Sainsbury’s to sell British-grown cucumbers through winter for the first time in major UK growing move

Sainsbury’s today announces two new long-term agreements with UK producers Evesham Vale Growers and Thanet Earth to help improve the resilience of salad veg by increasing the volume of its British-grown tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers available to its customers.

British-grown tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers are already an important part of Sainsbury’s strong and growing salad offer, but extreme weather across warmer growing regions is underlining the need for supermarkets to think differently about how they build more resilient supply chains.

More home-grown produce and innovation in these categories is becoming a key part of the solution to increasing the availability of these customer favourites all year round. As a further expansion of its long-term partnership model, these new 10-year agreements are designed to support this.

Through its new long-term agreement with Thanet Earth, Sainsbury’s will also, for the first time, sell British-grown cucumbers through the winter months – a major move that aims to increase the volume of British-grown whole cucumbers on its shelves up to 60% this winter. The move will also help shore up resilience of the category year-round as weather shocks – such as increased rainfall – continue to impact warmer regions through the winter months.

The new British winter crop will be grown at Thanet Earth in Kent, the UK’s largest single site glasshouse complex, where supplementary lighting, heat, and CO₂ are carefully managed to create the conditions cucumber plants need to keep growing through the darkest months of the year.

The move has been made possible by the certainty provided through Sainsbury’s long-term partnership with Thanet Earth, giving the growers the confidence to invest in the glasshouse capacity needed to grow cucumbers commercially through a British winter.

Hannah O’Reilly, category director of produce at Sainsbury’s, commented: “With our changing weather, it’s more important than ever to find new, innovative solutions to make sure our customers can continue to enjoy the quality produce they want all year-round. Investing in more British production and supporting our suppliers to innovate is helping us build a stronger, more resilient supply chain in a category that has been impacted by weather-based shocks in recent years. By giving our brilliant British growers the certainty to invest and innovate through long-term contracts such as these with Thanet Earth and Evesham Vale Growers will help us to continue to support British farming for years to come.”

Rob James, technical director at Thanet Earth, commented: “Working with Sainsbury’s in this way means we can plan ahead with more certainty and keep pushing what’s possible for British growing. A good example is our investment in the technology needed to grow cucumbers through the winter, creating the right conditions for the crop and helping bring more British-grown produce to customers at a time of year when that has not previously been possible.”

The agreements also support Sainsbury’s strong and growing tomato offer. Last year, Taste the Difference tomatoes generated more than £120 million in sales and accounted for over 65% of Sainsbury’s total tomato sales, with five of the top 10 Taste the Difference lines across the retailer sitting within the tomato category.

With customer demand for British tomatoes continuing to perform strongly, Sainsbury’s has supported British Tomato Fortnight for the past five years with this year seeing its strongest ever tomato sales.

Paul Faulkner, director at Evesham Vale Growers, said: “Our long-standing partnership with Sainsbury’s is built on a shared commitment of growing and delivering great-quality tomatoes for its customers. Having the confidence and certainty that comes with a long-term agreement allows us to look ahead to the future and invest in our business, build on the number of British grown tomatoes already on Sainsbury’s shelves, extend availability and ensure customers can enjoy more British-grown produce.”

The new agreements are among the longest in the industry and are designed to give British growers the certainty they need to invest for the long term, at a time when the sector is facing rising costs, climate volatility and growing pressure on supply. They form part of Sainsbury’s wider commitment to investing in long-term agreements with thousands of British and Irish farms, providing growers with the confidence to invest for the future.