A rich heritage

A HELPING HAND

Regional economic development agency Invest Northern Ireland (Invest NI) and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) are two government-funded organisations that work closely with fresh produce companies in Northern Ireland and endeavour to lend a helping hand. FPJ talks to Invest NI food division’s head of food marketing, Nigel Hardy, and DARD’s head of supply chain developmentbranch,Steven Millar, to find out how the fresh produce industry can get ahead in the region.

How do Invest NI and DARD fit in together and how did the organisations come about?

NH: Invest NI was established seven years ago as a government department, which has a dedicated food division. We look after food businesses that wish to add value to or market their produce and DARD looks after the primary farmers and growers.

Invest NI and DARD came together five years ago to develop the Fit for Market strategy, along with the industry. A panel group of 31 people within the industry were put together and met for 18 months to put together a list of initiatives that would address the various problems in the industry. The group found that there was a big need for marketing and innovation, so we set up a string of initiatives to support the marketplace and provided food advisers.

SM: DARD aims to promote the sustainable economic development of the agri-food, fishing and forestry sectors of the Northern Ireland economy. The Service Delivery Group (SDG) of DARD provides a business development advisory service for farmers and growers with specialists in each sector. The Supply Chain Development Branch is part of SDG, as is the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE). Development advisers and technologists from CAFRE and supply chain advisers work closely together, focusing on producers alongside Invest NI for the benefit of the fresh produce sector in Northern Ireland.

How can both organisations help fresh produce businesses in particular?

SM: There are three ways DARD can support the industry. First, we work with people to identify needs and help them to solve problems and deal with issues through education and training, technical transfer and supply chain support to help develop their businesses.

Second, we can support primary producers who want to process fruit and vegetables, through CAFRE food technologists providing technical support and Invest NI providing marketing and other support. And third, under the NI Rural Development Plan (RDP), a total of £535million is available to help improve economic, social and environmental conditions in rural areas of Northern Ireland. This funding, which is available until 2013, is managed by DARD and part financed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. Of particular benefit to the fresh produce industry is Axis 1 of the programme, which provides funding for farm modernisation projects, helps improve processing and marketing capacity and capability, and supports projects to strengthen supply chain partnerships.

NH: Fresh produce companies have access to all of our programmes, including help with innovation, packaging, British Retail Consortium training, SALSA training, management, etc. Businesses can apply for grants of up to £5,000, of which businesses pay a nominal fee to develop a product, whether it is re-packing an existing project or a brand-new launch. In the last 10-15 years, retailers have been pressurising companies to produce fresh designs for their products.

Luckily, Northern Ireland’s producers have been able to keep their identity on packs and we have preserved our local shopping environment.

What is Northern Ireland associated with when it comes to fruit and vegetables and why?

SM: The fresh produce sector in Northern Ireland is small but diverse. One example is the apple industry based mainly in County Armagh.

This year, the industry has organised a Bramley apple festival to mark the 200th anniversary of the Bramley apple. There has been a very long tradition of apple production in Co Armagh - or the Orchard County, as it is known locally - reputedly going as far back as St Patrick. Bramley seedlings have been grown here since 1884. They are sold fresh and used for processing in juices, desserts and cider.

Potatoes are another vegetable that feature in our history and we have always had a dependence on them. Our industry has matured a lot, with packers supplying the retailers, but it started off with a large number of farmers growing potatoes to feed their neighbourhood and we still have a lot of growers serving local markets in their community.

Northern Ireland is virtually self-sufficent in root crops and brassicas, with the exception of broccoli. The area around Newtownards, with its light soils, traditionally produces a wide range of vegetables including brassicas, leeks, celery, carrots, parsnips and swedes, as well as potatoes.

What fresh produce trends have you seen over the years?

