Plan with a capital pea
FLAGSHIP producer group Fen Peas has big ambitions for the super healthy and eco-friendly vegetable, which has long punched above its weight and is now winning over a new generation of foodie fans.
One of the frozen market’s main suppliers, the Lincolnshire-based cooperative, has around 100 farmers and growers in its 5,000-acre fold.
Crops from 15 varieties supply its biggest customer, industry giant Greenyard Frozen Foods UK, and the collective is the driving force behind Yes Peas!.
This campaign, dedicated to raising consumption in a nation where palates have become more discerning and sales of frozen foods have increased 30 per cent since lockdown, highlights the mini marvels’ potential as an ingredient or accompaniment.
The UK remains Europe’s largest producer of frozen peas, with a 90 per cent self-sufficiency record that Fen Peas managing director Stephen Francis (right) believes could go further.
“Our aim is to reach 100 per cent with further investment in Fen Peas, the wider industry and our customer’s factory,” he explains.
Now in the height of the harvest season, freezing is “nature’s pause button”, he adds. “A high proportion of our peas are frozen within 150 minutes of harvest, capturing all the flavour and health benefits. This is the most successful aspect of our business, and demand is increasing every year.” Turnover varies with the weather but is usually between £3m and £4m. A team of 15 contract workers come in this month and August, working round the clock, otherwise it is all down to Francis and some astonishing technology. “No more paperwork – all our loads are booked in via an iPad in the field and logged on to the factory system,” he says. “Every fine detail can be accessed via the internet where we can connect with a wide audience via social media.” Today’s great workhorses are the harvesters or viners, £600,000 pieces of Dutch-made kit that last for six years and collect, shell and transport.
The company’s latest version cuts down on fuel and complements its environmental strategy of leaving sixmetre uncultivated margins as retreats for wildlife and buffers against sprayers on neighbouring land.
“We leave peas to fight their own battles as far as possible,” says Francis.
However Euro fluctuations can add up to £82,000 to a harvester’s price and they present one of the biggest challenges to expansion plans. Francis sees the best opportunities for that in new seed innovations and spare capacity in the market, where 30 per cent of home freezers still do not have a packet of frozen peas.
Aside from protein, vitamins, low salt, high fibre and zero waste – all benefits provided by peas – were not enough, there are the roots.
“They produce nitrogen, a natural fertiliser,” observes Francis. “This is the vegetable that has it all.”
● fenpeas.com
● Great British Pea Week runs to July 12. Details and recipes at peas.org