The Farmers Mart Aug-Sep 2018 - Issue 58 | Page 16

16 THE ORGANIC PANTRY
AUG/SEP 2018 • farmers-mart.co.uk
FRESH APPROACH AS ORGANIC
FARMING COMES BACK IN VOGUE
CHRIS Berry talks with Jonnie Watson
75025 - Bickerstaffe Containers Ltd - QUTR H.pdf 1
at Newton Kyme – home of The Organic
Pantry.
Organic produce enjoyed a meteoric
rise in popularity from the turn of the 21st
century until 2008 and over the past six
years it has gradually reclaimed its market
position. The current vogue for health
and fitness appears to be an unstoppable
force with more fitness watches sold daily
whether counting steps, recording runs
or cycling and swimming statistics. It’s all
good news for those producing great food
without inputs and a nation that appears to
be wanting to be healthier.
This doesn’t mean of course that food
produced by non-organic growers isn’t
healthy it’s just that the organic wave has
been able to capture the hearts of a new
generation and that is all more grist to
the mill for those who have followed the
organic route.
Today healthy eating is seen as one of
the key factors in avoidance of obesity
in the younger generation. Schools have
taken up the challenge led by TV chef
Jamie Oliver. That’s also one of the key
areas where Jonnie and Fanny Watson
appear to have made their mark since
turning over their near 300-acre St Helen’s
Farm at Newton Kyme from a traditional
mix of outdoor sows and cereal and arable
cropping to certified organic in 2002-03,
but Jonnie isn’t looking to set off any holier
than thou attitude from his and Fanny’s
operation that now sees them as one of
the organic world’s leading players in the
north of England.
17/08/2018 12:02:53
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Proud to be associated with The Organic Pantry
and wish them continued success.
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up to have a weekly box of vegetables
all organically produced. Our wholesale
side developed around 2005 and for the
next four years there was a huge boom
in organics until the economic downturn
that saw our business halved overnight. It
has taken from then until now for us all to
reclaim our share.’
The boom in farmers’ markets was also
taking off at the same time as the rush for
organic food. Jonnie and Fanny took to the
world of the farmers markets along with
their children Harriet, Freddie and Henry.
Freddie is now a key member of the
management team having returned from
working as a geologist in Australia.
Designer and Manufacturer of
Bespoke Cardboard Box Packaging
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‘I don’t believe organic farming is any
better or worse than other farming,’ says
Jonnie who with wife Fanny runs the farm
and their business The Organic Pantry. ‘It’s
a lifestyle choice and we believe in it pas-
sionately. We made our decision in 1999.
At the time the farm had been fairly inten-
sive on pigs with a sow herd of just over
1000 that I had started 18 years previously.
We were advised to go into a smaller,
more niche market and we went organic
because it was a product we could buy as
a packet of seed, grow it and deliver it to
the person who was going to eat it.’
‘Fanny and I wanted to go down the line
of seeing our produce right through to the
end user and while we became organic
growers in our own right we soon saw that
we also had to buy in from other grow-
ers in order to provide boxes of veg the
way we had planned. Our first trade was
with 40 of our best friends who signed
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