NH: Our main focus is encouraging expansion. We have most of the major food commodity groups in Northern Ireland and fresh produce is a very big growth area. We are keen to see diversity and growers take their businesses to second and third operations, like Mash Direct and apple producer McCann’s Harvest - both traditional growers that have taken their businesses a step further by processing their product in some way or another. They take their basic product and add value to it. The key factor is that the traditional farm is under pressure and feeling it in the margins they make. They have got to look out for the additional opportunities to command a premium price.

How has the recession affected the fresh produce industry in Northern Ireland?

NH: The industry is buoyant and working in a number of different directions. It is encouraging to see the effect of the sterling/euro exchange rate favour Northern Ireland, with the Republic of Ireland coming to the north to source produce in order to get a cheaper deal. If the world wants to buy ‘Irish’, then it is better to buy it from Northern Ireland at the moment, but then the disadvantage comes if you want to bring in product from the eurozone to add value to it.

The food industry in Northern Ireland is recession proof at the moment, apart from some parts of the catering sector, and it is riding the economic situation well.

Where does the future of both organisations and the fresh produce industry in Northern Ireland lie?

NH: Invest NI moved on to another market strategy group 12 months ago. This time, we set up an industry advisory panel of 20 to look at what Invest NI’s initiatives should be for the next five years. We will retain a lot of the projects we have like the one concerning innovation, but are certainly looking towards the improvement of logistics and getting the food to the customer. We will also look at where costs can be cut in the distribution chain, with backloads and the like.

SM: I think the fresh produce industry has a good future ahead of it and unless the situation changes dramatically, people will always value fresh produce and want to know where it comes from. You can trust the standards we produce to in the UK and eating local produce answers all of those issues concerning air miles, provenance and freshness. There is scope to boost horticulture’s contribution to the economy, to improve efficiency and margins and we are there to help businesses to take advantage and maximise those opportunities.

SPUD FIRM IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Potato grower and prepared business North Antrim Foods and sister company Glens of Antrim subscribe to the Northern Ireland Good Food Initiative, a trade body that represents suppliers and retailers through the website, nigoodfood.com

This initiative is partly funded by the government through Invest NI and is unique in that all of the grocers are signed up to the website as well, whereas traditionally they would belong to a different partnership.

“This enables us to communicate more with consumers about the provenance of our food,” says the company’s Adrian Brannigan. “In Northern Ireland, we do not have the same economy of scale as our counterparts in Great Britain and it is difficult to compete. And in a time of continual promotions, it is really an ongoing challenge. Invest NI has been instrumental in helping us develop our business, and supporting us with investment and helping with business plans.”

The company has a customer base that knows potatoes and the different varieties available, and Brannigan believes that Northern Ireland has a close community feeling with more specific needs than mainland UK. “The basic geographical situation means that we can react much quicker in the marketplace,” he says. “And the strength of the euro against sterling has meant that we are not as exposed to the recession as we might have been, with a good deal of new customers from the Republic of Ireland.”

The company has just put a business plan together with Invest NI and is planning to benefit from an influx of new Asda stores coming into the country.

RINGING IN THE CHANGES

The Northern Ireland wholesale industry has seen more changes than most over the years and the closure of Belfast’s Balmoral Fruit Wholesale Market two years ago saw traders go their separate ways. Elizabeth O’Keefe reports on this new phase.

Belfast’s wholesale scene has rapidly changed in the last two years, from the wholesale facility, Balmoral Fruit Wholesale Market, built in the 1970s and containing around 20 companies, to three separate businesses on independent sites in Belfast - Total Produce, North Down Group and Fagan Fruit Ltd.

A collective venture between most of the wholesale companies on the original Belfast wholesale market’s city-centre site, May’s Market - which companies had traded on since the turn of the last century - the new Balmoral site was built and 12 companies moved in, with other companies that could not join the main building taking up premises on the outskirts.

Perry Donaldson, chairman of multi Re:fresh winner North Down Group, who has been involved in the wholesale game since he started working for one of the original wholesalers, James McVeigh & Sons Ltd, in 1964, moved his business - then Perry Donaldson Company Ltd - to Balmoral in 1976. He later sold the company to Keelings Fruit in 1989 and set up North Down Group with a former colleague in Newtownards away from the market site, but returned to Balmoral market in 1991.

