Grower of the Year, Southern England Farms, is growing three times the volume of brassicas in Cornwall this season, compared to the 2004-05 crop year.
“We rent land all over Cornwall and have increased our plantings in order to meet demand from our retail customers,” explained Alasdair MacLennan. “We are also quadrupling our packhouse site with the construction of a new packhouse next to the existing one that should be on stream ready for the winter season 2006-07.”
Planting began this week for SEF’s courgette crop with harvesting expected at the end of May or in early June. “It has been cold but hopefully with warmer weather over the next month, we should be on target to start the harvest as planned.”
SEF’s courgettes are grown under fleece but all its other crops are grown under polythene. “We can now achieve volume of Primo and Savoy cabbage at least two-to-three weeks before Lincolnshire and a week earlier this year than last,” said MacLennan. “This year we have selected three new early maturing varieties of cauliflower for an earlier season in mid-May and our pointed cabbage crops should be ready by May 10, which is about 10 days ahead of Lincolnshire.”
SEF concentrates on growing early because of its natural advantages in location, with the sea on three sides of the Cornish peninsula. “We are finding some areas of very good, free-draining land which we can get onto three-to-four days sooner than some of our heavier land,” said MacLennan. “This can provide an essential planting window early on in the year - a day’s later planting equates to a week later to harvest.”
