Jersey builds on reputation to maintain UK exports

Jersey is a small powerhouse of fresh produce production, measuring just nine miles by five miles and situated 100 miles south of the UK, just 14 miles from France. Across the island, fields are well positioned in small pockets and on steep slopes - known as côtils - to make the most of the higher temperatures, longer hours of sunshine and lighter soils than in UK production regions.

Jersey growers make the most of what they have to offer, with a number of businesses going back generations and in many cases still using traditional production techniques, planting and harvesting by hand and using seaweed to fertilise the soil. This is what, for a long time, has set apart the island’s offer and ensures that it is still considered premium in the UK.

The latest agricultural statistics, from 2008, show that exports of potatoes had reached 28,706 tonnes, tomatoes reached 2,273t, courgettes 715t, peppers 199t, beans 77t and cauliflower 58t, as well as 641t of other lines.

However, in the last two years, the shape of the Jersey mix has changed considerably due to increased consolidation and new players on the scene, so that each business has had to reposition itself on the market and carve a place for itself in the long term.

So how is the island’s fresh produce industry set to take itself forward, both this season and in the future?

The States of Jersey launched its Rural Economy Strategy green paper, Sustaining and Growing the Rural Economy, last month as a way to enhance the economic, environmental and social value of the land on which the majority of rural economic activity is undertaken, and to take into account the needs and requirements of those who use, live and work in the countryside.

Connétable Len Norman, assistant minister for economic development, wrote in the foreword: “Profitability is essential to all businesses. However, the Rural Economy Strategy must move away from simply gauging its success in terms of costs, output and income. Success needs to be based on increasing productivity in its broadest sense, with measures of environmental and social performance, as well as financial indicators. As such, sustainable development in the countryside requires rural businesses and the government to consider a triple bottom line - profit, people and environment.”

A consultation on the green paper will run until the end of this year.

In the meantime, FPJ has caught up with some of the major producers and exporters on the island to see what is next for them and how they intend to take forward their offer.

A long-standing tradition

The Jersey Royal Company is the most well-established firm on the island. It has made its mark by maintaining age-old production methods and combining them with the latest techniques, while pushing forward with a new facility and most recently, the launch of its first-ever Jersey Royal brand.

The introduction of this range is the culmination of 18 months of development and kicked off last month with Genuine Jersey Royal Pearls. This will be expanded in the coming weeks with the introduction of organic Jersey Royal and for the first time, a prepared, microwave pack of Jersey Royal with fresh herbs and butter.

The Jersey Royal Company range will run throughout the 12-week season in selected Tesco stores nationwide.

The launch will be backed by a nationwide advertising campaign featuring the brand on TV, in newspapers and magazines and across London’s transport network.

William Church, commercial manager at the Jersey Royal Company, is proud of the move and hopes that the range will expand next season. “This is the first time we have ever had a Jersey Royal Company-branded pack,” he says. “We launched with Tesco because they are our largest customer and we have a close relationship with them; we have taken on the entirety of the account, on a direct basis this year. We have offered Tesco exclusivity of this brand out of the big four, for the first year.

“The idea is that we want to focus on the regional thing and create our own range of potatoes coming out of Jersey.”

In fact, across the island, producers and exporters are finding new ways of differentiating themselves given that the shape of the Jersey market is changing, with the entrance of UK potato giant Albert Bartlett.

Church is determined that this will only make the Jersey Royal Company more competitive as it makes moves to stand out. “Our potatoes are packed on the island fresh from the field,” he says. “At the height of the season, we produce, pack and export more than 1,000t a day. We have to keep promoting and driving ourselves forward. I think the brand is an exciting development and there is a huge amount of work that has gone into the new pack; we just want to establish our name on the shelves in the same way that brands such as Florette have.

“To start with, there will be limited supply because everything has been slow in coming on and the season has been delayed due to the coldest winter for 30 years, but overall volumes across the season should be in line with last year,” he continues. “We started pre-packing at source last year and this year we have twice the capacity because we have put in two new pack heads after a working trial last year. We believe in the brand and we have a compelling offer; we have total control over our production and our aim is to work closely with our customers, so that we can have a joined-up approach.”

