Birds Eye cancels UK contracts

Birds Eye peas

Birds Eye, the frozen food group, has cancelled the contracts of nearly half of its UK pea growers due to the withdrawal of an Italian export deal.

Birds Eye have said that 180 farmers across Norfolk and Suffolk will be affected, and that it made the announcement with "great regret."

Current estimates predict that the loss of the deal will cost growers GBP£5.5 million in lost income, as well as numerous people losing their jobs as a result.

Anne Murphy, managing director of Birds Eye, told the BBC's Farming Today programme that the company will be in "dialogue" with the affected farmers "over the coming weeks around what [the] next steps are."

Murphy highlighted that "a very strong working relationship" continues elsewhere in the UK. The company's 230 pea growers across Yorkshire,Lincolnshire and Perthshire will not be affected.

Cancellation

Birds Eye, which is owned by private equity group Permira, said the Italian contract had been cancelled at short notice and that they only became aware of the situation in late December.

The frozen food company said it had looked into alternatives but said the cancellation of contracts had been the "right decision for the business."

Some of the affected farms in Norfolk and Suffolk have been supplying the firm for 65 years since the UK's first frozen peas were produced in GreatYarmouth.

"Growers got a bombshell," said Michael Pollett, agricultural editor of the Eastern Daily Press.

Pollett suggested that farmers may have to turn their hand to other crops such as barley production, in an attempt to regain some of their income.

He said the pea-growing industry was a profitable business that offered several environmental benefits, including adding nitrogen to the soil and benefiting wildlife.

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