The British Carrot Growers Association (BCGA) held its annual demonstration day in Honingham, between Norwich and Dereham, to share insights between farmers, seed breeders and industry professionals.
The British Carrot Growers Association’s 2025 demonstration day was hosted by Tompsett Growers in Honingham, near Norwich(Image: Chris Hill)
Visitors toured 85 trial plots, comparing carrot varieties for characteristics ranging from root colour, shape and length to potential yields and disease resistance.
Meanwhile, 30 exhibition stands showcased agri-tech innovations and machinery including optical colour sorters, laser weeders, autonomous farming robots and precision seed drills.
READ MORE: British Carrot Day 2025 – nine amazing facts about carrots
Ian Hall, farms director at Tompsett Burgess Growers, which hosted the event, said it offered carrot growers a “valuable insight” into variety performance and technology advances.
“It gives us an idea of how varieties will perform in totally different conditions, in different locations and soil types and growing regimes, different watering schedules,” he said.
“I think generally people are surprised at what goes into modern farming. We are not just some carrot-crunchers.
“At the end of the day, you go in the field and everything is nice and straight, because when we start field operations we do it all on satellite steering, and that creates a line for all our operations, so all cultivations are done with the wheels in exactly the same place.
“I can keep everything square on the bed, which means that there is equal amounts of soil on the edge of each row, that retains the moisture so you can keep optimum yield. It is all about attention to detail, really.”
Exhibitors included Thomas Beach, managing director of Warwickshire-based machine dealer Autonomous Agri Solutions, which specialises in bringing global tech innovations to UK farms.
They include the Danish-built Robotti, a self-propelled driverless robotic tractor, high-precision spot sprayers which can reduce agrochemical use by up to 85pc, and a self-propelled laser weeder from Pixelfarming Robotics in the Netherlands.
He said: “Carrots are an interesting one – they are a high-value crop, which is grown very accurately, so it is a great position to start introducing some of this new technology.
“Straight from day one, we ask how we can understand the soil to understand where to place the seed, then use the right technology to put that seed in the right place at the right depth, then following it through the growing cycle to keep looking at the crop using AI (artificial intelligence) and camera systems to really provide actionable insights. So, from the data we gather, we are making decisions that have a real-world impact.”
Among the visitors drawn to the event was Eric Woolson, a former journalist from Iowa in the USA, who is writing a book about carrots.
He travelled to Norfolk specifically for the demonstration day, and said his research has also taken him to California, Sicily and Malta – adding to the expertise and fascination about the crop which he gained from years of writing articles for Carrot Country magazine.
“You just think of this little orange stick that people buy in the grocery store, but you don’t think of all the machines to package and plant it, the marketing that goes on, the seed research, and all theses different varieties,” he said.
“Farmers are talking about yield, consumers are focused on price, but here we are also talking about taste today, so there is a lot that goes into this industry that I don’t think people appreciate. We take carrots for granted, so let’s tell the story about carrots.”
