G’s Growers celebrate 30 years
Commenting on the foundations G’s Growers - Chairman Richard Hirst stated, “The foundations of G’s growers can be traced back to a small number of growers who identified that by working together they could bring scale of production to more efficiently grow, harvest and market their crops, helping deliver a stronger competitive edge and more economic prices for consumers. In recent years the G’s Grower co-operative has accessed joint funding through the Rural Payments Agency and the EU to ensure UK agriculture is at the forefront of global developments”
Sharing a passion for growing the best salads and vegetables, G’s Growers UK members are mostly located in East Anglia, but also in the West Midlands, Sussex and the Murcia region of Spain. Operating as a co-operative brings the benefits of economies of scale, while allowing the sharing of advice, information and data.
Over the course of the past 30 years, there have been 77 members within the co-operative with 23 currently active within the membership, with only one member leaving the PO due to retirement since 2002. James Foskett, of James Foskett Farms ltd based in East Suffolk, has been a grower and member of the cooperative for 14 years. He stated the following benefits of being a member:
“We have expanded our onion enterprise from 40 acres to 375 acres since we became members. Storage has increased from nothing to 6,000 tonnes of cold box storage now under our control and with a 1,250 ton cold bulk store just starting construction for this harvest. Without being part of G’s Growers and having access to some of the PO funding this expansion wouldn’t have been possible. The funding has helped with box purchase as well as grading, soil preparation, establishment and the best agronomy advice for the onion crop. Cooperative growing of the crop and central grading for the members has benefitted all the G’s Onion Growers and our customers who now have UK grown onions on their shelves nearly all year round.”
Some of the larger investments under taken by G’s Growers include the Development of Second Willow Nursery, an industry leading plant raising facility, which was opened in 2005 and currently produces over 130m plants per year. Investments have also been made in developing a strong UK mushroom supply chain with the development of Littleport Mushrooms LLP which opened in 2012 and today produces over 8m tonnes of mushrooms PA.
Today the G’s Growers co-operative remains as strong as ever, ensuring that UK salad and vegetable production is fit for the next 30 years as the UK population continues to demand ever more healthy and sustainable fresh produce.
For more information:
Anthony Gardiner
G's Fresh
Tel. 0044 1353 727392
Email: anthony.gardiner@gs-fresh.com
www.gs-growers.com