May to July is one of the hardest periods for small, local box schemes to manage. This period is known to British growers as the hungry gap. It refers to the time of the year where British produce is at its annual low, and good produce can be hard to come by.
What’s made this year doubly difficult is the detrimental effect of a faltering pound sterling, relative to its European cousin. This manifests itself financially in the price of imports we have to rely on. It gives larger organisations the upper hand, which we struggle to compete with. Last year we got around €1.42 per £1. Now it’s closer to €1.13. Supermarkets often have price freezes in place with the importers they work with, and as a consequence, are able to sustain the prices they fixed in place before Brexit (often at the cost of farmers abroad).In isolation, the difference in € per £ may seem a small amount, but when you scale up to buying in 2.5-3 tonnes of imported produce per week during this period, you can soon see how it starts to impact on our accounts. The biggest squeeze is cashflow. When you’re producing from your own field, the strain on managing cashflow is not too difficult, as you’re spending less. When you’re in the hungry gap, and buying in much of the produce you’re using, then pressures can mount. This is one reason why many small farms and box schemes suffer in the early summer months. It leaves them faced with one of three options; reduce margins and make the boxes look plumper, send out sparser boxes, or increase the box price.
At the farm, we’re expanding the range of suppliers we work with to enable us to keep a continuous supply of UK produce throughout the hungry gap. You may have noticed over the past two years the courgettes, aubergines, tomatoes and green beans we get from one of our Tewkesbury growers, are coming earlier than ever. We’ll continue to work with local growers to plan crops and fill this gap. And with the installation of our new polytunnel, we’re hoping to grow even more tunnel crops ready from March through to July next year, ensuring we continue to supply a fantastic range of fresh, local organic produce, that’s both varied and exciting.
- Ped Asgarian
Managing Director
