You have to spend money to make money. Give a little, make a lot. Cash is king. So go the many sayings and clichés, but they nevertheless relay the simple fact of business - investment and attention to detail are key to securing a long-term future.
Unfortunately, the horticultural industry has been severely neglected in the UK, with companies losing out throughout the supply chain to stiff competition from well subsidised, competitively priced and technologically advanced growers in mainland Europe and overseas.
Some parts of the UK are more productive and business savvy than others, but the West Midlands seems to sit somewhere in the middle - it certainly hasn’t seen its day, but it is not thriving either. Historically a horticultural area, good soils, rail links, a sizeable distribution hub in the form of Birmingham Wholesale Market and a moderate climate made it a fresh produce haven pre-wartime and up to the 1960s and 1970s.
But now, the apple, pear, cherry and plum orchards are in depletion, growers are being held back by lack of investment and the industry has lost out over the years to more eastern regions, such as Lincolnshire, which has put money and knowhow behind their brands.
But there are companies that are pushing ahead and tackling challenges head on. Evesham Vale Growers (EVG) saw the first crop from its new 12-acre glasshouse in Blackminster this year, after struggling with Wychavon Council over planning permission for more than three years. Although its original proposal was to build a 20-acre facility, the tomato producer has still managed to double its production.
Investment will be a main topic at the looming FPJ Conferences - West Midlands event and part of its Investment in the Region session will include the presentations, thoughts and opinions of EVG’s David Shepherd, Wychavon District Council economic department’s Chris Brooks and the National Farmers’ Union’s Horticulture Board chair Sarah Pettitt.
Wychavon District Council’s economic department oversees the development of land-based businesses in Evesham and plays an active role in the promotion of both the asparagus and plum industries in the area. Despite problems with red tape at grass roots, Brooks is an advocate of horticulture in the West Midlands and the economic department generated £500,000 of publicity from its asparagus-related activities from April to June last year.
Local importer and grower Wealmoor believes that specialist lines such as asparagus and beans are the future in the West Midlands, as that is what the land and the business structure in the area has become suited to. Based in Stratford-upon-Avon - where FPJ’s next conference is due to take place on 9 November - the company focuses on specialist fruit and vegetables, sourcing as much as it can from the region when it can.
“The growers in the West Midlands work in relatively small units and there were traditionally a number of growing co-ops in the area that didn’t work,” explains Wealmoor’s Mark Horton. “The problem stopping the progress of horticulture in this region is that the efficiency and scale in East Anglia has left us with limited crops to grow. We have still got the soils and so on, and the region is strong so we have just got to push it forward. In terms of sorting, packing, technology and standards, Wealmoor has the capacity to do more and we offer farmers the chance to concentrate on being good growers -we take the product from the farm and make the logistics in the area more efficient. There are a lot of opportunities in the area, especially for growing in the Vale of Evesham and maybe we can never return to our heyday around war time, but there is definitely more potential in the area.”
But if growers, packers and distributors are going to invest in equipment, technology and land, there need to be more routes to market in the area. The main multiples have their regional hubs and have, in some cases, started to deal with growers directly, but more investment of both time and money need to go into getting the product to the end consumer and making the regional offer good value.
One company fighting to get regional food noticed outside of the supermarkets is Sketts. Market operator, consultant and contractor to local authorities, Sketts deals with farmers’ markets, retail markets and festivals across the UK and has put on the Stratford Food Festival, held in September, for the last couple of years. However, Paul Skett says that the local authority is just not interested in putting the money in, no matter what the potential of the area and that local people themselves put up opposition to festivities, even when they are to the benefit of the local economy as a whole.
“This festival generates £15,000 in spending power over the three days,” he says. “But the local authority has as little involvement as it can and what gets concentrated on is the extra people it attracts to the town and the traffic problems that it causes, as well as the crime and litter. But this kind of festival is a great opportunity for local growers and inhabitants; it attracts all walks of consumers from the affluent Marks & Spencer types to families here for a day out. People are interested and asking the right questions about food miles, whether people are getting paid enough and where the products come from. All of our stalls have FARMA accreditation and it shows. We have to provide places like this to shop more often, because there is demand for it. The main problem is that Stratford District Council is happy to earn money from these events but not so happy to put money into them.”
But despite the limitations in the region, the industry is quietly optimistic. “Working with growers, engaging with retail customers and looking at agendas at a consumer level is what it is all about,” says Horton, whose company will be supporting the FPJ Conferences - West Midlands event. “Our crop range concentrates on peas, beans, asparagus, Tenderstem broccoli and the like, which is what this area is suited to, rather than huge crops such as Savoy cabbages that can be grown in abundance in Lincolnshire. It is an evolution not a revolution.”
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