Fife food growers team up to get vegetable boxes to more households

Falkland Kitchen Farm, run by Bryde Marshall and Nat Dixon, is moving its farming operation to join East Neuk Market Garden on Balcaskie Estate by St Monans in the East Neuk.

The co-operative model has been trialled over the summer and has already allowed the growers to expand their distribution, which now combines St Andrews and the East Neuk with greater areas of Fife and into Perthshire and Dundee.

Weekly vegetable boxes have grown in number from 80 to 170 as the two growers combine their customers. Restaurants ranging from The Kinneuchar Inn and Baern Cafe, to The Dory Bistro and The Shoregate using their produce.

Tom Booth, from East Neuk Market Garden, said: “Joining forces with Nat and Bryde allows us to combine our knowledge, distribution routes and manage the business in a way that works better for us all. The collaboration so far has been a great success and we’re really looking forward to working even more closely together on one farm and doing that here at Balcaskie just makes sense where we’re in a great community of producers at Bowhouse.”

Tom started East Neuk Market Garden with Connie Hunter on rented land from the Balcaskie estate at Bowhouse in 2018. The business aims to grow food to feed local people and do it in a way which enhances and regenerates rather than degrades the wider ecosystem. They have expanded their growing space at Balcaskie, something which is an important consideration as demand continues to grow for their vegetables, herbs, salads and fruit.

Nat Dixon and Bryde Marshall have been growing at Falkland Estate since 2014. They’ve been growing over 70 varieties of fruit, veg and herbs which are sold to local retailers, restaurants and via a veg box scheme.

Bryde said: “Our joint hope is that this will make us a stronger team, allow us to share resources as well as costs and share childcare as we both navigate farming with young families. We're looking forward to working together, exploring cooperative working and being able to scale up our production to reach more people.”

Collectively East Neuk Market Garden and Falkland Kitchen Farm grow on four acres at Balcaskie Estate and there are opportunities to grow and develop on the land there. A new round of Pitch Up! launches this autumn, calling for businesses to join the group of producers based at Balcaskie and other like-minded farms across Britain. For more information and to sign up to email updates, go to pitchupandgrow.com

Rosie Jack, business development manager at Balcaskie Estate, said: “We’re happy to look at providing space and fertile ground for those who’d like to work in this way. We are always extremely keen to hear from both new and established businesses who’d like to get involved and base themselves here. We’re delighted to welcome Nat and Bryde to Balcaskie.”

Balcaskie Estate covers 2,000 acres. At its heart is Bowhouse, a growing community of producers, which works to transform local ingredients into artisan food and drink. The Bowhouse Market Weekends have become a well-established fixture, welcoming around 4,200 members of the public every month.

.