Birds Eye began its pea harvest in North Lincolnshire this week, following the spring drought. The company’s earliest harvest in 30 years began on Wednesday 8th June and is expected to continue until early August.

 James Young, Head of Agriculture for Birds Eye, comments:
“The dry weather caused our peas to mature extremely quickly and led to us beginning our 2011 crop harvest two weeks ahead of schedule. This early start has called for us to rally our seasonal staff and ensure the factory in Hull is up to speed and ready to ensure we meet our consumer promise of freezing within 2.5 hours of picking.

Starting early has meant many of the students usually employed to work during the harvest are still sitting their exams, so Birds Eye have had to find alternative workers.

“The drought and some frost damage have affected crop prospects in the early season, but we are hoping to recover this and plan to work towards freezing our usual 40,000 tonnes of peas this year, across 9,000 hectare of crops from 230 farms.”