Wirral farmer's heartbreak after entire asparagus crop dug up by mistake

Wirral farmer Andrew Pimbley has been left devastated after his entire asparagus crop was accidentally dug up just weeks before it was due to be harvested.

A contractor had been asked to plough the old beds of the vegetable on Claremont Farm in Bebington with the instruction that the newer 2.5-acre plot was to be left untouched so it could thrive for years to come.

But director Andrew says the person ‘hadn’t looked at his map properly’ and failed to stop when he should, tearing up the new asparagus which had been nurtured for the last three years ready for this summer.

The cost, says Andrew, is huge.

“From the end of the month, that was going to be literally our whole personality, with asparagus dishes on the menu in our café, to selling it from our farm shop and to restaurants and other farm shops in the area.

“It was life at the farm, and it’s gone for the next three years because that’s how long it takes to develop the crop.

“We were going to plant some new asparagus too this year – and we still are – but it takes years to establish it.”

Andrew confesses:

“I’ve been in a state of paralysis for the last two weeks since it happened. It’s hard to get your head around it and it’s pretty heartbreaking.”

But he goes on:

“It’s time now to move forward. No-one’s died, we’re not being bombed and we’re healthy – it’s not the worst thing … but it’s not great.”

Claremont Farm first planted its prized asparagus in 1992 and started selling it and using it in its popular farm in 1995.

It’s usual to get 10 years of harvesting after the first crop is yielded.

Difficulty in keeping up with larger producers has led to the farm reducing its asparagus crop from 15 acres, but it was still a sizeable patch, with high costs in growing and feeding it for the last 36 months, as well as replacing it.

Andrew says:

“We were all really excited about it because it was just about to come good, but there’s nothing we can do to bring it back.

“We’d been holding on to the older asparagus but it ends up throwing up smaller stuff which you have to grade and throw away, so finally we decided to get rid of that patch and plant new and everything would be rosy … and now it’s been ploughed in.”

It’s another blow to Andrew who says, like others, he’s still not ‘fully over all the increased costs we’ve seen in recent years’.

“But,” he vows. “We will try to see if other local asparagus farms might have off cuts that we can use in our dishes and, fingers crossed, we can look forward to kicking off the strawberry season at the end of May, with picking from June.”

“We’ll make the most of those.”