British sprout growers are confident of a good season, but they need to break out of the two-week Christmas trap, says a leading producer.
Will Haines, who farms in Chipping Campden said: “At the moment, for two weeks of the year, we have to quadruple our production, and that’s difficult for any sector to do, but we have to do it. We need to increase demand throughout the rest of the year.”
In a bid to raise the profile of the humble sprout, Haines, along with the British Sprout Growers’ Association, has been the driving force behind the annual British Sprout Festival, now in its third year. The event, held in Chipping Campden, saw more than 1,000 people visit last weekend.
He said the two-day sprout extravaganza had been a huge success: “We’ve been focusing on the health benefits of sprouts. There’s a huge amount of vitamin C in a sprout and we need to make sure people are aware of things like that.”
As well as offering information, recipes and samples from the town’s Sheep Market, local pubs, restaurants and tearooms also competed to offer the most exciting sprout menus.
“The whole thing started off as a bit of a leg pull, but it’s proved a big success. We have people coming back year after year,” Haines added.
He said the industry does not receive EU subsidies at present: “We have to stand on our own two feet, so this is one way of getting off our backsides and doing something to promote sprouts.”
Despite the ongoing popularity of the festival, this year’s event almost did not happen, said Roger Welberry, president of the BSGA: “We were planning to rest it this year, but we’d had so many positive enquiries from members of the public, we felt we owed it to them to stage it once again.”
Haines said he is aiming to encourage people to use sprouts differently: “We need to stop people simply boiling the sprouts to death then serving them as a cold mush next to their Christmas turkey. We want to try and generate a steady trade throughout the season.”
The BSGA will also be showing off some startling sprout dishes at the BBC Good Food Show on November 24 to 28.
Haines said the previous year’s show had proved a huge success: “Our stand was right next to Jamie Oliver’s, which was very busy whenever he was there. We went through 60 gallons of sprout soup.”
As for this year’s harvest, despite fears of sprouts facing unprecedented pressures from Phoma leaf spot and ringspot, many growers are confident of a good year.
Haines said: “The quality of the crop this year is excellent, it is a lot better than it has been for years.”
The view is echoed by Welberry. He said: “The crop is looking good. The weather has not been good for anyone, but the sprout crop hasn’t seemed to suffer because of it. We’ve had very little aphid or caterpillar trouble.”
He said they would be keeping an eye on the crop throughout the season to ensure any problems with disease are kept under control.
However, he said crop density in the early part of the season is looking a little light: “From September and October the yields haven’t been as a large as we had thought, although we’re hopeful that the later Christmas crop may bulk up as the sprouts are still growing.”
He said the industry, like many, does need to see an increase in price: “We’ve got good demand and sales, but we need a bit more money, there just isn’t enough margin at the moment. Price is down, but they can’t keep going down because we need to keep re-investing.
“We need to keep the job going, but it is getting harder, that’s why we’re doing promotions, we need to keep pushing to get people to eat more.”
In fact, he is confident of increasing sales yet again this year, following a rise last Christmas of 30 per cent. “I don’t think we’re going to maintain that kind of growth, but I think we should be able to boost sales this year by around five to 10 per cent.”