“The market moved to Balmoral Road because the site was in an industrial/rural area and traffic was not an issue - which it was at the previous place,” explains Donaldson. “But in recent years, the area became more of a retail park with car traders coming to the site and traffic becoming unbearable, which was the main reason we relocated.”

The North Down Group moved away from the site earlier than most in 2001 and moved into an independent three-acre facility on Belfast’s Kennedy Way Industrial Estate, which the company had bought in 1996. “Apart from the traffic point of view, we desperately needed space,” adds Donaldson. “We moved over a period of time.”

Many changes had already taken place at Balmoral and the restructure and eventual consolidation of traders had begun. In the 1990s, Fyffes gradually bought most of the independent wholesale companies in the market and the tune of the traditional market changed. Later, Fyffes demerged into three businesses: a property company, Total Produce and importer Fyffes Tropical.

“At the same time as the consolidation happened, it became depressing in the sense that business was not going through the market in the way it used to because of the supermarkets,” notes Donaldson.

Total Produce Belfast prides itself on bringing back that hustle and bustle environment that Balmoral wholesale market eventually lost. “Here, we have a modern buyers’ walk and separate sections, such as local, exotic and salads, to make it easier for customers,” says director of Total Produce Belfast Brian Doyle, who has been in the wholesale trade for more than 30 years. “All the local growers still come here and drop off their produce and the traditional wholesale vibe is still here.”

The new Total Produce facility spans 45,000sqft and includes four mixed-use coldstores. The company moved to the purpose-built site in Dunmurry in August 2007 from the Balmoral market, costing £7 million. Doyle insists that the operation was a relatively smooth transition and that Total Produce Belfast now trades as a seamless company.

Total Produce is an amalgamation of four main companies that resided in the old market: Bennertoney, Daniel P Hale & Co, Fyffes Bananas and Fyffes Multiples. “We kept all staff and there were no redundancies,” ensures Doyle. “This industry has gone through some changes and since the 1980s when Tesco came into the picture, it has been a different business and the strongest have survived. I believe that wholesale in Belfast has been left in pretty good shape because of it.

“In this facility, everything is under one roof. It was still quite fragmented in the old premises. The customers love it and our road links are great here too.”

North Down Group has gone from strength to strength since leaving Balmoral and has been allowed to grow and diversify. It now has three different operations within the business; the wholesale end that serves shopkeepers and secondary wholesalers; 5 Pac Ltd that deals with packaging and labelling product for retailers such as Henderson Group for Spar; and the foodservice part that supplies hotels and restaurants across Northern Ireland and, to a lesser extent, the Republic of Ireland through deliveries.

The wholesale part of the business is still the largest percentage concern, with that division and 5 Pac representing 80 per cent of the company’s turnover. The new site has room for expansion, should the company need it.

“We used to have 300-plus greengrocers to serve in the 1970s and 1980s, but now it is down to 50-60,” explains Donaldson, who thinks it is a very different experience as a wholesaler to stand alone rather than operate in a market. “Customers used to have 12 companies to make their way around but now they tend to stick with two. They have their preferred and then a second best if the first one doesn’t have what they want. We are not that far apart, the three of us.

“We are now experiencing what we call the Newry effect, where consumers and shopkeepers are coming from all over the Republic of Ireland to the Northern Irish border to make the most of the savings they can make by buying produce in sterling instead of euros. And consumers are not just going to Sainsbury’s, they are going to the local retailers and shops. It is a real boom.”

In fact, the recession has not had the effect on Northern Ireland that it seems to have had on the rest of the UK. Doyle believes that the only real challenge that Total Produce has faced is the volatile nature of the exchange rates. “We have been able to keep a tight grip on the economic situation,” he says. “But importing produce from the eurozone has caused problems. We have to watch it carefully and it is not an easy job.”

