Family business Pili-Pala Farm has beaten off stiff competition to be awarded the New Producer Bursary sponsored by the Kate Jenkins of Gower Cottage Brownies. She was particularly impressed with their innovative garlic shares scheme, and business ethos.
(image above, main garlic growers Tom Edwards and his nephew Charlie Felton)
Let’s put Welsh Garlic on the Food Map…
Owner Tom Edwards said, ‘We are delighted to have been selected for this year’s bursary. It’s a massive boost for us. Being a small and relatively new enterprise, this recognition really makes a difference as we aim to grow.’
‘We have worked so hard to get our garlic share scheme up and running, and feel really excited about its scalability potential, and the whole idea of bringing garlic production to Wales. What better place to showcase the quality of our garlic than the Abergavenny Food Festival, and we can’t wait to hand out our delicious bulbs in September! Let’s put Welsh garlic firmly on the food map.’
Pili-Pala Farm will get a free stand in the New Producers Market at the Festival as well as business mentoring.
So what you get with a ‘Garlic Share‘? Tom explains. ‘The idea is that you invest in a small area of the farm (1/2 square meter) via a subscription that rolls around every 12 months. This “share” costs £21 a year and includes postage and packaging and contains at least 18 large bulbs. These are premium garlic bulbs, and we believe are far superior to supermarket counterparts. Your box of goodies is then delivered to your door around July every year until you cancel, providing you with up to 9 months supply. Our garlic is specially selected for large size, shelf life and taste, and we grow up to 5 different varieties.’
(Photo: Tom with partner Sarah and their children Josselin, James and Sam)
Planning for growth …
‘We set the farm up in around 2022 as a traditional mixed crop market garden – a part time venture having moved from the Midlands in 2020, but have been transitioning to a garlic business since last year. Garlic grows really well here, nestled in a south facing valley microclimate, and its storage qualities have opened up more options such as scalability.
We are growing from our own stock now, so it’s going to take around 2 – 3 more years to get where we want to be, which is to break the 100,000 bulbs target – and we specialise in a hand grown approach to produce a very large ‘premium’ bulb.
We want to have a very different product from the traditional supermarket imports, and are focusing on developing a large bulb with great flavour and shelf life and are now concentrating on 3 varieties to achieve this.
We utilise aspects of CSA and crowd farming and make our bulbs available through a unique ‘garlic share‘ scheme nationally. We get orders from London to Edinburgh, and we love the fact our produce is appreciated so far and wide.
As we grow, we will look to do specialist wholesale for the quality farm shop market, and also attend food festivals throughout the year, such as Abergavenny. We are also looking to develop a smoked and black garlic product. Ultimately, we want to be the leading Welsh garlic farm (possibly the only), and provide a profitable enterprise for the family to grow into, although its very early days and we are essentially a fledgling business. Of course, exposure such as the Abergavenny Food Festival is a massive boost in this quest.’