News - 13-08-2023
Inspiring stories can help the organic sector move forward
The rich biodiversity is immediately noticeable when visiting Broadward Hall Farm. Love My Salad – Rijk Zwaan’s consumer platform – and Heleen Bos, Rijk Zwaan Specialist Marketing Organics spoke to this British organic vegetable company. It is their mission to help organic growers throughout Europe to share their inspiring stories. In this way consumers experience how organic cultivation differs from conventional cultivation.
With a lot of passion
Father Colin and son Ben Andrews are the fourth generation at Broadward Hall Farm in Herefordshire in the middle of the country. The company switched to organic farming 20 years ago.
“It is great to see how passionately father and son are involved in their business,” says Heleen Bos. She explains that Ben and Colin grow a large number of specialty vegetable crops. Crop varieties are rotated between different plots, making it hard for plant diseases to settle or expand in the soil thus ensuring healthy quality soil. “The great biodiversity is particularly striking. Everywhere you see flowers and hedges, which attract birds and insects.”
Suppliers Abel and Cole
Broadward Hall Farm are suppliers of Abel and Cole, a well-known online organic box scheme delivery service. Organic food has been gaining popularity in the UK for a few years now. Even in economically challenging times, the organic market still rose slightly (1.6%) in 2022. And although organic vegetables in the UK are still only a small share of the total organic acreage, the area increased by 4.8% in 2022.
Heleen Bos: “It is great that more and more consumers are opting for organic vegetables. The inspiring stories of farmers such as the Andrews family can help with this.”
Curious?
Read the full Broadway Hall Farm story at Love My Salad.
And also view the first story in the series about the Spanish organic company Biosabor.
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