Cobrey Farms asparagus

Located just outside Ross, Cobrey Farms is one of the country’s leading asparagus suppliers and exclusive provider of Marks & Spencer’s British asparagus. Previously best known for its baby new salad potatoes, the farm started planting asparagus in 2003.

‘The problem is it’s quite a long-term crop, but it’s really starting to gain momentum now’ says managing partner John Chinn. ‘By 2007 Marks and Spencer had made us their exclusive supplier.’

It’s also very much a long-standing family business – John’s wife runs the office, while his son is business manager. ‘My grandfather took on the tenancy from Guy’s Hospital, who owned a big slice of Herefordshire at that time, in 1926,’ he says. ‘My father bought it from them in 1949 and my son now does the day to day running of the farm, so he’s the fourth generation.’

Covering around 1,000 acres, the farm has 22 full time staff, but also employs more than 500 seasonal staff at a time, although that is anticipated to grow to 700 this year. ‘We’re recruiting and expanding the whole time,’ he says.

The business supplies many of the best local pubs with its produce – so is Ross a good area to buy locally sourced food? ‘You can buy it at farmers markets and good local stores, including two superb local butchers in Ross, so nobody has a reason not to buy local produce,’ he says. ‘The pubs are tremendous at supporting us as well – they make real efforts to source local food. They love it because it’s seasonal, fresh and local.’

Asparagus has had a lot of good press in recent years for its health benefits – has that side of the business taken off better than he imagined? ‘We drew up an extremely ambitious plan but if anything we’re outstripping that,’ he says. ‘What’s incredible is the way the market has expanded. It’s the health angle, but also by developing modern technologies like polythene films, harvesting rigs and higher plant populations we’ve been able to reduce production costs, which means in real terms the cost of asparagus has dropped in the last few years. It’s a crop that’s perceived as being expensive but if we can get the price down people respond very quickly by buying more of it.’

The farm has also become the first in the country to grow a New Zealand strain of asparagus that is so sweet it can be eaten raw, Pacific Purple, again only available in M&S. ‘It’s absolutely beautiful,’ he says. ‘It’s difficult to grow because it has virtually no lignin in it – the woody bit that can make asparagus a bit stringy and tough and means it needs cooking to soften. But because it doesn’t have the lignin, when it grows up we have to support it with stakes and string otherwise it falls over – it’s a lot more fiddly but a wonderful product. We’ve brought several New Zealand varieties over here to try.’

Four of the asparagus fields are now organic, and the farm has been named ‘vegetable grower of the year’ as well as winning awards for its innovative use of new technology. The runaway success of the asparagus has also helped put Wye Valley farming on the map. ‘‘Herefordshire’s farmers do seem to be among the most progressive in the country,’ he says. ‘We branded our asparagus in the wholesale markets as Wye Valley asparagus and M&S liked the idea of that so all of our asparagus in their stores is branded the same way. It’s a nice touch – a Wye Valley branded product on the M&S shelves helps promote the area, because it is the most beautiful place to live and a very friendly open community.’

‘The view from the top of Fromes Hill is absolutely beautiful,’ he continues. ‘You look down on Herefordshire farming and it’s a real quilt, a tapestry of every sort of farm you can think of – there are hops, cows and sheep, cereals and potatoes, and it’s all nicely hedged with real squares and lines and colours – it’s beautiful, and sums up the thrill I get from living in Herefordshire.’

So what’s next in the pipeline? ‘We’ve got a little vineyard that we’ll be marketing our first wine from next year – yet more diverse produce from the Wye Valley!’

www.cobrey.co.uk