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It鈥檚 the time of year I鈥檝e been waiting for all winter, Spring has finally arrived! The snow drops have been and gone, to be replaced with a chorus of yellow daffodils. Having said that, it鈥檚 still quite cold, which means we鈥檝e had to wait a little bit longer to start drilling this year鈥檚 quinoa crops. But at least we鈥檙e away now, having drilled around 50 hectares (120 acres) on our Shropshire farm already this year.

It seems that 2015 is going to be an exciting year not just for myself, but for several other UK farmers who will now be helping us to grow our quinoa across a wider area of the country. We鈥檙e due to be planting around 370 hectares (900 acres) in total this year, which is a big step up from the area produced in 2014, and these crops will be spread far and wide including Shropshire, Wiltshire, Kent and Norfolk among others. It鈥檚 great having an expanding group of growers with whom we are working closely to try and develop this new British crop, as there is still a lot to learn so we鈥檙e looking to gain lots of feedback to keep improving our production practices.

Another development this spring has been that we鈥檙e going to be growing our first crops of organic quinoa, using the knowhow of a few brave farmers! A total of around 33 hectares (80 acres) of organic quinoa is being planted and I鈥檓 sure we鈥檒l all be eagerly watching to see how things develop over the season. I certainly hope it works well as I鈥檓 so often asked by people wanting to buy organically grown British quinoa, it will be great to finally say yes!

Over the past few months we鈥檝e been working hard to get the design of our retail packets finalised. For this we鈥檝e teamed up with a UK illustrator to produce an engaging and natural looking design, to reflect our commitment to the environment. Hopefully we鈥檒l soon be able to launch our product for sale via our web store and in health food shops…. more details will be released soon.

On one final note, I thought I鈥檇 sign off with a picture of where our first sown crop of 2015 is up to. I鈥檝e been avidly keeping an eye on this and am very relieved to see it germinating and starting to produce it first roots:

At least these single plants are coming along nicely, now only to check the other million plants in this field….!