In a normal year ñ if there is such a thing ñ this issue of the Journal would coincide with the first flush of home-grown sweetcorn hitting stores across the country. But this is not a normal year. Barfoots of Botley is already watching well over a million home-grown cobs fly out of its packhouse each week and has been at full tilt for a fortnight. The earliest crops were being picked on July 22 and full capacity was achieved the next day.
Peter Atkins says: “Cropping has begun with a bang in England. There is a wonderful crop of corn, which has happily coincided with a prolonged spell of good weather. Sweetcorn is a sunshine crop and the availability of early English product has done a lot of good for the market.”
Producers in France would perhaps argue. An outlet that has served them extremely well in recent seasons has dried up very early. “After a slow start to the European season in Spain, France followed on much earlier than usual,” says Atkins. “Despite a tidy finish between the Spanish and French crops, France has had a rough time of it this year, as Germany was also early with a good crop. We are sympathetic to the needs of all of our suppliers and we will protect the French suppliers at all costs as they are an integral part of our supply chain.”
The question being asked on the continent though is whether the prompt start to the season in England can become the norm. The supermarket chains have wasted no time in heralding the earliest ever on-shelf UK corn as a triumph for their home-sourcing policies, but as is often the case it could be a mere trick of the light. “It depends whether you believe in climate change,” says Atkins. “I think there will still be some cold years and some hot years and largely, they will balance each other out.
“The Spanish season started a little bit later this year and burnt out slightly earlier when it got too hot in the major production areas around Seville and further south. So it was clear for the French product to come in, but the early start here has cut the French window short.”
Why then, has this been such a good year for the English? “A combination of fully exploited technical growing skills and a weather pattern ñ throughout the life of the early crop ñ that presented no extremes of cold and wet that normally occur during UK cropping has meant that the plants were in prime condition when the heatwave hit us,” adds Atkins. “The result was the fastest start to the harvest for many years, from the point of sweetcorn production the slight climate shift we are warned to expect will do nothing but good for the crop.
“There are a normally a few early cobs in the UK, but never in this volume. There is no question that we would force the English crop, but this season the quality is superb and it really is the best we could be selling at this moment.”
There has been no real change in the price for imported cobs, as the vast majority are programmed, but the non-contracted sales have taken a hit. A number of continental producers have ploughed corn back into the fields as a result. While this should be a bumper year for sweetcorn generally, hard-luck stories will not be eliminated.
Consumption of fresh cobs continues to rise in the UK, but with penetration still lower than 10 per cent of footfall, the scope to go higher is spurring handlers on to greater things. The convenient, pre-packed and prepared cob has taken the market by storm in recent years, but retailers are promoting loose in-store at the moment. “It is interesting to note how the pre-packed sweetcorn holds up against loose, despite the promotions,” says Atkins. “There is little doubt that people are more interested in fresh sweetcorn than before and they are prepared to pay for convenience. But there is a market there for loose, and this is the only time of year when we can play to it effectively.
“Convenience shopping for easy-cooking, low-time preparation products increases year-on-year. The advent of sweetcorn products that meet these criteria means that shoppers can buy this appealing vegetable and all they then do is wash and cook.
Furthermore the pot-ready cob has been supplemented by cobbets, an ideal child portion or main course vegetable. The barbecue set are satisfied by kebab cobs, the ready skewered half cob, and a wider audience is targeted with the soon-to-be-launched snacking ranges containing cobs, skewers, butter or sauce for instant microwave cooking and alfresco eating.
“All of these market innovations, and more still in the development kitchen, will continue to push the popularity of sweetcorn further up the league table and increase its use in our diet. Not only is the product eye-catching in colour and form it has the flavour and sweetness that appeals to all generations. Further still as incomes rise its cost is relatively lower and therefore a cob is more often on the dinner plate.”
The catering sector, once the domain of the frozen cob, is being won over to the taste of fresh sweetcorn too. Barfoots supplies Nandos, Bass and Whitbread with fresh ranges, amongst others, and this will have a knock-on effect, according to Atkins. “Once one chain goes for fresh, the others begin to follow ñ there is a discernible difference in taste. Hopefully we can continue to increase fresh and replace frozen wherever possible. It will also lead to consumers eating more fresh corn when it tastes best and then going out and buying it for themselves.”
The continuous technical innovation of growers around the world means that the uniformity and quality of crops is enhanced with each passing year. Barfoots specialises in growing crops with its overseas partners to ensure that the cobs on the shop shelves year round are as good as the best English that it grows itself.
This year could be the best for a long time for domestic sweetcorn, but Europeans that export to this market should not be too despondent. The proof of the cob is in the eating and as long as the UK consumer is eating high quality sweetcorn, they'll be back for more next year.
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