{"id":2186622,"date":"2026-10-08T12:04:40","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T09:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2186622"},"modified":"2026-10-08T12:04:40","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T09:04:40","slug":"worcestershire-strawberry-farmer-says-supermarkets-not-selling-his-fruit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2186622","title":{"rendered":"Worcestershire strawberry farmer says supermarkets not selling his fruit"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/bf8d\/live\/1c2322b0-c30a-11f1-8f04-85217d686658.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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\"BBCBBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Bal Padda has called on supermarkets to make use of UK strawberry farms rather than importing their produce<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The owner of a strawberry farm in Worcestershire says the changing climate is extending their growing season, leaving many strawberries unpicked and unsold.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Bal Padda runs the 150-acre Vicarage Nurseries, in Bretforton, and says his business is slowing their operation down due to a drop in demand.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“We’re putting it on hold today. We picked yesterday but have no order today. The demand drops down”, he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Supermarkets have started importing now, they assume the UK season is over and done with”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But with longer, hotter summers the strawberry season is starting to last longer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Last year, picking at the nursery ended on 24 November. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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This year, Padda said the farm had at least eight weeks of harvesting left, potentially taking production into December.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Padda is now calling on the supermarkets to buy excess produce, help supply other sectors and reduce waste.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“If we work together with retailers, they could pay the farmer, the grower a fair price for the surplus that we’ve got, and then use that to supply their jam makers or their smoothie companies,” he explained.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“That surplus could be used for a secondary thing”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But as things stand this year, many of the ripe strawberries sitting under the 100 polytunnels on the farm may remain unpicked.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The BBC have contacted the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on <\/i>BBC Sounds<\/i>, <\/i>Facebook<\/i>, <\/i>X<\/i> and <\/i>Instagram<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c54g13kdr1w7o”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/bf8d\/live\/1c2322b0-c30a-11f1-8f04-85217d686658.jpg”] BBC Bal Padda has called on supermarkets to make use of UK strawberry farms rather than importing their produce The owner of a strawberry farm in Worcestershire says the changing climate is extending their growing season, leaving many strawberries unpicked and unsold. Bal Padda runs the 150-acre Vicarage Nurseries, in Bretforton, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35,226],"class_list":["post-2186622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bbc-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2186622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2186622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2186622\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2186622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2186622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2186622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}