Two of Yorkshire's best Pick Your Own fruit farms up for national award

Two of the finalists hail from Yorkshire and one is from Worcestershire.

The category has been judged earlier than others in the awards in order for the judging to take place at the height of the Pick Your Own (PYO) season, allowing the visits to take place at the peak time of year for these businesses.

The three shortlisted businesses will go to the finals set to be held in March next year.

Farmer Copleys, at Pontefract, West Yorkshire is one of the shortlisted three.

It is a family-run farm shop, with a cafe, function space and events centre.

The Copley family has been farming for more than 140 years with the aim to showcase British agriculture to the community whilst also getting people engaged with the countryside and helping people learn where their food comes from and how it is produced.

Visitors are encouraged to get involved in learning about food by educating through fun and offering a unique experience of interacting with homegrown local produce.

Horsforth Pick Your Own in Leeds, was established nearly 40 years ago by Rory Kemp in traditional small oak tree lined pasture fields, overlooking Leeds and Bradford.

Now joined in the business by his son Joe, the PYO has evolved and they now grow both table top (over 7.75km) and in the ground strawberries (three acres worth) along with raspberries (across two and a half acres).

For Halloween pumpkins were added in 2018 with pumpkin numbers increasing year on year to currently 70,000.

For the festive season, Yorkshire grown Christmas trees are sold along with free-range bronze turkeys reared on the farm from poults, and then hand plucked, hung and dressed.

Up against the two Yorkshire entries is a third generation farm shop at Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire.

It has a butchery and cafe and 40 acres of more than 200 varieties of fruit and vegetables.

Chairman of the Farm Retail Association, Emma Mosey said: “The standard of entries have been incredible. We look forward to seeing entrants from all remaining categories now, and celebrating the very best in the business at our awards ceremony next March. Good luck to all of our finalists.”

The remaining categories are now open and other finalists will be announced at the end of the year for Large Farm Shop of the Year, Small Farm Shop of the Year, Farm Cafe/Restaurant of the Year, Farm Shop Butchery of the Year, Rising Star Award, Farmers Market of the Year, Associate Member of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Award where nominations are being sought for individuals who have made a lasting impact on the industry.

Finalists will be showcased at an Awards Gala Dinner held in March on a date and venue to be announced.

All members of the Farm Retail Association are eligible to enter the awards free of charge.

The judging of the PYO businesses comes as a new study reveals that people who grow their own fruit and vegetables eat more than their five-a-day and waste much less than households that only buy.

Researchers from the University of Sheffield said improving access to growing will make people healthier, cut waste and make the UK more self-sufficient.

The team recruited 197 people growing their own food in allotments or home gardens in July 2020 and asked them to keep a year-long record of their production, purchases, foraging, donations and waste.

Their study, published in the journal Plants, People, Planet, found those who grow their own food produce half of the vegetables and a fifth of the fruit they consume annually.

They also ate on average 6.3 portions of their five-a-day, compared to the UK national average of 3.7, and threw away 95 per cent less fruit and veg compared to the average household.

Author of the study Dr Zilla Gulyas said: "We need to find ways to overcome socioeconomic challenges to upscaling household food production, especially among those most affected by low fruit and vegetable intakes, like low-income families.

“Increasing the amount of space available to UK households to produce their own food is essential to this, especially given the steady decline in allotment land nationally.”