This week, Abby is joined by Steve Oram, from The Kent Veg box, to discuss how they are helping farmers in Kent get a a fair deal for their produce.
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00:00 Good evening and welcome to Made in Kent live on KMTV. I'm Abbey Hook and welcome to the
00:23 show. This programme highlights independent producers, farmers and lots more in the county.
00:28 Later this half hour we'll be finding out about some of the events happening across
00:33 Kent this week. But first, rising costs and supermarkets not paying a fair deal, an issue
00:38 farmers across Kent say they're facing. The Kent VegBox say they're in a difficult position,
00:43 finding a fair price between farmers and the seller. Steve Oram started the scheme back
00:48 in the early noughties and now he sends out hundreds of fresh fruit and veg boxes every
00:53 week. Well, he'll be with me in the studio in just a moment, but first we sent our reporter
00:57 Gabriel Morris down to find out more about Kent VegBox. Sweet corn, that's just come
01:03 into season last week. That comes from Dickie Ovenden down at Sandwich. Good as well. Beetroot,
01:11 beetroot comes from a young grower called Jack Scott who we sponsored and helping him
01:16 out and unique in that he started growing, whereas a lot of people are stopping growing
01:21 vegetables. Cauliflower from Trevor Bradley, again near Sandwich. Trevor grows all sorts
01:29 of brassicas, cabbages, collies, purple sprouting, broccoli, kales, all of that sort of stuff.
01:37 So we get a good range all year from Trevor. What I'm picking up on is you know the names
01:41 of every single farmer who's grown this fruit and veg here. Well, what we do is we pay whatever
01:50 price they want, okay? And so, you know, it's always a negotiation, of course it is, but
01:58 I can tell you typically on apples, for example, I know that we are paying four or five times
02:07 the price for apples that a supermarket will pay. But what's really interesting this year
02:14 is that you can see these peaches here, both big round peaches, nectarines and flat peaches
02:20 which are all grown in Kent now. And the flat peaches, it's the first crop this year. So
02:26 we're now getting local peaches which I remember probably 10, 15 years ago you couldn't really
02:34 get a peach tree to grow in your garden and now we're cropping them. Well, Steve joins
02:40 me in the studio now to discuss what you do in a bit more detail. So tell us, Steve, Kent
02:45 Veg Box, where did the idea I suppose sprout from? Well, it first sprouted about 18 years
02:51 ago now and I really couldn't, I was looking to find for the family local food to eat.
02:59 I was fed up with supermarkets and you know it wasn't available anywhere. So we decided
03:04 to open a farm shop near Maidstone which only stocked local produce. And then off the back
03:10 of that we started, after a customer suggested it to us, we started home delivery and veg
03:16 boxes and we found that worked really well. And so here we are, sort of as I say, 18 years
03:22 later and farm shops are long gone, sadly, but the veg box business is flying at the
03:29 moment. Do you think Covid had a huge part to play in the success of that and maintaining
03:35 it still where farm shops struggle? Yeah, without a shadow of a doubt. I mean, our business,
03:41 I remember Boris announcing lockdown, I think on a Tuesday, and we went from around about
03:49 three or four hundred customers to fifteen hundred customers in six hours. And we've
03:56 touched wood more or less, maintained that since. So yes, it absolutely transformed our
04:01 business really. And I suppose, did that then correlate and sort of filter down, I suppose,
04:07 in the process because suddenly you needed to cater for a lot more people, so you needed
04:10 to go to a lot more farms in Kent? Well, absolutely, and it was and is a concern that we won't
04:18 have that level of supply from Kent farmers. So what we've been doing in the past year
04:25 is we have been working with some new young farmers and what we say, we don't have the
04:32 money to invest in farms, but what we say to them is, well, if you grow it, we'll buy
04:37 it. And that gives them then the confidence to grow because they know they've got a reasonable
04:42 market for their output, for their produce, that we'll pay a reasonable price rather than
04:48 some market crash price or even worse, the price the supermarkets are prepared to pay.
04:55 And we've actually, you know, this year started to get a couple of new farmers off the ground.
05:00 There's a young chap called Jack Scott, works out of Margate and Canterbury, near Canterbury.
05:06 And you know, he's really thriving now. Long way to go, but it's great to see new people
05:12 coming into the arena, desperately needed. I was going to say that it must be a huge
05:18 lifeline that you're providing to young Kent farmers. It must be so crucial that you are
05:23 saying I will support you if you are going to grow it. And then also it works on the
05:26 other foot as well. It keeps your business going, keeps you collecting. Would you say
05:30 it really is a lifeline for those young farmers? I think to a certain extent, yes. I mean,
05:35 they have a sort of three choices really. They're probably not big enough to go for
05:39 the supermarkets. They can supply restaurants, etc., which they do. But we take, you know,
05:47 with delivering so many veg boxes, we take the volume that makes it more economical for
05:53 them to grow. So they might grow, let's say beetroot for a restaurant, but we'll probably
06:00 take 95% of their crop, which makes it economic to grow because we have the volume to do that
06:06 through our box scheme customers. So that's the sort of port that we offer, if you like.
06:12 And I want to pick up on something you said at the very end of Gabriel's report there.
06:16 Peaches, a fruit that we sort of couldn't grow and now we can. And I remember visiting
06:21 you quite a while ago now, about a year ago, and someone was growing watermelons or melons
06:27 on the Kent farm. One of the first to do it because of the weather. I mean, it's in keeping
06:32 with what's happening this week, 31 degrees. How are those watermelons going?
