Growers
We’re committed to doing more to give British products pride of place on our shelves from the moment they are ripe for picking.
We pledge to:
- extend British seasons for home-grown fruit and vegetables, support British horticulture with new ranges, source British flower varieties and commit to fruit and vegetable growers with new long-term contracts
- deliver on the NFU’s fruit and vegetable pledge and provide more seasonal British fruit and vegetables
Creating new varieties
Naylor Flowers is a family-run farm in Lincolnshire that has been growing flowers for over 60 years. The Naylor family is one of the main suppliers of British flowers to the Co-op.
The farm grows a wide range of flowers between January and November from daffodils to delphiniums and sunflowers to ornamental cabbages. Each year the hard working team of up to one hundred flower croppers harvest tens of millions of stems by hand especially for the Co-op.
Its approach to innovation is perfectly illustrated with Sweet Williams. This pretty summer bouquet is one of our best-selling British products. Naylor Flowers grow ten different varieties of Sweet Williams and, whilst the seed comes from a number of different countries, all are grown in the UK.
“We have managed to get the exclusive rights to a strain of Sweet Williams that are slightly earlier than then traditional varieties.” Matthew Naylor
The Naylors use three generations of knowledge to get the best results which helps to keep British flowers available for longer. The Naylor family play a strong part in our local communities and last year, for Open Farm Sunday, the Naylors welcomed 1,500 visitors onto their farm.
Kathryn Camps, Co-op Technical and Development Manager for Horticulture, said “We were pleased to be involved in Open Farm Sunday at the Naylors. The sun shone and crowds of people came to enjoy lots of activities. Open Farm Sunday really gives our customers a chance to see the farms on which their food and flowers are grown.”
Meet the producer - Mark
Co-op's tulips are truly British, and grower Mark is keeping them green in more ways than one. We headed to Norfolk to meet him.
Meet the producer - Christopher
The British asparagus season may be short, but it's well worth waiting for. We headed to Herefordshire to find out how it's grown.
Meet the producer - James
British cauliflower is taking over the trendiest menus. We headed to Lincolnshire to find out what makes it so special.