MORRISONS PLEDGES TO SELL ‘KNOBBLY’ FRUIT AND VEG
Morrisons is aiming to help fruit and vegetable farmers who have been affected by the recent poor weather by selling whole crops in its M Savers range and accepting a “wider variety of shaped vegetables to sell in-store”.
Growers, said Morrisons, are experiencing high rainfall and reduced hours of sunlight for this time of year, which can affect the growth of many crops.
Morrisons will be working closely with farmers who have been affected by the poor conditions and will be buying entire crops of potatoes and carrots.
Normal- shaped vegetables will be sold in the standard range and ‘knobbly’ products through the M Savers range.
Payment terms to farmers will remain the same.
This will allow farmers to sell more of their crop and ensure that perfectly good British vegetables like potatoes and carrots are available for customers to buy.
The price of the products will be based on their weight, ensuring customers “continue to get great value for money”.
As well as the M Savers potatoes and carrots, Morrisons will be accepting smaller broccoli, leeks and swedes in its standard vegetable range.
The food retailer will also be accepting lightly weather-marked courgettes, which have been affected by the impact of the wind and rain.
Morrisons will be buying whole crops of other vegetables – selling all grades to its customers.
Morrisons packs and processes many fruit and vegetables itself, allowing it to control quality for its customers.
All supermarkets rely on a process to sort fruit and vegetables into different grades, some of which are sold to customers.
Richard Hodgson, Morrisons group commercial director, said:
“As a result of this terrible weather we need to make sure that we make more use of British crops.
“We think these measures will ensure customers can buy more British food without affecting the taste or cost.
“Morrisons works directly with many of its growers and we will be using these strong relationships to ensure the weather causes as little wastage as possible.”
Morrisons will also be continuing to monitor the situation and aiming to help growers to ensure crops are utilised.
With British apples and pears just round the corner, Morrisons is meeting with its suppliers this month to ensure that there is an availability of a British crop when it starts coming into season in mid August.
The season is expected to start 10 days later than normal.
