Lecale Organics in London Sales Breakthrough

Northern Ireland's Lecale Organics, a farmer-owned and managed company, has won its first sales to the foodservice sector in London. The company is supplying organic pork loins to one of central London's leading hotel restaurants as well as bacon and sausages from its free range Tamworth herd for the hotel's breakfast tables.

Lecale Organics, based at Strangford in County Down, near a designated Area of Special Scientific Interest, was formed by three successful organic farmers, Michael McMullan, Jonathan Carson and Dale Orr, who have separate farms covering over 500 acres, in 2009.

The new business in London, secured through contacts, is the first in the foodservice sector won by the company, an initiative by the farmers to meet the growing demand for organic meats.

They've invested in a herd of Tamworth pigs, now grazing on the lush, clover rich grass of fields overlooking Strangford Lough, an internationally recognised conservation area.

Orr says: "Our Tamworth pigs, the only pig breed with an Irish ancestry, were created when Sir Robert Peel interbred his existing pig herd with pigs known as 'Irish Grazers' that he had encountered in Ireland in 1809.

"Tamworth breed pigs are perfectly adapted to organic farming as they are very hardy, able to withstand harsh outdoor weather conditions and will successfully grow on our forage-based ration of clovers, grasses, wheat, oats and peas.

"The pigs are all reared in a natural, healthy, stress-free environment to produce richly flavoured meat that can be enjoyed by our customers throughout the UK and Ireland. We've been supplying individual customers and are now keen to expand into foodservice particularly upmarket restaurants. The contract in London is an important reference site for us," he adds.

While all three have extensive experience of organic farming techniques, Orr has developed a successful and award winning farm shop business, Churchtown Farm, which has been boxing out organic beef, lamb, pork and free range poultry to customers throughout the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland since 2005.

Churchtown Farm has been included in 'The Bridgestone Food Guide' and recognised as one of the 'Best in Ireland' food artisans. In 2007 it also won the distinguished 'Bronze Award for Best Organic Food' in the 'Taste of Britain 2007' food competition sponsored by the Daily Telegraph and Sainsbury's.

Churchtown has also been recognised by the Daily Telegraph as one of the 'Top 50 Farm Shops' in the UK. Churchtown Farmhas seen its sales outside Northern Ireland increase 10 fold over the past two years and now account for 80 per cent of turnover.

Lecale Organics is a separate business that is able to draw on Churchtown's modern processing facilities and overall experience.

"The formation of Lecale Organics positions us for faster growth in organic products being projected by organisations such as the Soil Association. There is growing recognition of the need for environmentally sustainable production systems that are less reliant on fossil fuels."



Pic caption: Pictured L-R are: Dale Orr, Jonathan Carson and Harold McMullan.