Haygrove Ledbury grows conventional & organic berries and has been supplying Waitrose since 2001. Haygrove’s Mission Statement is to be a sustainable fully joined-up business in two hemispheres, considered as the leading quality grower of year-round berries & cherries, by our customers, partners & suppliers, constantly challenging with new growing systems and innovations.Haygrove were awarded Waitrose Demonstration Farm Status in 2014 for their work on Water Management, which has enabled their Ledbury farm to be almost self-sufficient in water, thanks to innovative and market-leading development in rain capture techniques. Climate change is one of the key factors that led Haygrove to set the objective of becoming fully self-sufficient in water at its Ledbury farm site, thereby reducing dependence on borehole and mains supply, and conserving the soft fruit grower’s most precious resource: H2O.

Another key challenge is to work with rather than against the natural environment. Rainwater is harvested and used for irrigation of the crop as nature would intend; counteracting the barrier to natural irrigation which polytunnels otherwise impose. The Waitrose Farm Risk Assessment encouraged us to further assess and develop our existing sustainable farming policies, by implementing set targets in key areas e.g. to set annual targets for the reduction of water usage per kilo of fruit produced and to measure organic matter content in soil and set annual targets for improvement.