What is your background in the onion industry?

It all goes back to my childhood really. My grandfather was a wheat and dairy farmer. At university I had to make the decision whether to study agriculture or horticulture, but I chose the latter, because people will always want to eat fruit and vegetables.

I studied horticulture at Wye College in Kent, and after that, spent one year working on a farm. In the mid-1990s, I joined G’s Marketing’s training scheme, on which I worked across a variety of different elements: celery harvesting, in a little gem packhouse, broccoli harvesting in Spain and then on some environmental protocol issues, which was my first introduction to the world of onions.

I then started to specialise in onions at G’s, eventually becoming product manager, and five years ago I was offered the position of technical manager at Rustler Produce in Cambridgeshire, where I am now site director.

When did you become chairman of the British Onion Producers’ Association?

I became chairman of British Onions just over six months ago, taking over from the previous chair, Tim Wigram. I was already vice-chairman, so naturally stepped in. The decision was formally confirmed at our AGM in January.

British Onions was formed in 1986 and has around 50 members. There are a lot of growers who are not members, but I would say most of the major packers and processors are represented in our ranks, along with a good majority of the larger growers.

What are the main objectives of British Onions?

Our aim is to promote onions grown in the UK, both within the produce industry and to consumers.

Within the industry we want to raise the image of British product, and show that the UK is a source of high-quality onions.

For the consumer angle, we run a PR campaign with Sputnik Communications, highlighting the nutritional benefits of onions to try and drive sales. This kicked off last year, initially with a very editorial emphasis in the national dailies - both tabloids and broadsheets - and also in magazines like Men’s Health and Windows Vista. We work with Ian Marber, the Food Doctor, to highlight the benefits of onions, making newspaper, radio and TV references.

Onions contain antioxidants which flush out free radicals in the brain, and have other nutritional benefits too. People see them as just an ingredient for cooking, but they are very healthy and actually add flavour, taking away the need to add too much salt.

We also direct a lot of funds into allium production research, using our R&D committee, headed up by Alastair Findlay, and in conjunction with various farms, the Horticultural Development Council and Cranfield University. We are looking into energy reduction, extending the UK season and screening programmes for new pesticides.

What have you been responsible for since becoming chairman? What will your aims be in 2008?

I have helped launch the PR campaign and was also involved in organising the biennial Onion & Carrot Conference in Peterborough in November. The event went well, and we received good feedback from growers around the world.

In 2008, we plan to consolidate the PR campaign, continuing to heighten awareness of how healthy onions are, and how they are also affordable and readily available, using the media, sampling campaigns and our website. We also want to build on British Onions’ relationship with the supermarkets, and also attract more members to British Onions.

Around 75-80 per cent of the UK market is supplied from domestic production, but we still import from the Netherlands and Poland, so clearly there are opportunities to sell more British onions. The wholesale and foodservice sectors tend to use more imported product, so we need to look at how we can improve on this.

There is due to be a shortage of UK onions in 2008. What are the key pressures facing growers?

We have had two years of extreme weather conditions - the high temperatures in 2006, and then last summer’s flooding. The heavy rainfall meant we have lost a lot of this year’s crop. We just have to hope that the weather in 2008 is better.

Rising oil prices have obviously had an effect on us, which has driven up drying and curing. Land rent prices have also increased, due to the rising value of wheat.

The only thing British Onions can do to combat these issues is encourage the British public to keep on buying British onions.

What are the advantages of buying British?

We are in the UK, so our produce is not transported long distance from overseas. It also means the money spent is being ploughed back into our own UK economy.

Our growers really understand what UK consumers and retailers want.

Unfortunately, the industry still imports too many organics, because they are very hard to grow in the UK due to our weather, weed pressures and high labour costs. However, volumes of organic onions grown in the UK are increasing year on year.

Do you think UK retailers are supportive of the British onion industry?

The retailers are very supportive, and give us a good market for UK produce. They recognise that the sustainability of growers is very important.

The main thing is that they do give us the opportunity and support UK agriculture, when they could easily go overseas where onions can, at times, be cheaper.

There is still room for us to grow the share of British onions in the foodservice and wholesale sectors, however.

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