In its first year growing asparagus, Southern England Farms (SEF) has delivered a new-season naturally grown harvest a month ahead of the usual open field season.
Only small amounts are available this year but SEF plans to grow 500 acres over five years and, due to supermarket interest in pushing forward the early season and the Cornish brand, MD Greville Richards said that production could rise to 1,000 acres.
“We have been taken back by how early our production is, although we were told that asparagus would thrive in this area," he said.
The samples have gone down very well and Cornish asparagus seems to have a very sweet flavour and tender texture.
“Supermarkets do want early UK asparagus, but they are also wary of the amount of polythene used in covered production and carbon footprints. This is a brilliant first year to our trial and if the volume demand is there we will double our project.”
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