Edward Baarda Ltd

Originally a grower in Holland, Edvert. Baarda, known as Edward, started Plants & Seeds Limited on the 20th June 1942, and purchased 11 acres of land, which it had been renting, on 7th March 1948. His son Lieuwe (Leo) joined him after leaving school. The Company then changed its name on the 6th June 1955 to Edward Baarda Limited. Edward passed away in 1960 when Leo and his wife, Brenda, continued running the Company. Their sons Andrew and Martin also came into the company full time after leaving school. In 1978 an additional 4.4 acres of the adjoining field was purchased, with further 2 acres being added in 1997. The remaining 12 acres of the field was acquired in 2000. Following Brenda`s death in 2011 Linda, Andrew and Martin`s sister, took on some of the paperwork. Sadly, Leo passed away in 2013. The Company continues to be run by Andrew and Martin assisted by Linda and their wives.

The company introduced the Dutch light flat frame, a sheet of glass with a wooden frame, these were place on an inch by four timber which was raised about 2 foot (60cm) off the ground to form a tent like structure, like the cloches of today. Later working with the Westdock Company and  the frames ended up on posts and gutters to become a glasshouse. Initially these only afforded protection but later they were heated with hot water via a coal fire boiler, this then progressed to steel and aluminium structures heated with oil boilers and steam heating, reverting back to coal in the 1980`s then on to natural gas and hot water. From general market garden crops the Company move to specialize in lettuce followed by tomatoes in rotation, eventually with the tomatoes being grown earlier and earlier and the use of substrates meant the lettuce crop was dropped. The company grew peppers for some years, but these were replaced by cucumbers.

Now the Glasshouse`s are heated with biomass boilers using Straw and Woodchip with natural gas burnt to produce heat and Co2 which the plants use to grow. 150 Kw of Solar panels provide much of the electricity used.

The Company now grows Tomatoes (3.45 ha) and Cucumbers (1.8 ha). Employing around 30 fulltime staff with additional seasonal workers in the summer.