The announcement that Birds Eye is to stop sourcing peas in East Anglia and has cancelled their contract with Anglian Pea growers is a huge disappointment for local growers. The move affects some 180 growers producing peas covering an area in excess of 4,500 hectares.

Sarah Pettitt, chairman of the NFU's Board for Horticulture said: “This is terrible news for growers in East Anglia, some of whom will have been supplying peas to the plant for more than 60 years. The British pea is renowned the world over for its taste and quality and growers in this region and in the country as a whole have spent considerable time, effort and resource on ensuring that they provide the consistent quality product that consumers have come to expect at a value for money price.”

The news also comes at a time when British growers are feeling much more positive about their position as the nation’s food suppliers. Recent announcements from Government confirm that food security has never been higher on the national agenda with the importance of ensuring that farmers and growers are in a position to respond to the challenges of producing more food for a growing world population. This makes the Birds Eye announcement all the more telling to growers in the East Anglian region.

Sarah Pettitt added: “I urge Birds Eye to re-consider their approach to this decision. In Anglian Pea growers they will find partners willing to discuss constructively the problems that Birds Eye face, with the aim of trying to find alternative solutions than simply turning out the lights on their freezing plant.”