Rooting for farming's future

The brilliant bunch of farmers who joined forces to launch British Carrot Day 2025

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We meet the fourth generation of a carrot growing family as preparations get underway for a national day to celebrate this often-overlooked hero of the veg rack ...

While his classmates were heading off on holiday after sitting their GCSE exams, a 16-year-old Will Hunter was climbing behind the wheel of a tractor and carting carrots from the field.

“I started full-time work on the farm the day I left school,” recalls Will. “My dad was keen for me to get experience of every single job. It was really important to him that I would never ask anybody to do a job that I couldn’t do myself.”

Will, now 31, is one of a small group of six farm businesses, all members of the British Carrot Growers Association, who have dug into their own pockets to fund a national celebration of - to give them their Sunday name - Carota sativa.

British Carrot Day 2025 will take place on Friday, October 3rd and plans are coming together for this national celebration of all-things carrot.

The farmers dipped their toe into organising a day dedicated to carrots last year and are determined this autumn’s efforts will become an annual event to encourage people to buy, get creative, eat, and cook with carrots.

“It’s not just recipes and nutritional information - carrots are especially high in Vitamin A, Vitamin K, and fibre - we want to share their field to fork journey; the story of the farmers who grow them,” explains Will.

But why? Surely we all buy and eat carrots anyway ...

CARROTS SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED