Annabel's Story - Cutting-edge Strawberries

Le Marché was Annabel Makin-Jones’ first customer. Now she supplies around 500 tonnes per year of her wonderful strawberries from her farm in Yorkshire under the brand name Annabel's Deliciously British.

We visited Annabel a few weeks ago. During the tour, she highlighted some of the key features of her sustainable and cutting-edge strawberry production.

The strawberries are typically delivered to Le Marché within 18 hours of picking. The key varieties grown are Malling Centenary, Malling Allure and Malling Ace. “That allows us to have that continuity of supply from May to October,” explains Annabel.

Once picked, the fruit is immediately put in a chiller to take the temperature down from 28 Celsius to 2 Celsius in 30 minutes. “It sets the skin so you don’t get the bruising and gives you a longer shelf like,” explains Annabel.

The fruit is grown hydroponically on ‘table tops’ in polytunnels and irrigated with rainwater from a 20-million gallon lake on the farm. There is an apiary on site to provide bees to assist with pollination. Solar panels generate sustainable energy for the office and packhouse.

Annabel adds: “We have two million honey bees. They pollinate the crop then we take their honey in the summer. That gives us that full circle of life – all on the same farm. We are working toward carbon neutral.”

Packaging is biodegradable - with cardboard punnets - and surplus or misshapen fruit is used to make her range of conserves and sparkling drinks under the brand name Tame and Wild. Other fruit waste is used to power her packaging supplier’s anaerobic digester.

Annabel is tireless is terms of improving her farm and business. “It's very satisfying when you create something from very little. It brings such joy to have a great quality product and how supportive the chefs are. It is about being quite holistic and forward thinking in terms of our approach to farming and how we continue to evolve.”