Donaldson says that local produce is going to remain the smart choice for customers. “I have seen a revival of the basics with foodservice and a lot of restaurants are looking at locally produced fruit and vegetables, which are cheaper at the end of the day,” Donaldson continues. “We have suggested to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) that we need more growers in the country and that farmers need to diversify and include other crops. We need to protect our traditional crops as well; in Northern Ireland, people eat more parsnip per person than any other country. One of our biggest sellers is still the soup mix of prepared parsley, onions and root vegetables.”

Doyle believes that the country’s consumers have always been loyal to local produce and businesses. “We are a good, local, thriving business and people are still buying local here and have not gone away from that,” he says. “As well as bringing in all the exotics from far-off climes, we always source from our own farmers. We wouldn’t dream of going to England for carrots if they are in season here, and people do tend to eat seasonal Northern Ireland produce when possible.”

So the general feeling is that the separation of the wholesale market in Belfast has been a good thing for the industry. “I am very positive about the future of wholesale in Northern Ireland -it is strong, vibrant and thriving,” says Doyle. “There is no reason why it would falter. There is a great sense of community spirit and support in the industry, even though we are in separate facilities now, and this sustains the wholesale market and its customers.”

THE DIRECT APPROACH

Fifth-generation vegetable growers Martin Hamilton and his wife Tracy have diversified within their farming business by adding value to their raw product and introducing a range of steamed, ready-to-heat potato and vegetable accompaniments through their family-run business Mash Direct.

“Five years ago, the farm was not a sustainable business,” Martin tells FPJ. “We looked at many different options to potentially develop the business further and decided to focus on what we did best - growing vegetables!”

Martin decided to return to the traditional tastes his mother and grandmother provided at home.His idea was to make champ on the farm using vegetable varieties grown for taste - not appearance. He developed a plant on the farm to recreate a traditional cooking style. One year later, Mash Direct was providing a convenient range of healthy meal solutions for time-conscious consumers.

The firm developed the market through independent retail stores, followed by progression into all the major supermarkets throughout Ireland and the UK. Mash Direct now supplies 13 products and is committed to supporting the local community by sourcing additional products, not just its own vegetables - but packaging, printers, additional ingredients, advertising and everything else on the farm supports local business.

Mash Direct continues to grow by participating in a number of trade and consumer events to increase the profile of the brand and raise awareness of its product offer.

“Comber is renowned for potato production, but the local label is a double-edged sword,” says Martin. “It limits our business’s potential, so we need to retain a wider appeal and ensure our product range is suitable to meet the needs of a wider audience.”

“I am still a farmer, but extremely passionate about our products. Consumers are now more educated and demand quality food. Mash Direct is committed to providing consumers with wholesome, traditional, home-made products and is now recognised as a trusted household name.

“We have a strong, dedicated and loyal team that has stayed with us throughout the adventure. The Mash Direct team is focused on growing the business further by identifying changing market trends to fulfil consumer expectations.”

Mash Direct has achieved remarkable growth over the last five years and has received many awards as a testament to its hard work, dedication and contribution to the food industry.

ADDING VALUE TO MUSHROOMS

Mushroom supplier and processor Unimush has found success by adding value to its products. The company - established by grower Plunkett Curry and Seamus Cassidy 10 years ago after a career marketing mushrooms - supplies retailers, wholesalers and foodservice and catering outlets with a broad range of mushrooms including closed cup, button, flat, breakfast, chestnut and portabella.

Following the company’s move into prepared over the last couple of years with a state-of-the-art mushroom slicing and bagging operation funded by Invest Northern Ireland and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, it has introduced its line of stuffed mushrooms - which will be marketed as brand Mushroom House as of next month.

