John B Dockrell UC has been growing and packing top quality vegetables in Wexford for decades now, and today specialises in the supply of lettuce and carrots to retailers and distributors nationwide. Grocery & Retail Ireland touched base with John himself to hear more about the current state of business for the company and its overall hopes going forward.
Business is tough these days for vegetable growers throughout Ireland and, at John B Dockrell UC, they’ve always viewed recognising the problem as a very positive approach.
Growing crops since 1976, this award-winning company sees its staff numbers fluctuate from 35 up to as many 80 during the busy season.
John Dockrell and his team of experienced staff operate from Monroe, Screen, Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, growing both carrots and lettuce and supplying its own carrots for approx. 40 weeks of the year.
Grocery & Retail Ireland caught up with John recently to discuss his thoughts on what he feels is “a genuine crossroads” for all growers in this country right now.
“What concerns me now is the level of stress that’s in vegetable growing. Genuinely, it is very severe,” he outlined.
“Because it has become such a small number of growers, we’re not the best at promoting ourselves. Whether it’s advertising on radio or TV etc, the public don’t really find out about us until somebody just gives up altogether. They don’t really understand what’s happening.
“To me, recognising what your problems are is a very positive approach.”
He added: “We’re in an area where people talk about that there’s a need for vegetables and particularly field vegetables. But it’s connecting that need with the consumer and with the retailer.”
Despite the difficult and different times brought on by rising costs, lack of labour and wet summers to name a few of the issues, John B Dockrell UC.’s methods of constant monitoring of nutrients, reduced chemical inputs and the installation of reedbeds and wetlands 25 years ago are standing the test of time.
Through these three techniques, the company has grown over the decades to become one of most recognised vegetable growers in the southeast. By working to achieve best practice whenever the opportunity arises.
“Our business is based on root crop, as in carrots, and then we do Iceberg & Little Gem lettuce during the summer. That’s proving very difficult because of the change in the climate,” John explained.
“Certain crops don’t grow well in the weather conditions that we are experiencing now, and Iceberg lettuce, in particular would be one of them. Iceberg lettuce was bred in the 1940s in a lovely climate in California, but it really doesn’t like our climate.
So, what has changed the most for growers over the past couple of years?
Ask a seasoned grower like John and he’ll tell you that it is, of course, down to a combination of different factors. However, when it comes to his business in particular, John sees a couple of challenges which John B Dockrell UC has been made to overcome in the last 24 months or so.
He added: “This is a genuine crossroads for all growers. The pressures on people in terms of their key resources, their land availability, people availability and their financial ability to invest. All vegetable growers have their markets, but it’s the commitment from those markets that allows you to invest.”
Still one of Wexford’s committed vegetable growers, the company continues to work alongside retail giants such as Tesco, Dunnes Stores, Aldi and Musgrave Group (SuperValu & Centra) to see its produce getting to the consumer at the best value offering.
So, all of that considered, the burning question is what has been the secret behind the success of John B Dockrell UC?
How has this small start-up vegetable grower situated in the southeast stood the test of time throughout the decades in this challenging industry to remain a successful venture?
For John, he points to the values and approach that his company had from the outset, as well as its constant drive ever since to continue delivering the highest quality produce with the support of his loyal staff.
“In the beginning, I would say customers were choosing us because we had developed the business a lot further than most at that stage,” he said.
We were growing carrots in a different way, and we were doing things that other growers were only starting to do such as grading, hydro-cooling and different things like that. Customers wanted a good product, and they came looking.”
Looking at the coming months for the business and towards next year, John says that the word ‘commitment’ comes to mind above all else.
“I think no matter who it is, whether it’s somebody working for you or us working for customers, we need to see commitment in the longer term,” he pointed out.
“That’s because the level that we must commit to, whether it’s capital investment or land or people, you won’t have people unless you commit to them and to do that you have to have some sort of confidence. Isn’t that really it?
“For growers to have produce in the future, consumers are going to have to take an intertest in where their fresh produce is grown and how it’s produced. Maybe more so than they’ve been doing up to now, that’s for sure.”
Dockrells, & indeed all Growers, need to farm in a responsible manner and work to improve our soils and to ensure land availability to grow crops in the coming years.
We propose to address this, with support from all our customers, by:
It is critical that we address climate change now and help deliver a transformation in the environmental impact of food production.
That transformation MUST start with the soil we farm.
John B Dockrell Limited
Monroe,
Screen,
Enniscorthy,
Co Wexford.
Tel: 053 912 7510
Email: [email protected]
First published in Grocery & Retail Ireland magazine Vol 3 No 3, Winter 2024