The Jersey Royal Company farms more than a third of the cultivable land on the island and produces for export on more than 4,500 acres. The firm has three packing stations in action to make sure that all volumes are graded, weighed and washed before they make their way to the supermarket shelves. The main facility, named Peacock, was extended last year so that it is now more than 90,000sqft and is not only used for production during the export season, but also for the management and storage of the seed crop throughout the rest of the year.

And just this year, the company has acquired more acres of what used to be tomato glasshouses to bring its total indoor potato production to in excess of 45a and make sure its initial offer comes on stream as early as possible.

On top of this, the launch of the Jersey Royal Company brand represents a further investment for this season and beyond.

“We are forever being challenged,” says Church. “Everyone wants to be first, bigger and better and alongside this, we are always up against the vagaries of the weather - especially this year. And our costs continue to go up, so we have to strive to be more efficient every year.

“But we have got a unique product, there is good demand and we do sell our volumes.”

A new presence

Albert Bartlett has made a £16 million investment to fuel its entrance into the Jersey market and this year will mark the first full season that the firm will operate from its brand-new facility, now fully up and running.

The purpose-built facility washes, hydro-cools and packs the Jersey Royal within hours of the potatoes being harvested.

The opening of the Jersey operation last year helped the business win the title of Fresh Produce Consortium Fresh Produce Packer of the Year at the Re:fresh Awards.

The firm supplies Jersey Royal potatoes to retail, wholesale and processing customers across the UK.

Tim Ward, operations director at Albert Bartlett Jersey, has lived and worked on the island for 14 years and is now overseeing operations at the 60,000sqft facility, which has three production lines, with a fourth set to be installed this month.

“As a company, we have invested heavily in driving consumption of fresh potatoes,” he says. “In Jersey, we have invested a significant amount of money for what is a seasonal product - however, we believe in the Jersey Royal product and think it has a hugely important role in the potato calendar. We have a variety that is steeped in history and heritage, with a lot of the traditional farming methods in place from the past 130 years of growing on the island. It is something that we are rightly proud of and passionate about getting right.

“Investment in our Jersey supply model has removed two days from the supply chain, delivering a fresher product with improved taste and shelf life to the consumer.

“We are committed to lifting the bar to a new level,” he continues. “Jersey has traded on its reputation in the past - it is a strong brand and great product. However, we need to ensure we are consistently delivering the potatoes in their best possible condition to the consumer, which will mean that they continue to come back for more.”

The UK firm has sourced directly from the island for four seasons and this is the third year operating on site, with 13 dedicated growers who cultivate 2,300a. The team is expecting volumes of up to 11,000t this season, up from 8,500t last year, 5,500t in 2008 and just 1,000t in the first year.

“Our grower base continues to meet our requirements; two growers have even come back into the potato business as a result of our presence on the island and seeing that level of commitment has greatly encouraged us,” says Ward. “We have a long-term plan in Jersey and hope we have in some way helped to reinvigorate Jersey agriculture - we are excited about the future.”

A master stroke

Master Farms is a family-run operation focused primarily on organic production, having evolved in recent years to reposition itself in the market and determine a long-term future for the business.

This firm is one of a number in the Jersey Quality Produce marketing umbrella, alongside the Jersey Royal Company, Master Farms, Farm Fresh Produce and Bel Val Farm.

Peter Le Maistre, who works on the production side of Master Farms, maintains that the organic focus has been cemented in response to the way the island’s fresh produce industry has shaped up in recent years, through which only the most forward-thinking independent growers have maintained their businesses.

A range of organic vegetables, from Jersey Royal and other potatoes to courgettes, runner beans, broad beans, sweetcorn, cauliflower and leeks, are grown at Master Farms, to name some of its most popular lines. The firm has 130 hectares of organic production, but the overall output is still a 50:50 split with conventional lines.