06:36 Well, they're still going. They're not quite got them right for cropping yet in any serious
06:41 way. So they're still trying, but I'm sure they'll get there. And, you know, it was great
06:45 to see the peaches come through this year from Mockbeggar Farm up on the Isle of Grain.
06:52 And you know, when I first started 18 years ago, you couldn't get all of these sort of
06:57 fruits at all. And I remember, I think probably about eight, nine years ago, we got apricots
07:03 being the first ones that started to come through. Now there's melons, peaches and so
07:08 on. So, you know, it has transformed. And, you know, it's great to see that the variety
07:16 of fruit and veg available now across Kent is getting wider. And that means we can surely
07:23 we can rely less on importing, which must be good for everyone.
07:27 And all that comes at a cost as it is. How do you make sure that you're accessible, you're
07:33 affordable for people during a really tough financial climate? But then you're also helping
07:38 those farmers. How do you meet in the middle and battle those the sort of supermarket costs
07:43 that are cheaper but are still increasing? And then the farm shops, how do you meet in
07:47 the middle?
07:48 Well, we offer a different service to if you like to to the supermarkets. And, you know,
07:56 I think with the supermarkets, it's the cost of everything. But with us, it's the value.
08:01 And so therefore, you know, we say, well, what we're doing is, first of all, because
08:06 we have got short supply line, because we are getting from our farmers on Tuesday, and
08:12 it's in your fridge by Friday, the shelf life of that veg and fruit is so much longer than
08:18 if you buy it from a supermarket, as maybe imported it from Spain or Holland. And so
08:24 therefore, it's going to last you a lot longer. And that's value for money. So, you know,
08:29 a lettuce that costs you 20 pence and only last two days before it's rubbish, compared
08:35 to a lettuce that costs you, say, 30 pence, but it's going to last you a week and a half.
08:41 And that's the difference. And that's what we explain to our customers. And then on top
08:45 of that, you have, if you like, the environmental and the sustainability aspect of what we're
08:50 doing. And of course, there is a cost to that. But there is no cost of that. There is no
08:56 price of that put into supermarket pricing, because quite frankly, they don't care about
09:01 that.
09:02 Very quickly, Steve, we don't have long left at all. What's the best thing in the veg box
09:06 at the moment?
09:07 Well, just coming in on top of the peaches, just coming into season are all the winter
09:12 squash, autumn and winter squash. So we're just getting into them. And, you know, the
09:18 weather's taken a turn for the better this week, a lot warmer. So it's hard to say, you
09:23 know, have some nice rose squash in this weather. But yeah, they're just coming in. Really looking
09:27 forward to it.
09:28 Amazing. One day I hope to see watermelons in there.
09:30 Absolutely.
09:31 Thanks so much for your time, Steve.
09:32 That's all right.
09:33 Next tonight, from a new sports bar to Kent's top secret military contractor. Many businesses
09:39 in Kent are building up their budgets and perfecting their profits. A 19th century pub
09:43 in Medway is being turned into a grocery shop following a fire that closed it down. There's
09:47 lots more to break down in this business roundup.
09:50 Hello and welcome to this week's KMTV business roundup. Following a fire which resulted in
09:56 this historic Gillingham pub being destroyed, the 131 year old building is now set to become
10:02 a food shop. Gillingham Foods will be the new name for what was previously the Westcourt
10:06 Arms. The 19th century pub on the corner of Gillingham Road and Canterbury Street opened
10:11 in 1888 and its beer cellar was accessed via a tunnel under the road.
10:17 However since its closure in 2019, the building has been left empty and with the new plans
10:21 to sell Indian and Asian groceries, this old building is now set to see the next chapter
10:26 in its history.
10:28 Now you may not recognise his face, but if you're a fan of supermarket bought strawberries,
10:33 then you've probably eaten some of his. This is Salir Hodzoff, the chief operating officer
10:38 of WB Chambers and in an insightful interview with the KM Group, he told us all about what
10:43 it's like to have grown up in communist Bulgaria before taking a chance on the seasonal agricultural
10:48 workers scheme, which brought him to Kent and changed his life.
10:52 You have to be multifunctional in the farming businesses.
10:55 Next up and Canterbury is set to be the home to a new sports bar. Matches has been in Ashford
11:00 for two years, meaning the city site will be the second of its kind in the county. From
11:04 Premier League fixtures to MotoGP race weekends, this business will take up three floors near
11:09 the Canterbury Cathedral grounds. Visitors will also have their chance to play some darts,
11:14 pool amongst other games. Set to open by the end of the year, bosses say they're excited
11:18 to introduce their blend of sports and entertainment with the Canterbury community.
11:23 And finally, take a look at this. Kent Online reporter Joe Crossley had a rare look inside
11:28 one of Rochester's biggest secrets.
11:30 Classed as a Ministry of Defence site, the aerospace and security giant BAE Systems is
11:36 one of Kent's largest employers. On his visit, Joe had a chance to try out their state-of-the-art
11:41 hyper-realistic flight simulators. The Kent business currently employs 1,500 workers in
11:47 its medway site and has employed thousands more since opening in 1909.
11:51 Well that's your business roundup for this week.
11:55 Time for a very quick break now, see you in a minute.
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