Fenmarc's crop production manager John Cook inspects the company's Scottish crop

Home-grown carrot category works story of provenance

Concerns about provenance and carbon footprints give UK carrots an edge and growers are hoping for stable market conditions to build on this season. Early forecasts point to a 10-15 June start.

Careful planning is required to ensure that sequential drillings are going to produce follow-on crops as programmed and not leave producers with a gap in supply just a few weeks into the season.

Julian Willis, commercial manager of Fenmarc Produce, maintains that carrots have made a slow start, following a cold spring. “At the end of April, some crops were up to two weeks behind in their growth stages,” he explains. “However, our early crops now show every sign of being ready around the usual time in June, give or take a few days.

“At Fenmarc, we pride ourselves on accurate crop planning to cover our sales forecasts for the coming season so our production plans mirror this demand,” he continues. “However, the main variables - sales volume, gross yield and packout - are notoriously difficult to predict from year to year, so we have to build in a tolerance to allow for any swings that may occur.”

But the majority of growers are cautiously optimistic, especially as plastic covers are taken off the crop and supply is expected to get going.

Martin Evans, managing director of co-operative Freshgro and chairman of the British Carrot Growers’ Association (BCGA), is positive about this season. “The weather has been cold, but the plastic covers have been a good investment and have created extra heat,” he says.

Most of the early crop comes from Norfolk and Suffolk and these areas may be five days behind. However, as temperatures rise, that delay may be lower than initially anticipated. According to Guy Poskitt, managing director of MH Poskitt, the drier spring weather has resulted in a tighter crop.

The planted area devoted to carrots has not increased this year and production is likely to be static this season. Some areas may experience lower yields, although much depends on the climate. “Yields can fluctuate by more than 20 per cent depending on the weather,” Evans says. “It would be nice to have a traditional summer as the last three to four years have been very hard work for growers.”

The recent winter has been challenging, but Evans praises the sector for coping with difficult conditions. “November is one of the busiest times for growers and last November was especially hard, with the heavy rain and record snowfall,” he explains. “It is a credit to the industry that it pulled together and delivered great quality crops with good volumes and that UK consumers didn’t know about the horrendous conditions.”

As growers gear up for the 2010 season, many are hoping for a return to normality. In 2008-09, poor growing conditions led to lower yields and a shorter season. And larger volumes of “high-priced imports” during the economic downturn, followed by a season of higher-yielding UK crops in 2009-10 resulted in downward pressure on prices, says Willis. “These extremes are never good news and businesses have had the challenge of stumping up big money for imports in a short season, followed by working for very low margins in a long season,” he adds.

Bromham Growers began its season on 4 May, a week behind last year but similar to 2008 timings. “I think we were the first business to produce outdoor carrots in the UK this year,” says marketing director Ross Paget. Plantings are on track, he adds, but the first of the spring-sown drillings showed signs of stress due to the cold weather, leading to size variations. However, subsequent drillings are looking fine.

Bromham Growers is aiming to increase its volumes by 10 per cent this season, although Paget says the amount may vary, according to market demands. “One of the benefits of growing carrots for bunching is consumers want them young and tender so they don’t tend to be in the ground any longer than they have to be, sometimes as little as six weeks,” Paget explains. “This also means you sometimes grow too many or are chasing the crop and it is always a guessing game.”

Bromham Growers produces early-season carrot variety Primo and then moves onto Napoli or Nairobi, which are part of the Nantes family. The producer is also trialling a Mokum variety for harvesting when the weather is wetter.

“With our bunched carrots, the foliage is as important to us as the root itself and so we are always looking for varieties that demonstrate both qualities equally well,” Paget says.

The firm’s season runs from early May to late December, with the period in between filled by mainly Spanish and Italian imports. Paget says that one way to increase sales would be to extend the season. “We are looking at ways of extending our UK production but, of course, with winters like the one we have just had and the totally unpredictable nature of our climate, we haven’t cracked it yet. Who knows? This year we might do it.”

