Anglia Growing Partnership.
Anglia Growing Partnership
Until 2013 we had always outsourced our onion grading and packing. As the Richmond Farms grower group acreage expanded and that of our own farming operation, the next logical step was to invest in our own onion production facility.
Therefore, we invested just shy of £3m in a state-of-the-art onion production facility at a site we’ve owned since 1995 in Long Sutton, Lincs. We extended the building to 40,000 square foot, which stands on an eight-acre site, and started to grade and pack onions ourselves at Long Sutton in October 2013.
We’re now at maximum capacity at Long Sutton and in 2024 embarked on another major investment program of around £5m. This includes almost doubling the size of the building to 75,000 sq ft alongside a major investment in machinery and robotics.
In volume terms, the Group markets just over 66,000 tonnes of onions per year. The Richmond Farms grower group produces around 52,000 tonnes of onions per year.
The largest member of the group is Nationwide’s own farming operation growing around 15,000 tonnes of onions on 700 acres in East Anglia. The AGP site now grades on average around 1,200 tonnes of onions and produces over half of a million packs of onions per week.
As a result of the Group’s involvement in every sector of the market, we have built up a healthy tonnage flowing through the site and continue to market the whole-crop from our growers effectively and efficiently.
Growing and packing onions on such a huge scale has helped us to forge strong relationships with retailers, wholesalers, catering/food-service suppliers, processors and many more.
The largest member of the group is Nationwide’s own farming operation growing around 15,000 tonnes of onions on 700 acres in East Anglia. The AGP site now grades on average around 1,200 tonnes of onions and produces over half of a million packs of onions per week.
As a result of the Group’s involvement in every sector of the market, we have built up a healthy tonnage flowing through the site and continue to market the whole-crop from our growers effectively and efficiently.
Growing and packing onions on such a huge scale has helped us to forge strong relationships with retailers, wholesalers, catering/food-service suppliers, processors and many more.
