Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Daffodil harvest halts as firm calls for clarity

Grampian Growers has lost around a million bunches of daffodils since picking halted last week.
Grampian Growers has lost around a million bunches of daffodils since picking halted last week.

Angus daffodil growers are facing a dilemma this week as they watch around £1 million worth of flowers wither in the fields while other companies continue to take advantage of strong supermarket demand.

Farm directors of the award-winning Grampian Growers co-operative based at Montrose unanimously took the “moral and ethical” decision last week to stop picking daffodils, despite receiving no clear guidance from the Scottish Government or Police Scotland.

However other flower businesses are continuing with their annual harvest to meet pre-Easter demand from supermarkets, excluding Sainsbury’s and the Co-op which delisted all horticultural produce from stores in response to Covid-19.

Grampian Growers managing director Mark Clark said it would be possible to comply with social spacing requirements in the company’s pack house and fields – where pickers could be up to six metres apart – and he appealed for clarity as 3.6m bunches of daffodils ripen in the fields.

Mr Clark said the company had been in discussion with the Scottish Government and Police Scotland all weekend and it would be up to Grampian Growers directors to decide what to do once they get a definitive answer on whether or not they are allowed to operate.

“It’s very unlikely we will change our decision, and 70% of our pickers have understandably already gone home to Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Romania, but there are other businesses still picking,” he said.

“We’ve lost a million bunches over the last three days but we’re putting lives and safety above everything. However this huge inconsistency is putting the whole industry in limbo.”

Export markets to America and Europe have closed and Grampian Growers now face writing off the remainder of the annual harvest.

nnicolson@thecourier.co.uk