UK Leek Growers Turn To Genetics As Pressures Intensify

UK leek production is under growing pressure from climate volatility, rising input costs, and a steady reduction in available crop protection tools, prompting growers to place increasing emphasis on plant genetics and breeding innovation as a route to resilience.

Image: Patrick Allpress | British Leeks

For Cambridgeshire-based Allpress Farms, the long-term future of leek production will depend on how effectively farming systems, technology, and crop breeding evolve in step with environmental and commercial demands.

Wetter winters, more erratic seasons, and rising disease pressure are already disrupting vegetable production across the UK, while growers also contend with tighter retailer specifications, higher costs, and the continued withdrawal of chemical crop protection products.

Patrick Allpress, Farm Director at Allpress Farms, said those combined pressures have significantly reshaped operational decision-making at the family-run unit, which has been growing vegetables in the Cambridgeshire fens since 1965. 

Today the business farms more than 2,500 acres of onions, leeks, wheat, maize, and hybrid rye, and supplies major UK supermarkets via its own packing operation and full-time workforce of around 100 staff.

Sustainable Production

But to remain competitive, Allpress is relying increasingly on modern genetics, precision agriculture, and more sustainable production methods, although the farm retains strong roots in traditional fenland vegetable systems.

One of the most significant shifts has been a move away from direct drilling towards a fully plant-based establishment system, driven largely by the loss of seed treatments and increased vulnerability in early crop stages.

“Seedlings are vulnerable and we’re finding that without these tools we’re losing more and more plants,” Allpres said. “By moving to a purely planting system, we will reduce risk.”

Although more expensive to operate, the planting approach reduces the time crops spend exposed in-field, helping to limit disease risk and reduce reliance on pesticides.

Soil health has also become a key focus for long-term productivity at Allpress. 

The farm is using digestate from its anaerobic digestion facility alongside cover cropping and precision nutrient management to support the fragile peat-based fen soils that underpin allium production.

“Originally farms here would have been mixed and the organic content of soils was largely maintained through manure,” Allpress noted. “However, as farmers specialised, we’ve started taking more from soils than we’ve put back in.”

Plant Breeding 

Together with agronomic changes, Allpress Farms is convinced that on advances in plant breeding will act as a vital lever for the leek industry’s future resilience. 

The business hosts commercial leek variety trials to evaluate new genetics under real-world conditions, assessing disease resistance, yield, flavour, and market suitability.

“Genetics have a massive role to play,” Allpress said.

The trials are particularly focused on improving resistance to key challenges such as disease, thrips, fusarium, and pink stripe, while also meeting stringent retail requirements.

“Variety choice is crucial,” Allpress explained. “We are exploring those characteristics we want for the future.”

Newer techniques such as gene editing and advanced breeding techniques could accelerate the development of more resilient leek varieties capable of withstanding increasing climate and disease pressure.

Disease Resistance

Disease management remains one of the sector’s most significant challenges, particularly as chemical crop protection options continue to decline.

“One of the biggest challenges is the loss of chemistry,” Allpress said. “Thrips and basal rot fusarium are particularly difficult to control.”

In response, the farm is placing greater emphasis on forecasting tools, pest monitoring, and the use of naturally resistant varieties. 

For organic production, varieties including Maxton, Bokston, and Yeston are used specifically for their resistance traits to thrips and yellow rust.

“When you’ve no crop protection products to help you get through our winters, which can be harsh, wet, and/or changeable, that resistance is crucial,” Allpress said.

He also noted a marked increase in fusarium pressure in onions in recent seasons.

“In recent years, fusarium in onions has been the worst it has ever been and nobody really knows why,” he said.

“Climate change, increases in cover crops, loss of crop protection products are probably all playing a role.”

Retailer Influence

Retail demand is also influencing agronomic and breeding priorities, particularly in pre-pack markets which now dominate production for Allpress.

“For us, it is predominantly, 80%, pre-pack, so we’re looking to produce two leeks that weigh 500g,” Allpress said. “That means long leeks with good shaft length.”

There is also increasing emphasis on flavour, cleanability, packability, and resilience to disease.

Looking ahead, Allpress believes the viability of UK leek production will depend on how successfully genetics, agronomy, and sustainability strategies can be integrated to meet intensifying environmental and economic pressures. 

Source: Farming UK