John’s farming base was originally sited between Maidenhead and Windsor, in Berkshire. He took over the business from his father who ran a traditional market garden.
He was one of the first UK growers to appreciate the importance of supplying supermarkets and soon installed vacuum-cooling facilities as cold-chain became a fundamental requirement to supplying the multiples.
In the salad crop market, he specialized in growing lettuce and spinach. He designed and developed the pillow-pack for spinach, which is still in use today.
John also grew a wide range of brassicas and was instrumental in popularizing calabrese in the UK. As his supermarket customers demanded year-round supply of produce, he began growing crops in Spain during the winter months thus enabling the company to provide continuity of supply twelve months of the year
Latterly, John started growing a range of fresh herbs from a new farm in Surrey.
John leaves a wife Helen, a daughter Lucy and son Ben, a brother William and sisters Elizabeth and Caroline.
A memorial service for John will take place at St. Michael’s church, Bray, on Friday, December 7th at 12-30.
John Emmett 1947 - 2018
