Move over Ugly, it's the turn of the Celebrity Celeriac!

We’ve been enjoying our time in the spotlight recently with news of our celeriac splashed across numerous outlets from The Independent, Tesco and Spalding Today to name a few. We knew it was only a matter of time. Here’s to our versatile veg enjoying a bit of time in the limelight and getting its day to prove it’s got nothing to do with what you look like. You too can read all about it as well:

https://www.tescoplc.com/news/2023/celeriac-sales-soar/

https://www.independent.co.uk/business/huge-surge-in-demand-for-plantbased-dishes-gives-ugly-vegetable-a-boost-b2293421.html

https://www.spaldingtoday.co.uk/news/farm-enjoy-huge-surge-in-demand-for-ugly-vegetable-9301949/

The Importance of being labelled

Until recently, if you shop in Sainsbury’s you might have got the impression that without me, there would be no celeriac but I am afraid I have to disabuse you of that notion. There is, alas, not much dirt under my fingernails these days and whilst having my name in such a prestigious place may inflate my aging ego, the credit is now only historical. It did, though, have the virtue of making me responsible for at least the farm gate quality of the product. I am happy to say that Julian has knocked me off my perch and the responsibility is firmly his now.

Labels are becoming increasingly important as consumers become ever more interested in the background to their food. The food ingredient company Kerry recently completed a survey and found that 49% of consumers consider sustainability to be a key driver in their purchases.

But no doubt there is a great deal they would like to know about their food and at the same time there is of course a need to reduce unnecessary packaging. Recycling detail, country of origin, nutrition advice, animal welfare, organic, “free from”, food miles all compete for the diminishing space on packaging. In the case of processed food, country of manufacture is important.

Fashions come and go. A few years ago some major sellers put an aeroplane logo on to airfreighted products. Whilst this is very responsible behaviour it is difficult to understand whether this was to encourage or deter purchase and the practice did not last long.

France has adopted a “nutriscore” system but it is of course controversial. The olive oil producers do not like getting a “C” rating because they believe the benefit from the polyphenols in their oil overrides the high calorie count. You cannot please all of the people all of the time.

Personally, I like to see country of origin. I do not want my burger to be made from beef grown in the Amazon rain forest. Well, a farmer would say that wouldn’t he?

Sustainability is immensely difficult to measure and represent on a tiny label. A new approach which is being launched in Europe is illustrated below. The score is calculated from a combination of four factors in the production, carbon dioxide emissions, water use, water pollution and a biodiversity measure with CO2 taking 49% of the points. I hope it gains ground but I don’t look forward to measuring the elements. They will vary enormously from one season to another depending on how many tons are grown per acre and even within years the energy and other elements vary depending on whether the produce is designed to be early with additional costs like plastic covers for instance, main crop with best yields or late season with storage costs and losses.

For the time being, though, I believe the best mark you can see on the label for your mainstream food shopping is the “Red Tractor”. We, along with nearly all British farmers subscribe to this scheme to give our customers the confidence that their food is safely and ethically produced. We are audited every year to the standard which encompasses many of the environmental issues listed above. It guarantees British standards and complete traceability back to our production details, our environmental and staffing policies, biodiversity and all.  Over my career, encouraged by our customers, British horticulture has led the world in matters of traceability and food safety. The challenges and record keeping involved were at first, difficult. They get a bit more rigorous every year but they are second nature now and I am proud of it.                

Growers vote to stop research!

That is a strong and probably contentious headline but it is just what fruit, vegetable, flower and potato growers have done over the last six months.

I wrote in December that horticultural growers, that is, growers of vegetables, flowers and fruit were to vote on the continuation of the levy that sustained the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board. The result in January showed that 61% of votes cast were to scrap the statutory levy with a split showing that the larger growers who actually paid more levy were in favour of keeping it.

Then, instigated by the same small group, a vote was held on the future of the potato levy and this time the result was very clear that 66% of growers of all sizes wanted to scrap the levy.

In both cases, the matter is now in the hands of the Farming Minister, Victoria Prentice. I know nothing of this lady. Is she the type of Tory who will rejoice in the buccaneering, free market spirit of the scrappers or will she take the view that these industries are strategic and need a guiding hand into the future? Will she say, “That’s the spirit, go sink or swim”, or will she say, “Let’s not throw all the toys out of the pram”.

Our industry is in a period of profound challenge and probably profound change. Profit margins are often insufficient to allow adequate reinvestment and this is where the dissatisfaction arises.

