Three produce industry veterans went down memory lane last week on a trip to the Isle of Wight. Patrick Gooch left, ex-Foods from Spain and Home Grown Fruits, met with his former colleague from HGF days, Colin Boswell, centre, owner of the specialist Garlic Farm on the island.
To keep the balance, Ron Parker, right, a retired director of Tesco, who used to source his sweetcorn from Boswell, was on hand to discuss developments on the farm.
Boswell has built up an eager clientele in farmers’ markets in Hampshire, as well as providing amateur gardeners with seed, and reported that this year’s garlic crop is in fine fettle and two weeks ahead of schedule. While the IoW is on the edge of the European production window, there is growing commercial interest, he added.
• Elsewhere, Robert Oldershaw Jnr, director of the Moulton Bulb Company in East Anglia, is growing and sourcing fresh green garlic for a widening range of supermarkets between June and mid-September and considering the option of developing a dried bulb sector.
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