Alan Bartlett Carrot growers to close

[melted welly]

Is there no legs in a smaller growers of the 20ac size growing for a co-op of some kind?

Being a smaller grower, I often question are they worth the hassle at all.
Time you’ve done your fresh produce audit, your sedex one, get the periodical local council visit, do your residue tests, test the irrigation water (that falls from the sky ) each month, realise no statutory labels or SOLAs control mayweed anymore apart from metribuzim (which also kills your carrots) do a load of toolbox talks for the casual labour (who constantly change), keep the old wash plant going another year, keep the antique lifting kit alive, mess up your beds strawing down when it’s a bit wet, then strap in for the rodeo of lifting season, I don’t know about others but they really bring out the worst in all of us here.

there, I’ve just talked myself out of growing them .

 

[Hindsight]

there, I’ve just talked myself out of growing them .

When do you sow yours - do you have a programme then, or fit in with a packer grower?

 

[DrWazzock]

The rot set in (literally) when they started washing carrots. The flavour went and they taste “silagey”.

 

[melted welly]

When do you sow yours - do you have a programme then, or fit in with a packer grower?

Late April may.
Straw down over winter, lift from now till may, depending on weather, season and demand. Grow them in our own right. This season hasn’t been kind, so wet since start October, bits rotted out.

 

[kiwi pom]

I think you had it right first time. When I started in the mid 80's there were about 40 farms in West Wales growing organic carrots on a small scale ( 10-20 acres each), nice little income with about half a dozen locals employed on each farm......quite often the carrots were hand forked out, less said about that the better.
Perhaps 1, maybe 2 growers left. The job seems to be in the hands of large scale growers growing 1000's of acres, with a thousand acres of organic carrots on the side.
Now the large scale growers are getting the push. Where next ? Import the lot from Poland and be done with it ?

I think it's too easy to just blame the supermarkets though and not factor in the desire to be the biggest and best of SOME farmers. In your example those 40 growers could perhaps have stayed in business if they had all got together run a central packhouse themselves and sold to the super markets under one brand, perhaps "crapweathershire carrots"? Working together isn't something farmers do well though.

 

[Anymulewilldo]

The rot set in (literally) when they started washing carrots. The flavour went and they taste “silagey”.

But they make a better stock feed with no soil on...

 

[JLLM]

Being a smaller grower, I often question are they worth the hassle at all.
Time you’ve done your fresh produce audit, your sedex one, get the periodical local council visit, do your residue tests, test the irrigation water (that falls from the sky ) each month, realise no statutory labels or SOLAs control mayweed anymore apart from metribuzim (which also kills your carrots) do a load of toolbox talks for the casual labour (who constantly change), keep the old wash plant going another year, keep the antique lifting kit alive, mess up your beds strawing down when it’s a bit wet, then strap in for the rodeo of lifting season, I don’t know about others but they really bring out the worst in all of us here.

there, I’ve just talked myself out of growing them .

Ahh Sedex, my favourite pet hate, as if you're using slave labour your going to admit to it on their silly little web site. If the NFU had any balls they would have stamped on it.

 

[Lowland1]

Ahh Sedex, my favourite pet hate, as if you're using slave labour your going to admit to it on their silly little web site. If the NFU had any balls they would have stamped on it.

Sedex.... The first question is do you use slave or forced labour i’ve never got past that question i’m just too honest.

 

[melted welly]

Ahh Sedex, my favourite pet hate, as if you're using slave labour your going to admit to it on their silly little web site. If the NFU had any balls they would have stamped on it.

I do them an annual email of complaint and being as they are experts in ethics, (and not just another parasitic group of ex retail execs who saw a niche to screw another couple of quid out of the food supply chain to feather their retirement nests) I’m surprised not to have had a reply other than some generic quotes from their mission statement.

The only “slave” involved (ie doing something against their will) in the process here is me spending 3hrs filling in their latest SMETA (does anyone actually know what the feck that stands for?)

they want to know how many storeys the office is ffs ITS A FECKIN FARM, the office is in a converted garage, we’re not Goldman Sachs you shower of shite!

