The business started farming as Greens of Soham back in 1966 and the name Greens quickly became synonymous with quality produce.
Brothers John and Andrew Green established Greens of Soham growing vegetables and root crops on Fen soil.
Greens became one of the first farming businesses to supply supermarkets and quickly became known for quality produce.
In the late 1990’s, Greens began investing in farming activities in Eastern Europe, whilst in the UK the business began to specialise in the growing and marketing of potatoes, onions, beetroot and contract farming.
At this point, all this activity was consolidated into a new holding company Spearhead International Ltd, while Greens of Soham remained as the UK operating company.
Today in the UK we farm in excess of 4000 Ha, primarily in East Anglia but with operations in Sussex, Northumberland and the Scottish borders; soils range from rich, black fenland to the free- draining sand of the Norfolk Brecklands. Our primary focus is potatoes and beetroot and we are the largest grower of these crops in the UK. In addition, we grow onions alongside traditional cereal and sugar beet crops.
Due to our intensive cropping and supermarket supply we are a heavily audited farming company and fully comply with the highest standards of food safety through the Assured Produce Scheme, LEAF, Tesco Nurture, M&S Field to Fork and Assured Combinable Crops. We are members of G’s Growers with all beetroot and onion crops marketed through this organisation.
The Cambridgeshire black fen soil provides us with the ideal conditions for growing beetroot, which we can supply all year round thanks to our dedicated storage and grading facility at Hasse Fen near Soham.
We offer a year-round supply of beetroot: from early crops grown under fleece to late crops stored in purpose-built, high-humidity cold storage; we also handle imported tonnes from Spain, Portugal and Italy. Our beetroot is on the shelves in the majority of all supermarkets.
As well as beetroot, we grow both red and brown ware onions for G’s Ramsey. The crop is split between over-wintered and spring plantings, grown both from sets and drilled seed.
We grow over 2000 Ha of seed and table potatoes. Our table potato production is primarily centred on salad and new potatoes for supply to supermarkets from June to April.
We have direct contracts with some supermarkets and we are the largest grower supplier to M&S, Waitrose and Tesco. Additionally, we are also a leading grower and supplier of crisping potatoes to Walkers Crisps, Golden Wonder and Kolak. We work in partnership with 35 other growers in order to supply every week of the year. We pride ourselves on delivering supply-chain and technical expertise by understanding and meeting processors’ individual requirements and working with growers to produce a consistent supply of assured high-quality produce, offering high yields and good returns.
We are proud to have the largest minituber facility in Scotland where we produce mini tubers that are multiplied up for three field generations. We undergo thorough inspections of our site annually by Government staff. The crop is inspected three times during the growing season by a Government inspector who also inspects the mini tubers prior to dispatch. This ensures our customers are supplied with the highest quality of seed.
Our business prides itself on the production of wholesome, quality and safe food and seed. Not only do we strive to deliver exactly what our customers require, but we aim to deliver our produce with the guarantee of it being produced in a sustainable way showing due regard for the environment in which we work.
We are a member of, or affiliated with, the following schemes and organisations:
