Introducing our new farmer and grower column Field of View that showcases some of the marvellous food producers in the Vale.
Bal Padda, from Vicarage Nurseries at Bretforton has been running his family fruit farm for almost three decades. His family started the business in 1996, with just one field and a greenhouse.
Fast forward to 2025, and the venture has grown to 130 acres with 4.5million punnets or approximately 2,000 tonnes strawberries grown per year.
Here Bal talks about the trials and tribulations of strawberry growing these past 12 months.
In all the years that I have been working on my family farm, this was the year writes Bal Padda.
When I say ‘the year’, I mean it was nearly the one to break us.
Last November, I travelled to my motherland of Punjab, the breadbasket of India, after 40 years and for the first time in my life I realised why my family had settled in the Vale of Evesham.
We were born to farm – it’s in my blood.
Bal Padda from Vicarage Nurseries, Bretforton near Evesham. Photo NFU
Over the last five years, we have been hit by Brexit, Covid, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and all its implications, trade wars and of course extreme weather to name a few.
All things seemed out of our control, but we were born to grow.
This year started with some of the worst weather on record and in a cost-saving trial we left up our polytunnels for the first time ever.
This was to cost us dearly with more than 70 per cent ripped apart which knocked us back weeks and thousands of pounds.
We also gambled on a big production year and we had ordered double the quantity of the plants and bags and again, disaster hit us – this time due to Somali pirates.
As a result of modern pirates operating in the Gulf of Aden our shipping containers had to be diverted which caused delays in planting.
Our need to produce the best strawberries and soft fruit from the Vale for people to enjoy kept us going, along with our Sikh faith. Head down we marched forward.
Strawberries from Vicarage Nurseries.
Then the sun came out, the plants grew and the season was upon us. The fastest start in our history here at Vicarage Nurseries. The crop tasted and looked amazing.
Week after week we broke our own records, the highest sugars, the biggest strawberries, the highest picks.
Now at the end of September, the weather has changed again and the question I ask myself is, will it be a longer season and what other challenges are there? Only time will tell.
Whatever has happened to us over the last 12 months, however, it is nothing compared to what is happening in Punjab, which has been hit by the worst floods in a lifetime.
Lives and homes lost but the spirit of Punjab has shone through as we all unite and people are kindly donating to support those farming families and communities in need.
The fruit and vegetable sector remains a vital part of the UK economy, worth more than £4 billion, and production across Evesham is a significant contributor to that.
In its food strategy, the Government has said it is driving for a future where all people can access ‘healthy, affordable, and proudly British food’ and the fruit, vegetables and other produce grown in the Vale can play an important role in delivering that aim.
The NFU and its members, like Bal, have helped put a strategy in place to grow the sector and help businesses thrive.
The prominent farmers’ organisation in England and Wales is also pushing for planning and other policies that encourage confidence, investment and growth for family farms in Evesham and beyond. It has said that there is real opportunity with those building blocks in place.