Much work has been invested in trialling new varieties, but Poskitt says Nairobi is a winner. “It is still the most popular variety on the market and has been challenged but never beaten by breeders for the last 10 years,” he says. “It has high yields and can be sown at all periods - no other variety has really challenged Nairobi’s position in the market; there are better varieties, but they fall down on yield.”

Other sources say that Nairobi grows well no matter what the weather. The variety offers stability and consistency and is well known among UK growers. British consumers and retailers are also familiar with the crop, which works in its favour.

Carrot sales have remained static in recent years, but some sectors are showing stronger demand. “The foodservice sector continues to grow and retail has shown good volumes, but in a very challenging market,” says Poskitt.

Evans says he has been really encouraged by the strong sales and availability of Chantenay carrots. “The quality has been good and that is very important - consumers would not have been interested if the quality hadn’t been right,” he adds.

Sales of specialist carrots are holding up and this can partly be attributed to more households having dinner parties at home, rather than dining out in restaurants. “People still want to offer their guests something special,” Evans says. There has also been a growth in sales of prepared carrots in pre-packs and salad bags, while baton carrots are also popular.

The main challenge for the sector remains reducing costs. Poskitt says food price deflation means that growers need to focus on every angle of the supply chain. Paget is also concerned about escalating costs and questions the ethics behind bringing carrots into the UK that are grown halfway around the world, when produce can be sourced closer to home. “We are in the EU and as such, are governed by a minimum wage for all employees,” he explains. “We have to pay higher fuel bills and much more tax as both individuals and as businesses, yet our competition does not. Is that fair? International trade is fine, but let’s have it on a level playing field - after all, China doesn’t buy many of our carrots when the UK season starts, does it?”

Trying to maintain decent returns for carrots in the face of retail discounting is always an issue, producers say. In addition, the way that carrots are handled in supermarkets could also be improved. “Although the majority of fresh produce is sold through supermarkets, they still, I feel, need to be persuaded to care for their produce better,” Paget says. “Too many times I have seen product that has been delivered to depot and then to store on refrigerated transport and is then displayed on ambient shelving and under strong lights, with a disregard for good stock rotation - this cannot help sales as nobody wants to buy poorly presented, limp product.”

Paget argues for greater investment in preserving and presenting product in store. “This should lead to less wastage and better pick-up of product including, I hope, our bunched carrots,” he adds.

When it comes to promoting carrots, there needs to be a greater focus on the eating quality of carrots, in addition to their versatility, health benefits and good value. Carrots are one of the UK’s favourite vegetables and as such, enjoy a healthy share of the market. The main challenge for both producers and retailers is to maintain and increase this market share in the face of strong competition from traditional and more exotic vegetables.

“Achieving this with the humble carrot can prove difficult so we need to focus on delivering a fantastic product that is an easy purchasing decision for the consumer,” Willis says. “Our continuous improvement philosophy at Fenmarc means we are constantly exploring new varieties, growing techniques and packing technology as well as conducting meaningful market research to ensure that carrots remain a key part of the consumer’s weekly shopping basket.”

This year’s promotional activities for the BCGA will position carrots as healthy, tasty, good value, versatile and carbon footprint-friendly. Following media reports on the dire state of children’s lunchboxes earlier this year, the promotional campaign kicked off with a tie-up with Bakkavör to highlight the health credentials of both carrots and dips for kids’ lunchboxes.

Additionally, the BCGA sponsors a children’s healthy eating theatre called Captain Carrot, which has visited more than 40 schools so far this year and performed to more than 10,000 children.

Meanwhile, the continued focus on provenance has resulted in the commissioning of a range of Best of British recipes, partnering home-grown carrots with other key seasonal ingredients. Around 95 per cent of carrots are home grown and are normally available in the shops for 11 months of the year.

Mustard Communications is handling the PR campaign and will continue to highlight the health messages of carrots with a press release on their “24 carrot gold” credentials. The agency is also focusing on the fact that beta-carotene found in carrots, which converts into vitamin A in the body, is vital for healthy night vision.

There will be a push towards the end of the year to drive winter carrot sales and an initiative is planned for “putting the carrots to bed”, or the tradition of laying straw over the carrots while they are stored in the ground through the winter.