There is an inexorable and accelerating pressure to reduce inputs of herbicide, pesticide, fertiliser, and others, driven by both customers and administrators. We recognise this pressure and want to be at the forefront of the changes. The work done by The Agriculture and Horticulture Board and the Potato Council is so important if we are to find new, environmentally-kind ways to grow crops efficiently. The market and the worldwide chemical industry have worked well in the past to provide new plant protection products. Developing ways to work differently and without these products is less suited to a marketplace.  If we are to aspire to regenerative agriculture which by definition generates much of the inputs from within, collaboration and scientific input will be vital.

Farmers in the United Kingdom have not always been good at collaborating, but then, as Brexit demonstrates it is not just a farmer problem.

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

A Blue Cheese And Celeriac Affair

Celeriac goes with so many flavours but blue cheese, if you like it and not everyone does, is classic.

We have added three new recipes to the website and two of them include stilton. It is possible to substitute almost any blue cheese perhaps but the stilton producers have been having a thin time lately. It seems stilton is special occasion fare, often eaten out at restaurants and those occasions have been few and far between lately so they need our support.

Lockdown has been grim but it has been ideal for experimenting and trying lots of recipes. We have been so busy that Mrs Buck has, on occasion been heard to say, with not a little sarcasm “What, no celeriac tonight?” Some people are difficult to please.

The first is Celeriac, Blue Cheese and Pearl Barley Ragout. It is from Simon Rogan of L’Enclume amongst other places and for a Michelin starred chef is remarkably uncomplicated. It is easy to make it vegetarian by substituting vegetable stock and leaving out the pancetta.

I always try to use home grown ingredients and I assume that the pearl barley is grown in the UK. I need to see if it can be used in the place some of the more fashionable exotic cereals like quinoa or some rice. Similarly, in the winter I will always use spring greens rather than imported spinach. It is delicious but unfashionable, alas. We don’t grow it ourselves but there is no end grown in Lincolnshire and Cornwall.

So, in the Celeriac and Blue Cheese Soup, I suggest spring greens for winter months. It is such an easy recipe, vary the amount of blue cheese to your taste and I think a stick blender works well and avoids lots of washing up but do wear an apron!

The last one to mention is a recipe from Thomasina Myers in the Guardian. Celeriac Maltagliati with Winter Romesco is an intimidating title and it did take me a little time to pluck up the motivation.

The ingredients, though, are attractively normal, probably all in your cupboard and it both looks and tastes good. Please don’t add any blue cheese.

Looking at the above, I do realise that I should have done this in November but I am sure that Mrs Buck is looking forward to lots of summer recipes which I will probably report on the autumn.

2021 Flower Season - not a bad bunch after all

Our flower season is over for 2021 and it has been a surprisingly good year for us.

Our main fears were of the impact of Brexit of course. Recently we have been used to more than a hundred people coming for the ten week season from Romania. Our team worked hard though to recruit people from Boston and over the season up to 275 people have cropped for us and our neighbour at some time. These are mostly east European workers who have settled status here. In Cornwall, where the majority of the daffodil crop is grown, perhaps a quarter of the crop was not harvested as there were not enough pickers there.

Brexit, of course, made exports more difficult as well with customs declarations, expensive phytosanitary inspections and delays on both sides of the water of perhaps four days combined which is not a very good idea for a bunch of flowers!

A high percentage of daffodils have been exported to Europe and even USA in the past, probably exceeding 50 million bunches or twelve million pounds. This figure will certainly be reduced following the end of the transition arrangements.

Our croppers had a good season, though, with nearly half earning more than £500 per week and nine extra-ordinarily skilled and hardworking people earning more than £1000 per week for the season, even though one week was lost to poor weather. We try to grow thick crops of long stems where the croppers can achieve these high outputs. When a top cropper is in a good crop it is simply amazing to watch how fast the hands are flying and very often it is the fastest croppers that produce the best quality bunches.

It is gruelling work, sometimes cold and wet but sometimes gloriously sunny and most people will  crack a joke at the expense of their aching muscles and I have nothing but respect for them.

I think we are all aware that there is sometimes a darker side to seasonal and gang work. We pay all our peoples wages into their banks with all proper deductions made and holiday pay accruing.

That has not always been the norm and today there are gangs operating fraudulently, paying cash and even collapsing their business to steal the VAT which can amount to hundreds of thousands of pounds. A cropper working for us pays perhaps £200-£300 in deductions and it is not surprising that we lost some to criminal organisations. 

The organisations that police this crime seem to be under resourced. We had field inspections by the Gangmaster and Labour Abuse Authority along with the police which is very good but they seem to be unwilling to prosecute this sort of crime without the help of HMRC. We will be trying to engage with all the relevant authorities to encourage HMRC to survey the weekly remittances from the Labour provider organisations. This should very easily identify the businesses deserving investigation. Watch this space.