South East England
Did you know?
Some 622 farmers in the South East supply us with meat, poultry and eggs.
In Kent, we have worked with British strawberry growers to increase the quality and quantity of their strawberries and grow them for longer.
Bill and John Rix
All red and brown onions sold in Tesco stores in the South East will probably have been grown by brothers Bill and John Rix, whose company supplies us with almost half of all our onions sold throughout the UK. Based in Colchester, Essex, they packed 516 tonnes of onions each week for us last year - 12 times more than when they started working with us a decade ago. With sales growth of 30 per cent in the last year alone, they now employ around 100 local people.
Barfoots
Sweetcorn is an increasingly popular choice for a quick, healthy meal solution, thanks in part, to the efforts of Barfoots of Botley. The Hampshire-based company has developed varieties delivering the sweetest, freshest taste we know you like, in convenient microwaveable packaging.
A major local employer - with 400 staff - Barfoots say: "We feel it's important to support the neighbouring community, with events such as our charity Corn Festival to celebrate the harvest of our sweetcorn. We open our gates to 5,000 local people to show what we do and the crops we grow."
The company has worked in harmony with the Hampshire and Sussex countryside for generations, helping to reduce the decline of native birds and wildlife. It uses sophisticated satellite navigation technology to pinpoint soils requiring additional nutrients. This precision-targeted fertilizer application is more beneficial to the environment, particularly wild flora and fauna.
The company recently built a 10-million gallon reservoir to take water from the river during winter when the river is in full flow - indeed sometimes in flood! It is then stored for use in summer when water is scarce, again with precision targeting to reduce waste.
"You could say we're one of Tesco's children. From a small family-run business, supplying only courgettes, we have grown with Tesco over the past two decades," says Peter Barfoots, who now also supplies us with butternut squash, runner beans, broad beans and pumpkins - to name but a few.
Wight Salads
High levels of sunshine and the marine climate on the Isle of Wight mean Wight Salads can offer us UK organic tomatoes from February through to November. Tomatoes are one of our best selling organic lines, and it is not only the customers who are impressed. Bats, butterflies, badgers and buzzards are among the regular visitors to Wights' site.
The company's agronomist Dr Philip Morley said, "The Isle of Wight growing season is extended due to higher than average sunshine levels, which additionally contribute to increased sugar content and excellent eating quality of the fruit. This makes us ideally placed to grow delicious tomatoes."
Glinwell
We now sell organic fruit, veg, meat and bakery goods alongside conventional ranges. Not only can we offer an even wider selection, but also, we want to make shopping as easy as possible for you. We want all of the organic meat and milk we sell to be British and are working with suppliers to try to increase availability of British organic food. For example, St Albans supplier Glinwell moved from standard salad production to become our largest supplier of organic produce.