Company History
Formed in 1992 in East Kent, Intercrop is experienced fresh produce business, working at the forefront of innovation offering Machine Harvest with bespoke harvester, and developing niche and “difficult” crops.
Lift off!
Intercrop Ltd starts production of a range of whole head and baby leaf salad crops in East Kent
Y Viva España
Intercrop begins producing from SE Spain, providing 12 month continuity of supply and construction of the new Intercrop Offices commences
Iberica formed
Intercrop Iberica formed in Spain
Investors in People
Investors in People accreditation achieved
Guided hoe
Vision guided mechanical hoe introduced
Aussie planter
Automatic module planter imported from Australia
Solar introduced
Solar panels installed
MKIII Harvester
New baby leaf harvested designed and built with enhanced contaminant removal and UVC lighting introduced
First mechanical harvest
The first machine to mechanically harvest baby leaf salads is manufactured and oriental baby leaf types introduced from China and Japan
MKII Harvester
Mk II baby leaf harvester designed and built
Pioneers
Intercrop pioneers the first mechanical contaminant removal system for baby leaf harvesters and imports the New Zealand concept for baby leaf drilling
Salanova ®
First commercial Salanova produced and 45,000 m3 winter filled irrigation reservoir constructed
Fowlmead
Intercrop agrees to take on the management of local community Country Park
Buy out
Current management team complete a management buy out. Novel disc cutting harvester built, improving the quality of the cut leaf surface
New packhouse and coldstores
New 1000m2 packhouse and coldstores constructed. Automated planting through plastic and low tunnel errection providing improved quality and risk management of delicate crops
Our Team and Operations
UK Operation
Our UK farms are based on the East Kent coastline at Betteshanger and Sandwich Bay. These two areas benefit from warmer temperatures during the colder months and cooler temperatures during the peak of summer, due to the influence of the sea. This provides an early production site and good climate for the production of leafy salads. Soil types vary from silty clays at Betteshanger to light sands at Sandwich Bay, which provide different soil types for individual crops at different times of the year.
Spanish Operation
Our Spanish farms are based in southern Spain between the city of Cartagena and the sea side town of Los Alcazares. This area benefits from warmer temperatures for salad production during the winter months, due to the influence of the sea. Soil types vary from heavy clays towards Los Alcazares and lighter clays the closer you get to Cartagena which enable us to change production sites if needed during the production season.
Jackie Wall
Managing Director, Intercrop Group
Thane Goodrich
Technical Director, Intercrop Group
Mark Fletcher
General Manager, Intercrop Iberica S.L.U.
Jafar Golnabi
Technical Director, Intercrop Iberica S.L.U.
Alex Hamilton
Commercial Manager, Intercrop Iberica S.L.U.Intercrop currently employs 60 full time staff across the two businesses. In order to enable the company to operate successfully during peak season, seasonal workers are recruited. The number of seasonal staff is around 150 within the group, depending on production.
All new employees participate in a comprehensive Induction Programme to the organisation, enabling them to gain an understanding of the business and the role they will fulfil.
Intercrop recognises the importance and value of their employees as a key resource to the success of the business. The company offers the most motivated and ambitious individuals the opportunity to work at Intercrop and gain valuable skills and knowledge to further their development in their chosen career path.
Technical & Environment
The technical and environmental performance of our leafy salads is managed with integrity and critical evaluation as core values, and are based on a long history of industry leading standards.
Technical
Our management systems are developed on the principles of HACCP and TACCP. Together these help define the Policies and Procedures that deliver risk assessments and work processes to ensure safe, legal and quality salads.
IT systems are in place to record the detail of all operations that occur to individual crops, all crops are traceable from seed through to delivery.
Internal and external audits monitor our performance, and verify that controls are in place and effective to ensure due diligence. We have achieved certification for Assured Food Standard, Global GAP, BRC, LEAF Marque, IIP, Select Grower and Nurture.
A comprehensive schedule for sampling crop, water, soils, equipment and personnel is in place, which includes testing for chemical, nutritional and microbial analysis.
Environment
Our environmental performance is one of our core business pillars, as we recognise the importance of producing high quality leafy salads in a manner that is both sympathetic and supportive of the environment within which we operate.Our Integrated Management Plan accounts for waste management, pollution prevention, energy and natural resource use with objectives to reduce, re-use and recycle.
