There will be record volumes of sweetcorn on the market this year to match growing demand, according to Graham Young, managing director of leading supplier Barfoots of Botley.
The sunshine-coloured vegetable normally thrives in warm and sunny weather conditions, but the highest July temperatures on record, reaching 36°C in the UK, have both put a strain on production and boosted sales growth.
Hot and dry weather has accelerated European production and pushed forward UK sweetcorn. “The season is ahead by a week to 10 days, and volumes are up on last year,” says Young. But the shifting seasons have not disrupted supply across Europe. “Yields have been very reasonable this year, given that it has been unusually warm,” adds Mark Stroude, director of Culver Farm Produce, which grows 180 hectares of sweetcorn in Sussex. “But it is still early days, and the picture is changing all the time,” he adds.
This summer could be characterised by holes in UK supply as a result of the heat and drought, says Charlie Merson, production director at Greyfriars. The Morrisons supplier produces six million cobs for the supermarket each year. “The UK crop ripened quickly and needs to be picked straight away, but then it won’t hold, which could lead to shortages,” Merson explains. “This will be a major factor in how the season pans out.”
Sweetcorn is also likely to be smaller than usual, averaging 240g-260g this season, down from the usual 300g, as a result of the record temperatures, according to Peter Davis, director of Lincolnshire-based Davis Import & Export, which supplies up to 40 tonnes of sweetcorn a day across the UK. “But the quality is good and the market price is stable,” he adds.
The UK season runs from late-July to mid-October, following supply from the Mediterranean and ahead of exports from the US. But accelerated production this year means there could be more competition between European sources over the summer months. “There is still a lot of French product around on the UK market, and there will be more of an overlap this year, as the season started so early,” says Stroude. But the supply situation has not made much of an impact on the market, adds Jon Barfoot, commercial manager at Barfoots.
The quality of the crop this year is very good, despite the hot and dry conditions, and sales across leading UK supermarkets look promising, says Young. “The almost Mediterranean weather that we have had in the UK this summer should make for excellent sales if it holds over the Bank Holiday weekend,” he adds.
This season is already showing improvements on last year. With many people making the most of the hot weather by lighting their BBQs and eating outdoors throughout July, demand for sweetcorn is high.. “The weather last summer was very average, and as a result, demand for sweetcorn was low,” says Merson. “But if the weather carries on as it has been, with very high temperatures and lots of sun, demand should continue to be very strong.”
The golden cobs traditionally reach their peak sale window in the run up to the August Bank Holiday weekend. But heavy rain forecast over coming weeks, much needed to water later plantings, could hamper sales, according to Stroude. “There are high hopes for the UK season, but August is critical,” he adds.
“The most important thing is that we have a good summer season to offset the high cost of corn that is brought in from abroad throughout the rest of the year,” says Merson. “The summer months, when product is available from the UK and Europe, presents us with the chance to make up the difference after the winter period, when sweetcorn is imported from further afield and often sold at a loss.”
This is the right time to work on developing an export market for UK sweetcorn, says Davis, insisting that the potential of export opportunities has been overlooked. “UK growers produce sweetcorn for the domestic market and only export when there is a surplus,” he explains. “But we should be looking to export every season, and tailor products to specific export markets. This will allow us to broaden our horizons, rather than relying on the domestic and Irish markets to sell our product.”
Davis claims that the UK can easily compete with Scandinavian countries to supply Europe as they have similar transport costs. “But we are not just looking at the UK and Europe,” he adds. “The Asian and Japanese markets could also prove valuable.”
Davis Import & Export is sending 40t of UK sweetcorn to Denmark every week this season. “This is the first year we have exported to Denmark,” says Davis. “Next year, we will be working with a Danish supermarket group to promote UK sweetcorn in stores.”
The company last week signed a deal with Spanish supermarket supplier Agriveg Fresh Foods to provide it with 30 pallets of UK sweetcorn every week until September 14.
But the domestic market remains a priority for UK suppliers aiming to grow consumption. “There is still a long way to go before sweetcorn becomes a commodity item,” Barfoot says. “The product has a market penetration of around nine per cent throughout the year, peaking at just under 20 per cent at the height of the season.”
The development of new varieties is a key way to boost the UK market, according to Davis. “Our varieties are already so sweet that they can be eaten raw, almost as a fruit, and as a cooked vegetable,” he says. “But now we need to work on developing varieties that are early and resistant to the cold so that we can secure business as soon as possible and be the first on the market.”
Sales of sweetcorn are traditionally dependent on the weather, which can make the market difficult to predict. “People only tend to buy sweetcorn when the sun shines, and although awareness is increasing every year, this needs to change,” Stroude says. The rise of the UK sweetcorn market can be put down to multiple retailers looking for new lines to offer consumers, he adds.
Sweetcorn has no direct competitor on the supermarket shelf, and it is a unique summer product, says Merson. He dismisses potential competition from canned sweetcorn, as well as from courgettes and carrots, maintaining that fresh cobs are eaten as a stand-alone vegetable rather than as an ingredient.
UK consumers want to see the product on offer, and sweetcorn is now typically de-husked and re-packaged for supermarkets in a bid to increase sales. “Nature did not intend for us to sell oranges without the peel on,” says Stroude. “But we must keep the consumer on board.” The market for loose sweetcorn, where consumers are offered an open bin of cobs with the leaves left on, is shrinking. “People peel the leaves back to see inside the skin and this causes the cobs to dehydrate,” Merson explains. “This results in a lot of waste product. The cobs should be stripped and re-wrapped so that consumers can see what they are getting without compromising the freshness.”
