Tim Young of Grange Farm, Hockwold near Thetford in Norfolk has told local people to help themselves to around 40 tonnes of unharvested onions in the field.
The producer, which is part of G’s Growers, says that due to the high temperatures seen in July some two acres, or ten percent of his crop, is at high risk of disease, and therefore cannot be stored with the bulk of the harvested crop which it might contaminate.
However, as the onions are healthy and edible, he issued an invitation to locals to ‘come and help yourself’ to avoid them going to waste, a process known as gleaning. He has also spoken to charities who may be able to use some of the crop.
He told the Eastern Daily Press, “We manage diseases every year, but when you have temperatures up to 40 degrees, it just goes rife. The heat got into the weakened plants and made it so a proportion of them are really unharvestable. We have two acres here full of really lovely onions, but we cannot get them into store or sell them to the supermarkets.
“If we put them into store, I run the risk of the bad ones making the good ones bad. We have never had a situation where we knowingly had to leave good onions out there in the field, so we wanted to make it available to people to come and help themselves.
“I am having conversations with a couple of charities to see if we can do anything else to help the homeless, or people in need. We are in a cost-of-living crisis, so anything we can do to help those who feel vulnerable, we’ll do it. It is a tiny gesture from our part, but hopefully it is something people can benefit from.”