National Carrot Day 2024: Growers underline the importance of British-grown produce
3rd October 2024
National Carrot Day 2024 is taking place today, with the aim to encourage people to buy and eat more British-grown carrots.
The British Carrot Growers Association said that the annual celebration promotes British carrots and recognises its growers.
They added that carrots are good-value, versatile, highly nutritious vegetables, and an important British vegetable in the growing sector.
They are the nation’s favourite vegetable, as 75% of Britons say they eat carrots regularly. We crunch our way through more than 10 billion carrots each year.
Britain’s major root vegetable
The association members said that carrot crop is Britain’s major root vegetable, producing over 700,000 tonnes of carrots each year from 9,000 hectares.
Each year 22 billion carrot seeds are sown in Britain, producing around 100 carrots per year for every member of the population. The sales value of British carrots is around £290 million.
Freshly harvested carrots are washed, packed and distributed to nearly every shop in the whole of Britain, almost every day of the year.
Carrots are harvested in Britain almost 12 months of the year using the natural climates in different parts of the country and using different techniques, the British Carrot Growers Association explained.
Early season carrots are sown in the winter and very early spring and protected with plastic or fleece covers. They are harvested from June through to August.
Green top carrots are sown in the open ground in spring and are harvested from August until the first frosts start to appear.
Strawed carrots are sown in April to early June, and harvested from December through to late May. Straw is applied by machine in October until December to protect them from the winter weather and keep them dark as they attempt to grow in the spring.
Carrots are commercially grown in Suffolk, Lancashire, Norfolk, Nottinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Shropshire, Yorkshire and Scotland.
The British Carrot Growers Association has created a big collection of Britons’ favourite carrot recipes that can be found here.
The association is funded voluntarily by its members and has the primary aim of increasing UK consumption of carrots.
It also aims to manage the sustainability of the industry and help responsible growers to operate.
Read more arable news.