“We talked about producing stuffed mushrooms for a long time, but it has only been in the last year that we have trialled the product,” says Cassidy. “Invest NI got involved and we have produced three to four different hand-made recipes in different-sized mushrooms and they have been successful; I think, in part, due to the eating-at-home trend. The produce will soon be launched in a large multiple and comes in a four pack of large, flat stuffed mushrooms and 12 cocktail party closed cup stuffed mushrooms; the fillings are stilton and leek, garlic and herb, and olive and sun dried tomatoes. It is presently being sold in Superquinn in the Republic of Ireland.”

Cassidy has seen a lot of changes in Northern Ireland’s mushroom industry over the years and says that the sector has gone through major consolidation. Unimush itself has seen its grower base fall from 25 producers to 18 over the last 10 years. “The volume has stayed the same - we deal with about 80 tonnes a week - but growers have dropped off,” says Cassidy. “But in the Northern Ireland industry, many have fallen by the wayside because it has become a much more professional trade.

“Back in the 1980s, farmers used to take on mushrooms in Northern Ireland as an extra earner - usually to supplement cattle farming - and it would provide a quick turnaround of money to keep the farms going in quiet times. As time went on, the industry became more professional and industry standards became important and margins fell away.

“Then when we saw the emergence of the Dutch and Polish mushroom industry, the price came down even further and producers in Northern Ireland decided that it wasn’t worth it. In the last seven years, we have fought tooth and nail for our business.”

Cassidy maintains that it is hard to get into retailers with just sliced or ready-to-use mushrooms because the large Dutch companies have got the market covered.

“That is why we needed to go into a niche line,” he says. “It is not in larger companies’ interests to produce a specialist handmade stuffed mushroom. Once we have launched the product with the multiples, we will look at different fillings and different prepared mushroom concepts. It is an exciting time for the business.”

CARE IN THE COMMUNITY

One of Northern Ireland’s leading processors of salads, vegetables and potatoes, Willowbrook Farm has been in business for 40 years and puts its success down to innovation and moving with the times.

The company launched its Mash Matters range of mashed potato in 2007 and recently introduced a selection of vegetable products just for children at the International Food & Drink Exhibition called Mighty Mash, which is traded under the brand From our Farm. The firm also has Northern Ireland’s first hydroponic bean sprout farm on site.

And now the world is the company’s oyster, as it has been given planning permission to build a new £5 million processing facility on its original site in Killinchy, County Down.

Willowbrook Farm is still family run and director John McCann believes in pre-empting the market, as well as looking after the local community. “John saw the development in the industry towards health food for children; our range continually develops, whether it is for retailers or the foodservice sector,” says Northern Ireland sales director Colin Ferguson. “And the investment on site, as opposed to one on a more industrial site, took a lot of thought and planning.”

The farm site is in a very rural area and it is rare for planning permission for such a substantial building to be given in Killinchy.

“Last year, we were pushed to capacity and the new facility will almost double our potential at 55,000sqft,” says Ferguson. “At the moment, we can still handle the orders coming in, but with foreseeable higher demand, we will be ready for action.”

Willowbrook Farm is one of the biggest fresh produce companies in Northern Ireland and employs more than 150 people, as well as working in partnership with many growers in the area. The company is already planting trees as a border to the new development to avoid spoiling the rural view, and has planted a fallow field with sunflowers for the local community’s benefit.

But the company’s newest venture, under the new From our Farm brand, is the child-oriented Mighty Mash. “It is an easy way to get your child to have their 5 A DAY and there are no additives in the range,” explains Ferguson. “We trialled some recipes with a group of 300 children aged between five and 10 years old from our local school and recruited the help of Northern Ireland’s well-known chef Jenny Bristow.

“We had considered dressing up an adults’ product and just rebranding it towards children, but we knew the kids would not buy into it, so we started from scratch. We looked at 50-60 different combinations and got them down to five: apple and sweetcorn, leek and sweetcorn, broccoli and carrot, carrot and garden pea, and leek mash.”

The company has even thought up a selection of cartoon characters called Masher & the Goodies, so the product will appeal further to young children.