UK asparagus supply could be transformed into a nine-month season following trials by a Herefordshire grower.
The much-cherished UK season traditionally runs from May to June, but grower John Chinn of Cobrey Farms has planted a new late variety that means crops are available until November.
Trial packs of British-grown asparagus have gone into 10 London Marks & Spencer stores this month and have reportedly sold out, selling at twice the price of imported Peruvian asparagus. The packs include a reference to the retailer’s Trace Me website, which gives full details of Cobrey Farms’ history and production methods.
Chinn is investing £2.5 million in new polytunnels and infrastructure on land formerly used for strawberries, and has been planting a new variety, which he did not wish to name.
“The idea is to dovetail into the existing season, so we hope to have availability from March to early November,” Chinn told this week’s FPJ West Midlands Conference in Stratford-upon-Avon. “I’ve been working on this ‘reverse season’ for five years now. It’s cost a lot of money, but we’ve had tremendous feedback from M&S.”
Cobrey Farms is M&S’s sole UK asparagus supplier, and though Chinn expressed doubt about whether UK product could completely replace imported throughout the season, he said there would be “widespread availability” by 2012.
Chinn predicted the breakthrough could see UK asparagus emulating the success of the soft-fruit industry by extending the season and growing sales exponentially.
Asparagus industry spokesman Adrian Barlow added: “This is tremendously good news from an industry point of view. Flavour must not be reduced but otherwise anything we can do to increase the length of the season is great.”
Retail asparagus sales were worth £52m in the past year [Kantar Worldpanel, 52 w/e 3 October], with the majority sold during the short UK season.
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