However, a number of challenges, from record cold temperatures to longer-term obstacles such as finding the best varieties and navigating pests and diseases, have meant that the team has had to use all its skills to get ready for this season.

“We have had the coldest winter for a generation with snow on the ground for a week, but what affected us most were the conditions last month, because both the ground and air temperatures were low,” says Le Maistre. “Our cauliflower is one month behind, the Jersey Royal potato season is a fortnight late and will start in mid-April and organic Jersey Royal will start a few weeks after that.”

Up until this season, Master Farms had increased its organic land every year for five years, but 2010 is set to be a year for review and consolidation.

“The last year has been disappointing for organics and by all accounts, sales have fallen by around 20 per cent,” Le Maistre explains. “This has given us problems, because we have been building our volumes every year - it goes back to the conversion period needed for organics, so you always have to try to predict demand a few years before the volumes will be on the market.

“The supermarkets have reduced their organic offer and cut some lines, but some of these crops were already grown - not by us, but it has an impact because growers have to sell what they have.

“Our biggest challenge is to try to keep our costs down and try to make sure that sales do not fall any further,” he continues. “We have to be competitive, but it is not easy. The first thing we have done is that we have chosen not to convert any more land and we are growing slightly less of our two main lines, courgettes and runner beans, because we can’t afford to grow them as organic but sell them at conventional prices.

“We saw the opportunity with organics because there were no organic growers in early areas. We can grow organic cauliflowers in the winter, for example. We would like to increase our outdoor tomato production, but we had a disaster in 2008 and even though last year was better, the summer was not great. Now we have tried a different growing technique, so we want to try to increase our volumes.

“Here in Jersey, we have clean air, good sunlight and we can grow produce very quickly. All this helps keep pests and disease to a minimum, so it is a good place for organic production.”

Try something new

Woodside Farms is another firm that is finding a role for itself on the island and has carried substantial redevelopment in the last 18 months, with the construction of a 30,000sqft premises and a management reshuffle.

The development of the new building is the culmination of up to five years developing the concept and has brought together operations that were previously spread across three sites, marking the start of a new era for the firm and a more cohesive approach.

The family-owned firm focuses on flower and bulb sales, which make up 60 per cent of the business, but also stretches to encompass growing leeks and courgettes for export as well as planting potatoes for the Jersey Royal Company before it comes in to harvest the crop.

However, the company is multi-faceted in that the different arms of the business include producer Woodside Farms, wholesaler Woodside Fruit & Veg, retailer Woodside Farm Shop and online flower service Flower Express.

Simon Cousins, who joined in a management role at the beginning of the year, works with Charles E Gallichan, who took over from his father to manage the production side of the business.

“As a business, we export some 60 per cent of our lines to the UK,” Cousins explains. “But we are really quite diverse. We have a farm shop, we run a wholesale fruit and vegetable business and we have an online flower delivery service.

“For the future of Jersey agriculture, I say it is bright but the industry has to change. I came out of a 15-year corporate career because I believe in the future of agriculture. We have looked at everything we do and we have renewed our focus, because we want to do more of less things better.

“We are in a rare position because we have a history of export,” he continues. “Where there are synergies in our business, we make the most of them because the commercial environment is tough out there.

“On the vegetable side, everything is looking good and in general terms we are looking at quite a positive year, even though the crop is about a fortnight behind. But it has been a very positive 12 months and we have found that we are growing the right things at the right time, so we are appealing to the right customers.”

The new facility features two coldstores, grading equipment that can be used for both potatoes and bulbs and an outloading area, as well as its own reservoir, new water pumps and electricity sub-stations. The building work is set for completion within the next six months and once the site is fully up and running, it will give the business a strong base from which it can run its many ventures.

“In general terms, the business will continue to grow and change, just like the rest of Jersey agriculture,” says Cousins. “We are looking ahead, always listening to our customers and making sure we respond to the market - this is the best way forward.”