In your field: Dan Hawes: "The target is to pack 140,000 strawberry plants a day, and this year I'm optimistic"

Dan Hawes grew up on an arable farm in Suffolk and now produces strawberry and raspberry plants for the UK fruit market with Blaise Plants, sister company to Hugh Lowe Farms, Kent. The business grows outside, under tunnels and in glasshouses and produces more than four million plants a year. The arable side includes environmental schemes, with a mix of wheat, oilseed rape, beans and barley crops

clock • 3 min read
In your field: Dan Hawes: "The target is to pack 140,000 strawberry plants a day, and this year I'm optimistic"

The chaos has begun – in a good way. I love the sense of busy – you know, that feeling when you walk in a shed and there's a number of people working away like a well-oiled machine. It's a bit like...

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