S&A Produce (UK) Ltd believes it has picked the first UK strawberries of 2003, as well as being the first strawberry farm to pass the Investors In People standard with more than 500 students on site during the review.
As a result, S&A will be awarded a 100 per cent standard on an audit of the farm for staff welfare to grow 5,000 tonnes of fruit and take on more than 1,000 workers on its farms this year.
Managing director Graham Neal told freshinfo: 'Growing strawberries to be the first is easy, it's a matter of balancing growing conditions within the glasshouse to maximise potential for early cropping. However this practice was not an option for us because forcing the crop reduces yield and the fruit can lack flavour.
'It wasn't our intention to be first, just to produce good quality and good tasting fruit. However, a huge cheer sounded round the business when the news fed through that we had commenced cropping and the flavour was exceptionally good.' S&A has also taken on 15 acres for production at Hern Hill Nursery – one of the largest UK glasshouses, pictured below. This will allow the company space to produce 1.45 million extra soft fruit plants.
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