 

[Breakthru]

Agree that farmers are very poor at cooperating always have been.
Also very poor sellers, take the price offered. Only way to beat that is get closer to the end buyer as in Joe and Jean Public especially if you are in a small way.
Cooperating as in each growing carrots or potatoes or daffodils or whatever and then having shared market stalls. Take turns at manning it, amazing what you learn from the actual buyer. Before you think this is below you look at what you are selling for and what the public is paying. Why make major investments take huge financial risks when for relatively low input you can increase your profit exponentially. Are you big for the sake of being big and looking good or making big profits for very little risk. Free range eggs overtook sales of all other eggs 18+months ago so don't say there is not a discerning market out there and online sales means once you get going you never need to sully yourself by going on a market stall. In fact if you are good at blarney skip the stall. What you miss there is the direct contact with customer.

 

[TheTallGuy]

Will all this Huntapac stuff be at Cambridge for viewing and collection?

Preston according to the catalogue https://machinerysales.cheffins.co.uk/auctions/info/id/1067

 

[Kidds]

Preston according to the catalogue https://machinerysales.cheffins.co.uk/auctions/info/id/1067

Thank you. I still can't see where it says it though. I will assume it is at Preston.

 

[TheTallGuy]

Thank you. I still can't see where it says it though. I will assume it is at Preston.

On the "Description" tab/section there's directions to the location & details about viewing etc

 

[Kidds]

On the "Description" tab/section there's directions to the location & details about viewing etc

Ah, got it now. Hadn't clicked on that tab as I thought that was the open tab.Clicked on the others to no avail.

Thanks again, much appreciated.

 

[Devil's advocate]

I blame the growers for selling too cheap.

Everyone one to be the biggest & best.

Large pack house grants have not helped

 

[Lowland1]

I blame the growers for selling too cheap.

Everyone one to be the biggest & best.

Large pack house grants have not helped

That's true but a bit simplistic when we grew Potatoes all the farmers in our Fen started riddling at the same time so in order to move a few more tonnes someone would drop their price by a fiver forcing everyone else to do the same or even drop a tenner to move a few more. It's been going on for years. We have been tendering for Supermarkets recently and you do your costings and look at your profit margin and cut it a bit more because you know everyone else is doing that.

 

[7610 super q]

I think it's too easy to just blame the supermarkets though and not factor in the desire to be the biggest and best of SOME farmers. In your example those 40 growers could perhaps have stayed in business if they had all got together run a central packhouse themselves and sold to the super markets under one brand, perhaps "crapweathershire carrots"? Working together isn't something farmers do well though.

Ironically the 40 growers were a co-op. Packhouse set up to supply supermarkets.
So where did it all go wrong......
Easy going in the early days, supermarkets keen to source scarce produce. Government grants to convert land to organic soon led to over supply. Fussiness and over zealous grade out killed it in the end rather than lower prices. Small wholesalers were supplied, but they never took much, and went bust on a regular basis.
Long story short " cooperation " didn't work, neither did supplying smaller wholesalers. Sorry.

 

[ridger]

The rot set in (literally) when they started washing carrots. The flavour went and they taste “silagey”.

All carrots sold in bunches here. Only way to have them

 

[Devil's advocate]

I blame the growers for selling too cheap.

Everyone one to be the biggest & best.

Large pack house grants have not helped

At that point I went for my tea.

Although us small growers complain about larger producers. They have created a great career struture. A young person can grow up in a terraced house & look out at those fields which they could never ever buy. Yet if they work hard, maybe some field harvesting or pack house work when young, go to college & get qualifications. It is possible to access a wide range of rewarding careers & have a life style better than a small grower would have.

There are at least 6 large buyers & numerous other outlets. There are many growers. It is a market of sorts if too many growers give up, supermarkets will have to bid more to secure the produce.

Having said the above super market is dog, grower is tail & tail does not wag the dog.

Will be interesting who takes over the role that Hunterpac have had in the North West.

 

[DrWazzock]

On the edge of our town there lived an old lady who had “come back” from S Africa in the 1950’s. She bought a small farm here and grew carrots on it for maybe 30 years. The carrots were bagged up, not washed, and sold at the farmhouse. Everybody bought them until she died I think in the 1980’s.
The “drive” to do stuff like that seems to be just about extinguished. We acquiesce in corporate mediocrity because it’s “easier” or it’s “progress” but is it really? All you can buy now are flavourless washed carrots that chew into sawdust and taste like silage. Even the time of day when harvested makes a difference to sweetness but days when we harvested in the evening and took them into town early next morning have gone.