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Fresher Sprouts for Christmas 2009
Introduction
Clappisons farm received a grant from the Rural Development Programme for England which will help them take on more staff and ensure their sprouts are fresher when they reach the supermarkets.
Summary
Funding from the RDPE programme has created one full time and one part time job and safe guarded eight jobs for Clappisons farm based at Risby, near Beverley. The run up to Christmas is the busiest time of year when demand is five times higher than normal for the sprouts they grow, which is a family partnership that also grows cereals and peas.
It has also provided greater enterprise security by making the business more sustainable and is likely to increase profitability by almost doubling the turnover of sprout sales.
The sprouts are now fresher when they are delivered to their customers which include major supermarket chains, as they will now be packed loose into supermarket trays on site rather than being transported long distances and packed by another company.
John Clappison, Managing Director of Clappisons commented; “The grant has enabled us to have the equipment for the 2009-2010 season, allowing the us to take the next commercial step forward from being a grower producing sprouts in bulk to a grower packer. It also provides a platform for further expansion if we should ever decide to go into the preparing market.”
“We can now send sprouts direct to the supermarkets, which will add value to the produce of the farms whilst at the same time reducing the farm’s environmental foot print by reducing haulage cost saving almost 23tonnes of CO2 in the first year alone.”
RDPE, which stands for Rural Development Programme for England, has £63m to invest in rural businesses over a six year period through a number of programmes.
