A farmer in the Scottish Highlands has diversified into growing garlic and established a thriving gourmet business – with Calor playing a prominent part in the process.
 Glen and Gilli Allingham farm 415 acres at Craggie Farm, near Nairn. The main crop is seed potatoes, but over the past four years diversification into garlic has seen a rapid expansion of the farm’s business.
"We’re effectively landlocked by bigger neighbouring estates, so there’s really no prospect of us increasing our size. Instead, we have to intensify what we’re doing on our existing acreage – and that’s what led us to investigate garlic as a crop," says Glen.
The couple entered into a research project with the Scottish Agricultural College in 1999, growing a single acre. The trials proved successful and the Allinghams visited garlic growers in North America to discuss how best to develop their ideas.
"We learned a great deal about the best varieties to grow in a cooler climate," says Glen. "The Moray Firth has one of the driest climates in Scotland, but we’re still a long way north of traditional garlic growing areas."
The chosen garlic variety was a ‘hardnecked’ garlic, which offers a gourmet flavour and large cloves. Now a total of 15 acres is being grown at the foot of
the Cawdor Hills. The seed cloves are planted in October and harvested in July – and this requires the use of a reliable, clean and convenient fuel to power the crop drying equipment.
Calor was chosen as Craggie Farm’s fuel supplier following the recommendation of Stephen Wallace of Wallace Technology, who designed and installed the drying facility for the garlic crop. "I’ve worked with Calor for a number of years and been impressed by their service, reliability and technical expertise," he says. "When I considered Craggie Farm’s location and fuel needs, it was clear that LPG was the preferred fuel – and that meant talking to Calor."
A Harvest Installations seven stage constant humidity controller was installed to handle the two and a half tonnes of garlic bulbs harvested. Using cleaner burning Calor LPG, the drying equipment provides precise temperature and humidity control to ensure crop consistency and quality.
As the size of the acreage has increased, so too has the drying equipment and gas supply. Initially in 2001, one drying unit and one 2,000 litre Calor tank was in use. That grew in 2002 to two drying units using the same tank, but by the 2003 harvest three drying units and two 2,000 litre tanks were required to handle this year’s harvest of 25 tonnes.
"The reliability of the fuel supply is critical," says Glen. "We have to harvest the bulbs in the space of only a week, so we have to be sure that we have a supplier who can cope and if necessary, respond quickly."
Calor’s Gordon Milton, who worked with Wallace Technology on the installation of the drying equipment, says that crop drying is a rapidly growing area of Calor’s agricultural business. "It’s certainly unique to have a garlic farm so far north, but across the UK farmers are using LPG to ensure consistency of product.
"Glen’s crop, unique in Scotland, shows the wide range of applications for LPG, supported by Calor’s delivery network. It’s been a tremendous project to work on, and we’re looking forward to its continued success," he adds.
The enterprise has grown to such an extent that over 60 shops including Selfridges now stock Craggie Farm’s garlic. The bulbs have large, flavoursome cloves – only five or six, for easy use – and are referred to as "gourmet garlic" by
North American consumers.
A brand has been developed to set it apart as a premium product – The Really Garlicky Company produces garlic bread, garlic butter, garlic cream cheese and garlic relish as well as the pure garlic bulb. The brand is seeing increasing exposure beyond Scotland as delicatessens and farmers’ markets add it to their range. In addition, Celine Tetu has been recruited from France to assist with possible sales into Europe.
"We’re not averse to dealing with supermarkets either, providing they treat us fairly!" adds Glen. Backing up this view is the company’s latest contract - with Waitrose to supply Really Garlicky produce to 60 of its outlets across the UK. Testament to the flavour of the garlic and to Glen and Gilli’s passion for quality produce, is the couple’s regular participation in the Good Food Show and recent appearance on BBC television’s Rick Stein’s Food Heroes.
There are already plans to increase the acreage given over to garlic. Craggie Farm has taken a lead in showing the range of crops viable in diversification – and the range of applications in the use of LPG.
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