innovative, moving forward, and working with the markets”.

Padley stressed that he always pays English growers within a week of invoicing to help with their cash flow.

“A lot of our customers are the kinds of businesses that might try to go direct to a grower, so the more we support them and look after them in terms of payment, the more likely they are to stay loyal to us. Touch wood, that has worked for us.”

Other major traders, suppliers and industry representatives at the event included: Jason Tanner of The Menu Partners, Iain Furness of French Garden, Will Thorogood of S Thorogood & Sons, the FPC’s Nigel Jenney, Tim O’Malley of Nationwide Produce, John Myatt of UK soft and stonefruit grower J Myatt & Co, Wanda Goldwag and Jo Breare of the CGMA, and Rachel Sands of the NextGen Fruit Group.

The early morning event culminated with a breakfast cooked using produce sourced from the NCGM Buyers’ Walk that morning, by student chefs from Westminster Kingsway College (Westking) in Victoria.

Westking buys its fresh produce from NCGM and also receives two products each month, one homegrown and one imported, free of charge, to support its students’ development.