Farmers urge Islanders to show their support by ‘buying local’

Farmers urge Islanders to show their support by ‘buying local’

Having spent months growing vegetables for Christmas menus in restaurants and hotels, growers face having to plough tonnes of unwanted crops into the ground or feed them to livestock.

The Island’s biggest mixed-vegetable grower, Charlie Gallichan, of Woodside Farms in Trinity, says the timing could be disastrous for agricultural businesses.

‘The three weeks up to Christmas see the biggest sales of the year, with large volumes going to hospitality, so losing that market gives us problems,’ he said.

‘We have grown enough to fulfil supply all the way through the holidays, but we don’t know what we are going to do to try and sell it.

‘Last time the Island was in lockdown retail went berserk in the first two weeks as people stocked up as they did not know what was going to happen, but I don’t think we are going to see the same the second time around.’

He is pinning his hopes on Islanders buying more local produce from supermarkets and stores he supplies and also by supporting takeaway services being offered by hospitality venues, all of which could reduce the amount of crops being dumped.

St Ouen farmers Christine and Didier Hellio face a similar dilemma.

‘It is not what we wanted, as we have grown more veg knowing there is more demand over Christmas. But with restaurants and pubs having to close we are going to have a whole lot left over,’ Mrs Hellio said.

‘We have grown extra of everything, but especially Brussels sprouts as this is the season for them. We supply the Co-op, farm shops and wholesalers such as Homefields, so we deliberately select fields to grow crops to meet the seasonal demand.

‘Government should have done this earlier by trying to take control of it at the end of November so we could have Christmas.

‘Locally grown crops are going to be left in the fields, while the UK supermarkets will be importing that same veg, so we need Islanders to support us as they did in the last lockdown by buying local.’

Homefields imports speciality produce for hospitality and grocery retailers, as well as running a shop at the family farm in St Clement. They also sell fresh produce from over 20 local suppliers.

Catherine Conway, who works alongside her husband, Paul, says they have had to dispose of imported produce including mushrooms, strawberries and asparagus, though some went to feed farm animals.

‘We are lucky as we also supply a lot of corner shops and over the last couple of days we have been taking five times the orders, as people change to them instead of shopping in the bigger stores,’ she said.

‘If everyone supports local producers like they did last time, then I am confident the Island can get through this. But a lot of crops will go to waste.’

She added added that the farm shop had doubled in size, with the addition of a marquee, to comply with social-distancing advice.

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