25 February 2023 , 20:35
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Britain's Turnip King used to produce 30 million of the vegetable every year, but says business collapsed after the Tories came to power.
Farmer Richard Parry, who had a farm in Therese Coffey’s constituency, cast doubt on Environment Secretary’s suggestion that people turn to turnips to confront a lack of fruit and veg in supermarkets.
He says a combination of rising energy prices and labour shortages, partly caused by Brexit, made his turnip business financially unviable.
Reacting to Ms Coffey’s claim, Richard said: “I think she’s got the wrong vegetable.”
Richard’s annual crop of 30 million turnips – enough to stock all of Britain’s supermarkets – earned him the title of Turnip King among his peers.
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Therese Coffey came under fire this week for her comments (PA)But last year he stopped farming the vegetable as costs grew greater than potential earnings. He also said he’d seen a decline in demand: “Turnips don’t have the greatest reputation, they’re not a sexy vegetable. Most people don’t know what to do with a turnip or even how to cook one.
“I understand the point Ms Coffey was trying to make about using British veg, but a carrot would have been a far better example,” he added.
Richard said the number of turnips produced on his 120-hectare farm had dropped by two-thirds in the past 15 years.
The farmer conceded the turnip 'is not a sexy vegetable' (Getty Images/iStockphoto)And also, laws passed post - Brexit meant he struggled to staff his turnip farm, which previously had a 15-strong team handpicking the root veg.
He said: “Labour has been more and more tricky for the last five years. We’ve had less people coming back to work here from Eastern Europe. “It’s harder to get hold of people because of legislation and better opportunities in mainland Europe. Brexit certainly hasn’t made things any easier.” He also said his business’ energy costs shot up by 25% in the last year.
But the former turnip king hasn’t given up farming altogether. Richard still runs a 2,000-hectare farm in rural Suffolk but now focuses on growing spuds, onions and cereals like wheat and barley.