The Company was founded as Haygrove Fruit in 1998 by Angus Davison, following a University research project that examined growing strawberries in polytunnels. Rapid expansion into a commercial farm quickly followed as well as additional local farms.
Today, as Haygrove Growing we grow conventional and organic fruit, which includes strawberries, raspberries, cherries, blackberries and blueberries under polythene tunnels to supply the leading UK, African and European retailers.
In the season Haygrove Growing employs up to 1100 seasonal and 100 full time staff to run the 175 hectares UK farms and harvest approximately 4000 tonnes of berries.
The Haygrove home farm is the epicentre of research and development for the business, as well as working in partnership with our sister business, Haygrove Growing Systems, to develop new growing infrastructures.
In 2001 Haygrove started to grow raspberries in South Africa, to transfer skills and market knowledge; and to pursue a desire to contribute in Africa. Today we farm 191 hectares of raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries; and together they produce 2400 tons of fruit annually. Currently the business has 408 permanent employees and a further 1000 seasonal workers.
Our newest acquisition, a 68 hectare site in Southern Portugal was added in 2016. Like all our sites, the unique micro-climate of this site is ideal for berry production, and this latest venture is part of our overall growth plan to provide secured and flexible berry supply from all our farms.
