Premium retailer has worked with growers to extend British veg season using polytunnels and is trialling precision pollination to boost strawberry yields
M&S says it has become the first retailer to supply early season British Tenderstem three weeks before the usual harvest after polytunnel investment boosts the homegrown crop.
The investment by grower Andrew Green was made possible through the long-term relationship with the retailer, according to M&S, as it prioritises availability of British produce under its flagship Plan A sustainability scheme.
UK-grown Tenderstem, on shelves now in M&S and via online retailer Ocado, is available three weeks early than the usual harvest in June. The British crop represents over 50 per cent of M&S’ Tenderstem broccoli offer, expected to increase to 100 per cent by the end of the month.
The retailer said the Tenderstem project builds on a similar relationship with tenured asparagus grower, the Chinn family, who have extended the British season for asparagus over the last decade using a combination of outdoor production, heating and polytunnels. The first British asparagus arrived in M&S store before Christmas last year.
“We know our customers want to shop more seasonably that’s exactly what these projects will help them to do, if rolled out across our entire supply chain,” said Elizabeth van Niekerk, head of produce at M&S Food. “With more British produce grown over longer seasons, we can reduce our freight emissions,” she said.
Meanwhile, three strawberry growers who are part of M&S’ Plan A Accelerator Fund are trialling precision pollination, to boost yields, size and fruit quality in areas that are being under pollinated.
The technology, from tech firm AgriSound, measures pollination and biodiversity to monitor where bumble bees are active on the farm, in both glasshouse and polytunnels, and advises growers to increase pollination in areas where there is lower activity levels.
This could mean introducing more bees, changing the location of bee boxes or adding companion plants to naturally pollinate into the area. Academic trials of these techniques have seen strong results when it comes to the size and quality of berries.
M&S said it has launched successful strawberry varieties including Red Diamond, King and White Pearl in the last few seasons.
“Using the latest tech to target pollination would help our growers increase their yield of high quality British strawberries on our shelves,” explained van Niekerk.
“By trialling these projects, we’ll be able to learn with and support our growers and partners to roll these out at commercial scale, to ultimately make it easier for our customers to make sustainable choices when shopping with us
