There can be few within the industry who are not aware of Lincolnshire’s importance to the fresh produce trade. Spalding has long enjoyed a high profile, as has Boston, an area that has grown steadily in importance with the release of new land. As a whole, the area is home to a host of well-established companies.
“In terms of the fresh produce business, the Spalding area has expanded massively over the years,” says Hargreaves Plants’ commercial director Rupert Hargreaves, “and now it is unquestionably the centre of fresh produce in the UK. Spalding has most of the leading shippers and packers of fresh produce and is also prolific in the production of rootcrops, brassicas and salads. It is well serviced by the local infrastructure in terms of temperature controlled transport within the UK, and in addition to this, most of the UK’s flower packers are in Spalding.”
Hargreaves Plants’ involvement with soft fruit propagation dates back to the 1940s. Originally a family-owned business, since its inception it has developed to the point where it believes it is now the largest player in the UK in terms of soft-fruit production. “The company has always been in the local area,” says Hargreaves, “and there is a good reason for that - this is a region that boasts a multitude of benefits. Packhouses and packing companies are constantly looking to recruit labour and there is a huge amount of pressure on staff. There is so much work available that a lot of student labour is recruited for farms and nurseries. In addition, a lot of semi-skilled and unskilled labour comes in from outside the UK.”
Aside from the two major areas of Boston and Spalding, north-east Lincolnshire is also being developed thanks to an array of initiatives offered by local councils. With the number of food-related businesses in the area now in excess of 500, including the country’s top six food processors, the area benefits from having the resources of readily available land, buildings and infrastructure. With the current emphasis on food manufacturing, the council is now eager to attract fresh produce companies into the area, (see the Journal, June 25). With more than 10,000 people directly employed in food manufacturing, north-east Lincolnshire has a pool of more than 90,000 workers.
Davis Louth has more than 100 years of experience in the fresh produce industry, importing and exporting fresh fruit, vegetables and salads across the globe. Situated in the Wolds in north Lincolnshire, it has been exporting UK produce for the last three years and last year it opened an office in Valenica, Spain, to deal with sales to Spanish supermarkets.
“We mainly export UK cauliflowers, onions, potatoes and ready made meals,” says the company’s Svetlana Vasilenco. “Although the UK is the main consumer of ready-made meals within Europe, other countries are starting to look at this market, especially Spain and northern parts of France and the Netherlands. This being so, we are now trialing pre-packs of potatoes and salads into the Spanish markets which we have been able to do with the help of La Caixa bank in Spain.”
Davis Louth has exported cauliflowers to Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Moldova, Lithuania and Estonia. “In serving the eastern European markets, our greatest difficulty is now Poland because producers have dramatically improved their packing and presentation in recent years and the labour and transport costs are a lot less than in the UK,” says Vasilenco. “However, there are windows of opportunity each year because of the weather and climatic conditions in Poland.”
The company employs a Russian speaking employee to help with the language problems of dealing with eastern Europe, and at present is negotiating with a European supermarket group about to establish itself in Russia to supply UK cauliflowers, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. “The quantities would be very small because of the home-market production,” says Vasilenco. “But for a small percentage of the Russians who are high earners, especially in Saint Petersburg, Moscow and other larger cities there would be a market for well presented, high quality products. They believe that the UK growers who are supermarket-led in terms of production techniques have the best quality produce and would be the ideal partners in the start-up operation.”
Last year the company began selling UK cauliflowers in Kuwait and Saudia Arabia. “It was very successful,” says Vasilenco, “but the costs were higher than expected. Our biggest competitor in this field is the Netherlands because they do mixed pallets on a daily basis to some of the most important customers out there.”
Davis Louth also specialises in French and Spanish produce and is a major importer of French apples. The company imports vegetables and salads directly from Spain and has now begun to play a greater role in the field of fresh salads including lollo rossa, lollo binda, red oak, romaine and spinach. It also offers mizuna, red chard, red mustard, rocket and wild rocket to order. Its aim has always been to provide a first class service to its growers and clients and it cares for the environment, aiming, wherever possible to be eco-friendly.
