Fife Is Beautiful

It started three years ago as a quirky sideline to Ardross Farm’s large-scale, commercial production, when the Pollock family acknowledged the growing resurgence of public interest in what was actually on their plates. “People were very removed from their food and were quite content to have it appear in the shops without knowing where it came from or how it was farmed”, says farm shop manager Nikki Pollock. “That attitude has changed dramatically over the last five years.”

The farm shop began in a typically low-key way, in the hope that it would appeal to their neighbours and the holidaymakers who coast past the gates on their way to one of the East Neuk’s picture-postcard fishing villages. “We started on a very small scale”, says Pollock. “We cleared out a beautiful old cart shed that we were using as a workshop and had beef from one animal that was hung for 21 days. We posted leaflets through local people’s doors - we didn’t really know what to expect as we had never done anything like this before”.

Gaining a small but loyal and regularly returning customer base, they were on their way to becoming one of Scotland’s major farm shops. Nowadays, they stock a wealth of products from sticky toffee pudding to rapeseed oil, and enforce a rigorous sourcing policy - everything on the shelves must be grown and produced by UK farms.

The beef is still their best-seller, admits Pollock, but “by ‘limiting’ ourselves to only selling produce made in the UK by farming families we found a host of amazing things. One of my favourites is rhubarb vodka produced by a farmer, Andrew Lyle, who farms on the banks of Loch Ness. He’s one of the biggest organic rhubarb farmers in Scotland, but he found that when the summer fruit season started, demand for rhubarb dropped. So he now makes organic rhubarb vodka and it’s a great seller - perfect over ice or in a cocktail with champagne!”

Such was their success that, in 2008, they were confident enough to take the major step of cancelling their contracts to supply the UK’s major supermarkets, reducing their yield and producing a greater variety of crops entirely for their on-site punters. “We don’t supply to the supermarkets anymore”, beams Pollock, “and it feels great! This year, for the first time, all of our vegetables are grown solely for the shop. This was a huge step for us as we have always grown vegetables on a large scale, but it’s one that’s been highly rewarding. Having more time means that we’ve been able to experiment a lot more - it’s been great fun growing things such as pumpkins and celeriac which we’d never even considered growing.”

So was their motivation to cut the cord for ethical, financial or emancipation reasons? “A bit of all three, really”, she muses. “Like a lot of farms we were struggling. But they say necessity is the mother of invention, and as soon as we realised that we had a strong direct sales business we focused on the ethics that mean a lot to us as a family. We stopped growing vegetables for them because demand for our freshly cut vegetables in the shop was growing at such a rate.”

And do they feel what they have achieved is a workable model for similar-scale farms across the country? A categorical ‘yes’ from Nikki. “Selling direct to the consumer is possible for anyone provided they are near a busy road or town… and are prepared to work very hard. Our family work on average six to seven days a week all year round. Someone has to dig the vegetables every morning and have them ready for opening at 9am. Our home and farm is now on show 365 days a year and so keeping the farm presentable takes a huge amount of time. It’s worth it though. Well worth it.”

Ardross Farm is keen to point out that they aren't an organic venture. “We are not organic, we are traditional”, Pollock says firmly. “Our farm is traditionally farmed, using crop rotation to nourish the soil and keep pests down. We farm alongside wildlife, rather than against it. Cows graze clover rich swards (meadows dedicated to soil replenishment) or are fed from farm grown feed which is guaranteed GM free; areas of crops are left unharvested to provide winter feed for wildlife and nesting boxes have been put up for owls. We try to take the best aspects of old and new husbandry techniques.”

So, what what’s in season over the November month? “Are you ready?” asks Nikki, before she launches into a breathless list of what could be ingredients for the world’s greatest stew - romanesco cauliflower, red, green and savoy cabbage, purple, white and orange carrots, leeks, pumpkins, squash, beetroot, curly kale, Isle of Jura potatoes, flat leaf parsley...

In these credit-crunch times, I feel I have to ask if buying from an independent is inevitably more expensive than buying from the dreaded Tesco, with its big boy buying-power and ability to take the impact of a 4p tin of beans. “I think that depends on the product”, Nikki says honestly. “Some of our meats are more expensive – but that’s because our red meats are all hung properly, our chickens are free range, the lamb we sell is organic and our pork is rare breed. As far as meats go we don’t try – or need – to compete on price with the corporate giants. What we offer is a totally different product from what you could find in a supermarket. That said, I checked our vegetable prices today and we are charging the same or less for the majority of our vegetables.”

Ultimately, Ardross Farm Shop is taking a stand based on having open eyes and simple common sense. As Nikki points out: “What most people get annoyed with is buying apples from Spain during the British apples season, or broccoli from Poland when there are fields of it all around them.”