The entire stand is made up of seasonal British produce – nothing is grown especially for the display – so visitors enamoured with any particular fruit, vegetable, flower or plant can visit their local store or market and buy it now. A huge pat on the back must go to Penny Riley and her team for all their efforts as well as all the growers who donated produce for the stand. BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today programme looked at the British flower industry last week, and ended-up at Hampton Court on Saturday where they interviewed Penny – you can listen again here (22mins 18secs).
Further north, more success at the Great Yorkshire Show with the NFU winning a gold and best in show with their innovative display. Thanks must go especially to Graham Ward and MIke Prest, but also to all their helpers and to the local growers and farmers who again donated all the produce to make such a great show.
The NFU are also running ‘meet the grower’ sessions at the show, which is a great opportunity for the public to meet lots of local producers chatting about their crops and businesses - helping people understand where their food, flowers and plants come from. Again, thanks to all those who exhibited.
While we are on the topic of promoting seasonal produce, soft fruit grower and NFU horticulture board member has been promoting the British raspberry on ITV news – you can watch the film online here.
At last week’s Great Yorkshire Show I also met with now ex-minister Owen Patterson. We had a good meeting with excellent feedback on all matters, especially flooding and maintenance of watercourses. He was knowledgeable and fully understood the three crop rule and the impact on the horticultural sector. We’ll now be focusing our attention on getting the new Defra Secretary of State Liz Truss up to speed on all the issues affecting our industry. Ms Truss is Conservative MP for South West Norfolk, find out more about her here.
Finally for the first year ever I am proud to tell you all that my carrot business was a net exporter this spring - the first year ever let's hope that helps the balance of payments! As always, any issues please contact me on Z3V5bmZ1QHBvc2tpdHRjYXJyb3RzLmNvLnVr.