The Holland Division of Lincolnshire is home to some of the UK’s most successful growers producing pot plants, hardy nursery stock, indoor and outdoor cut flowers and bulbs. In order to maintain standards and compete with European and worldwide competition on the marketing front, accreditation standards are being introduced in order to supply supermarkets packers/distributors, and wholesalers. Several growers have already achieved their certificate.
Since the initiation of BOPP, (British Ornamentals & Pot Plants) originally set up by a steering committee of some of the UK’s larger bedding and pot plant growers, the accreditation only covered bedding and pot plants. It now incorporates cut flowers, bulbs, hardy nursery stock and packhouses. With the future demands of the industry driven mainly by the multiples, who require quality, continuity and consistency of product, it is essential that all growers who sell their product to multiples, packhouses/distributors or wholesalers, realise the standards required.
BOPP chairman, Fred Milbourn says: “Accreditation will be a licence to trade and customers need to demonstrate their diligence. Accreditation is happening throughout Europe, and countries outside the EU are now becoming accredited.”
Keston Nurseries, producers of bedding and pot plants, is just one that has recently achieved accreditation which is considered to be essential for their sales and marketing.
South Lincolnshire growers produce millions of quality pot plants, indoor and outdoor cut flowers year round, commencing with forced Daffodils and Tulips with many of these exported by the larger flower marketing companies.
The growers in Lincolnshire are taking the environmental issue seriously too, Lansen Nurseries for example grows more than two million hardy perennial’s with an ebb and flood system which saves thousands of gallons of water per year, says Jan Lansen.
The flower packing and marketing company FloraLinc commenced the year packing its Lincolnshire Daffodils and Tulips. Other flower crops grown on the Spalding based production unit include, Sweet William, Scented Pinks, Gladioli, (3m stems), Asters and Larkspur. The range is supplemented with quality locally produced flowers and imported products to meet consumer demand.
FloraLinc is a young company shortly due complete it’s first year of packing in its purpose built packhouse. Managing director Paul Caddell says: “We have had a great year in the new facilities which have taken FloraLinc from humble beginnings to a major primary producer and packer of quality home-grown flowers. The company is working towards the BOPP standard and intends to be accredited in early 2005.”
Premier Vegetables has grown produce in Lincolnshire since its inception in 1982. With a wide variety of greens the company produces sweetheart cabbage, Savoy, cauliflowers and Brussels sprouts. “Prices have been generally low this season and we’ve had some problems with the weather,” says commercial manager Peter Harmston. “It was very hot in May and then there was a very wet period. This made the start of the season quite difficult.”
Harmston points to the favourable east coast location, and excellent soil as reasons why the Lincolnshire region is such a hot bed of activity for fresh produce-related companies.
Despite the weather causing a few shortages, the company has not suffered as much as some. “We have the advantage of having very good land,” says Harmston.
Whether it is cold stores or loading bays, the company continually reinvests in its infrastructure as a means of keeping the business competitive. “Due to the competitive nature of the industry I would say that the number of companies in the produce business in this area has halved in the last 10-15 years,” says Harmston.
Lincolnshire is England’s fourth largest county, and because of its rural nature, maintaining an effective transport system is a high priority. “There is a proposal for a new road to link Spalding to Peterborough,” says Hargreaves. “I believe that plans are in place to start, or to consider starting, the road network by 2006.”
It is not just fresh produce companies that abound in Lincolnshire. The area also boasts many associated industries. Claxton Sprayers is situated south of Grantham - an area that is given over to general arable farming. “The main advantage of being based here is that there is good infrastructure, excellent roads and a good supply network,” says partner Terry Claxton. “Our own market has changed dramatically since the 1980s when we used to deal with sprayers for sugar beet, but that all changed and we now deal with soft fruit. It’s a reasonable business to be in. It’s an unsubsidized crop but if you look at the UK soft fruit industry it has undeniably been a success. In terms of volume and length of season it used to run for two or three weeks a year - and now it runs from April through to November.”
Certainly most appear happy with their Lincolnshire lot. “As far as Hargreaves is concerned, the company is expanding rapidly and has a lot of new product lines,” says Hargreaves. “It is also in the process of developing a blueberry propagation business. As we expand we intend to recruit more staff - across the board.”
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