A historic farm that had grown carrots for 27 years is now returning to the business thanks to a ‘Welsh Veg in Schools’ initiative.

Holden Farm in Lampeter is now famous for its organic dairy products including the recently stolen Hafod cheese.

However back in 2006, they were forced to close down carrot production after a change in supermarket policy meant sending their produce 200 miles to Peterborough for packing.

That was until the Welsh Veg in Schools project came knocking and offered them a deal they couldn’t refuse - a guaranteed price for everything they grew, to be collected, processed and distributed by the project.

After 18 years Holden farm began growing carrots again, having to borrow equipment from neighbours to do so.

The first carrots grown at Holden farm in 18 years
The first carrots grown at Holden farm in 18 years (Patrick Holden)

Patrick Holden, owner of Holden Farm at Bwlchwernen Fawr, said: “I used to think of myself as a carrot prince, but I lost my crown in 2006 because of a supermarket policy.

“This year we grew over an acre - with a mixture of luck, accident, goodwill from neighbours and a tiny bit of knowledge I had retained, the crop did really well.

“We sold over 10 tons of carrots to schools in Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion.

“It’s fabulous, it’s fantastic and what’s even better is they appreciate it.

“[Food wholesalers] Castell Howell analysed the carrots and found ours are more nutritious than conventional carrots.

“Our farm is the oldest organic dairy farm in Wales, I think the taste of the carrot is related to the health of the soil.”

The farm had to borrow equipment from friends and neighbours to make their return to carrots possible
The farm had to borrow equipment from friends and neighbours to make their return to carrots possible (Patrick Holden)

The Welsh government-funded Welsh Veg in Schools pilot project run by Food Sense Wales aims to get more organic Welsh veg into primary school meals.

It was discovered that only six per cent of vegetables in Welsh schools are grown in Wales - Food Sense Wales aims to boost that figure.

Castell Howell, a project partner, is distributing Welsh veg for 700,000 school meals a week for 1,000 schools.

The project aims to ‘redesign supply chains to make them fairer and more resilient’, and ‘build on the commitment from Welsh government to ensure every primary school child is offered a free school meal from local produce’.

According to Castell Howell group manager Edward Morgan, this will improve the nutritional content too: “The sooner the veg gets harvested, the quicker we can get them to the depot, and the quicker we get them into the schools, we lose less nutritional value."

According to Welsh government, the project “has already helped to develop capability and capacity amongst local growers to supply the public sector."

Holden is proof of that - their first year’s return to carrots has been so successful, they are hoping to do it again.

Holden said: “We will probably grow them again.

“We’d love to grow them not just for schools but for supermarkets too, but for success in small-scale growing, you need trust, collaboration, transparency and consumer commitment.

“We have the school’s commitment, we could do with everyone buying our carrots in supermarkets - ask your supermarkets why they don’t stock local produce.”