The practicalities of eating sweetcorn need to be tackled in order to grow consumption and make the product a more popular choice, Merson says. “Eating is a barrier to sales, and we need to find a way around this,” he says. “People don’t know how to deal with a cob and this puts them off buying the product when they see it on the supermarket shelf.” Plastic devices that hold the cob from both ends, as well as wooden skewers in BBQ packs, have been designed to help consumers hold sweetcorn more easily. But many of these ideas have been discontinued in UK supermarkets. “The little extras like cob holders and skewers are the first to go when it comes down to price wars,” says Stroude.
The nutritional value of sweetcorn should not be overlooked as a selling point, says Barfoot. The blonde cobs, which have increased antioxidant activity when cooked and contain vitamins A, B3 and C, are a basic summer health food. “Sweetcorn is not seen as a staple health food like broccoli, spinach and cabbage, which are rich in vitamins and iron, nor is it one of the so-called superfoods,” says Davis. “But it can still be one of the 5 A DAY and consumers are better off putting sweetcorn on the BBQ, rather than a sausage or a burger.”
The traditional summer vegetable is not just a BBQ product and can be enjoyed all year round, according to Barfoot. “Sweetcorn offers a fun and interactive eating experience which is perfect for children,” he says. “Our priority is to inform and educate consumers so that they can learn about sweetcorn, become aware of when and where it is available, and recognise its health benefits.”
HOP ON THE CORN BUS
The final touches are being put to a long-term strategy to both increase the size of the UK sweetcorn market and give the crop far greater consumer visibility.
The main force behind the momentum is the UK’s largest grower, Barfoots of Botley, based at Pagham, in West Sussex.Its production sites on the Isle of Wight and along the south coast, protected by the Downs, provide more than 2.5 million cobs weekly from August through to October.
Barfoots is also known as a specialist for courgette, asparagus, legumes, pumpkin and squash, as well as for an increasing range of exotic vegetables, with out-of-season continuity for all crops ensured for its supermarket customers through import programmes.
And while sweetcorn already represents the majority crop on its 3,000 UK acres it is set to increase further still in prominence.
Managing director Graham Young is so convinced of untapped potential in the sweetcorn market that he reveals the company has a planned expansion programme for the next five years that includes several new farms to significantly extend the acreage.
When Barfoots began growing sweetcorn some 25 years ago, like the handful of other English growers it was reliant on US varieties, but Young is also looking towards the time when Barfoots’ own hybrids, in effect tailored to the English climate, come on stream.
“Owning the breeding rights and identifying these under our own name could even provide us with an opportunity to sell our seed back to America where it all began,” he says, thinking back to the time after the war, when the UK industry first took a foothold on the Isle of Wight to provide sweetcorn for US service personnel stationed in the UK.
Meanwhile, the most impressive indication that Barfoots has already backed its judgement can be seen at its Sefter Farm headquarters.
For the past year, the site, which already houses a modern 4,200 square metre packhouse and temperature-controlled storage, has been an orderly litter of steel and concrete during the construction of a massive bespoke two-storey block. The new building, due to be completed in February 2007, will provide an additional 2,800m2, including an open-plan sales and administration office block
Built at a cost of £6.5m without grant aid, Young says the adjoining facility, will contain the most advanced sweetcorn handling techniques in the world.
Therefore, while quality assessment will still be a priority at all stages - backed by tasting panels - sweetcorn arriving from the chain of Barfoots’ farms will be automatically de-husked, washed, graded and then directed to specific packing lines. This machinery is already turning out an increasing range of convenient presentations far beyond traditional twin packs, cobettes and kebabs.
And with virtually everything in place for the development, the indication is that Barfoots is also heading for a vintage season, which was evident from the time the crop was planted in the spring.
Sunshine is perfect for sweetcorn, and there has been no shortage of water despite regional banning orders. Part of the farm’s expansion plans has been to heavily invest in water storage to increase the company’s self-sufficiency.
The next stage to create greater consumer awareness has commenced with the unveiling of a new costumed character called Bob Cob. The original design, used as part of the company logo for many years, has been upgraded and made child-friendly. The three-year campaign is being supported by a £600,000 marketing and promotional budget.
Bob Cob will have a strong physical presence in the region, and will tour with a Barfoots-sponsored ‘Corn Bus’ through July and August, giving away free sweetcorn. The Corn Bus tour will promote healthier eating at schools, community initiatives and summer holiday events and activities, in the hope of generating some media coverage and an increased interest in the product.
There is already a strong possibility that he will also be seen outside major supermarket forecourts. “Discussions are going on with our customers at present,” Young confirms.
One of the high points of the summer was the company’s biennial Cornfest held at Pagham on August 5. Started as a village event in support of local charities, Cornfest is now attracting crowds of more than 2,500, andthis year apart from selling produce alongside other speciality food and craft stalls, Barfoots had an information stand to help spread the sweetcorn message.
Barfoots has also cottoned on to other ways to promote the sweetcorn message at a time when the horticultural industry as a whole is benefiting from the move towards healthier diets underpinned by 5 A DAY.
A website has already been created for generic promotion - www.british-sweetcorn.org - and Young hopes that the UK’s other specialist growers will add their support in the future.
“We would like to encourage the establishment of a sweetcorn growers’ association, following the example of the same productive path achieved, for example, by the asparagus and soft-fruit industries,” he says. “Bob Cob could evolve into both a brand and an industry rallying point.”
The fact that Barfoots already accounts for the majority of UK production, points to the fact that the company is already firmly in control of its planned strategy to make fresh sweetcorn part of the consumer’s everyday shop.
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