Winchester Growers Ltd

Site Visit

You may wish to revisit my blog of the presentation by Winchester Growers Ltd at the last Parish Council meeting for background information to this invite.

New directional signs installed on the B1188 and B1202

The tour of the facilities was most informative - eleven local residents attended the Nocton site and were met by Dr Gordon Flint on arrival.

After signing in at reception, we were invited up to the boardroom for a background talk about the business before embarking on the tour. David Longmate (Site Manager) joined us and kindly provided refreshments.

After the talk, we donned reflective safety jackets before being escorted through the offices, out to a gantry walkway through a packing house, a chill store and then down to the greenhouses. We were accompanied by David and Gordon who explained all about the facilities, taking questions as we progressed.

Temperature controlled 'vase life' trial for Tesco

All supermarkets have stringent requirements for their stock - here you see Winchester Growers Ltd testing the durability of their cut lilies for Tesco. Stock is supplied to other major supermarkets too - including Morrisons, Sainsburys and Waitrose.

Packing house

Tulips - ready for despatch

Biomass boiler

A substantial investment is being made by Munk Agricultural Contractors Ltd (the owners of the overall site). One such example is the installation of a modern biomass boiler by Schmid. This particular model is fuelled by straw and dust pellets, sourced from Gypsy Bridge, Lincolnshire. There are also solar panels that have been recently installed on-site as an energy saving measure as well.

Throughout its seventy-year history, Schmid has developed and maintained a reputation for innovation in its range of high quality Biomass Boilers.

Tulips ready for growing

 All tulip bulbs are sourced from Holland and then placed in crates ready for being grown by hydroponic irrigation.

Hydroponic irrigation - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroponics

What is left after initial selection of stock for sale

Picking in progress

Due to the seasonal nature of growing stems for sale, contract workers are brought in to meet demand. All pickers are on piecework and paid a half pence per stem, but are guaranteed minimum wage. The best pickers are earning in the region of £100 per day.

Although there was a high incidence of Eastern European workers amongst the pickers and packers, all are selected on ability regardless of race, creed, religion, sex, or national origin. Winchester Growers Ltd also support a graduate programme as well. It is important to select workers who can quickly and carefully select the best stems, within the strict quality criteria set by supermarkets.

Daffodils in pots ready for Mother's Day

Product example 1

Product example 2



Product example 3

Waitrose buyer advises growers

'Speaking at Winchester Growers' Nocton site, she said growers should work to ensure that flowers have the right head size and clear, bright colours.'

http://www.hortweek.com/news/1179575/waitrose-buyer-advises-growers/

Winchester Growers buys New Generation Daffodils

'Winchester Growers chairman Dr Gordon Flint said Winchester bought New Generation because its daffodil stock is unique and includes a range of early and late varieties and breeding stock developed by Mark van der Vliet and his family.'

http://www.hortweek.com/Ornamentals/article/1209970/Winchester-Growers-buys-New-Generation-Daffodils/

Cornish Daffodil Growers Keep On Delivering

'Winchester Growers Ltd, a division of UNIVEG UK is the world’s largest daffodil producer. This year a staggering 400 million stems will be packed at the Winchester Growers site near Penzance, West Cornwall, with 280 million stems being grown by Winchester themselves.'

http://www.univeguk.co.uk/news/cornish-daffodil-growers-keep-on-delivering