Duncan Farrington, Author at Farrington Oils

Although sugars have been stealing a lot of media coverage recently, it is still important to think about the amount and type of fats in your diet in relation to weight gain and health.
The following article by the British Nutrition Foundation explains why Mellow Yellow is a great source of the ideal type of fat we should be including in our diet.

What is fat?
Fat is a macronutrient (like protein and carbohydrate) and is made up of fatty acids. Fatty acids can be classified as saturated or unsaturated depending on their chemical structure. Unsaturated fatty acids include monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids. All fats provide 9 calories (kcal) per gram, which is more than double the number of calories provided by each gram of protein and carbohydrate that we eat (4 kcal per gram each). A high fat diet can, therefore, lead to weight gain over time.

Why do we need it?
Fat is a good source of energy and we need some of it in our diets to help our bodies to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Within the body, fatty acids form an integral part of our cell membranes, helping to insulate and protect our internal organs, maintaining our body temperature and is involved in lots of body processes such as the development of our brains and the communications which occur between different cells. Cholesterol is needed to produce bile acids, which help us to digest food, and also some of our hormones.
We are able to synthesise most of the specific fatty acids we need apart from two polyunsaturated fatty acids – alpha linolenic acid (an omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acid) and linoleic acid (an omega 6 polyunsaturated fatty acid). Your body needs these for brain development, growth and for a healthy immune system. They are described as ‘essential fatty acids’ as we need to obtain small amounts from our diet. Alpha-linolenic acid is found in rapeseed, walnut and soya oils and spreads made from these. Linoleic acid is also found in plant-based oils such as sunflower, corn, peanut, rapeseed, olive, safflower, sesame, walnut and soya oil and spreads made from these. Both of the essential fatty acids are present in smaller amounts in foods such as meat, eggs and oily fish.

How much fat should we be eating?
UK dietary guidelines recommend that adults consume no more than 35% of the energy from their foods from fat. This equates to roughly 90g of fat per day for men and 70g for women. Our fat intake in the UK has been falling since the 1960s and, on average, we are now eating around these amounts. While low-fat diets were promoted in previous years, diets containing a moderate amount of fat can be easier to adhere to. So while it is important to try to cut down your total fat consumption, if you are struggling to do this, focus on choosing healthier types of fat.

Saturated fat intake should be restricted to no more than 11% of food energy, which equates to roughly 30g for men and 20g for women, per day. This is because a high intake of saturated fat has been linked to high blood cholesterol, which is a well-known risk factor for heart disease. Aim to replace saturated fat in your diet with small amounts of unsaturated fats by opting for foods rich in unsaturated fats or complex carbohydrates such as wholegrain foods.

After nearly ten years, my monthly ramblings of life as a farmer, initially for a local village magazine and latterly for the Evening Telegraph; must come to an end as I need to spend more time helping our growing business.

Ten years ago, the economics of agriculture were not that inspiring and I was just starting out in a diversification project as Britain’s first person to grow, press and bottle rapeseed oil. In my mind this was going to be a small project to help supplement income from the farm, enabling Eli and me and, our young family to remain living and working on the farm. Little did I realise, that Farrington’s Mellow Yellow would become the success it has.

Within four years, Farrington Oils outgrew the farm in turnover. I had to start employing people and with it, learn very quickly how to find the right team to work with, as well as how to work with our increasing number of customers and meeting the many loyal consumers who buy our products that keep us all in business. I am very proud of the fact that in our little village of Hargrave, we now employ over 15 people. We have a fantastic team who are just as passionate about what we do here as I am.

There are many UK farmers now replicating what I started, of which there are three main brands, with us in the top two. However, while the success has been obvious, it is not the time to slow down resting on our laurels’. Competition is fierce keeping us all on our toes. As the market for cold pressed rapeseed oil matures, it is more important than ever to keep pushing forward, because if I don’t, others will and they could take our market. We are now looking for new customers both in the UK and abroad. I am delighted we are now; ‘exporting oil to the Arabs’ – its only small at the moment, but will hopefully grow, especially when Eli and I attend an international trade show in Dubai next February for example.

Closer to home as we need to travel the country visiting customers here, I have just invested in our first company car. To keep in line with our cool British credentials, it had to be a Mellow Yellow Mini from the local Mini dealer in Northampton and I love it. Mini is a successful British brand exporting 80% of what it produces, whilst this may be a tall order for Mellow Yellow, it is certainly something to aim for over the next few years. Look out for our soon to be branded Mellow Yellow Mini on the roads.

Thank-you to all of you who have read my diary over the last ten years, I can’t believe you could have put up with me complaining about the wrong type of weather on so many occasions. I have thoroughly enjoyed writing my diary and meeting so many readers over the years. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and all the best for 2016.

Harvest finished in the second week of September, it was a rather drawn out event in the end, but on the whole went well. The new combine was the highlight of the year, a great machine that will hopefully be serving us well for the next decade. However, being a farmer, there is always something to worry about and this year it is the prices. The collapse in milk prices over the last year has been well published; but now it is hitting home with me of the 30% reduction in grain prices also, with no immediate prospect of a recovery on the horizon.

To take my mind off impending gloom on the current viability of British agriculture, I was delighted that our work in Farrington Oils has come to the attention of some influential people, like His Royal Highness.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a mysterious phone call to say we had been selected for a royal visit, to the home of Farrington’s Mellow Yellow “if you are interested?” Of course, we were interested, but the catch was it all had to be arranged within a few days. The timing was perfect for us as we have been investing in the business, hence we had something to talk about and see.

We hastily invited local councillors, colleagues, and customers to the event, with everyone being asked to keep it quiet. The drivers and armed police came out to check everything were up to scratch, with no security issues. Floors were scrubbed, equipment polished, whilst my mother and Eli made some Mellow Yellow inspired cakes and made sure we had enough cups and saucers to hand.

It also allowed us to exert some pressure on the local engineers to finish off the work in time for the occasion, it being finally finished the evening beforehand. We have installed more oil presses, increasing our capacity by two-thirds, along with two impressive oil storage tanks, increasing capacity by 400%. On the morning we busily gave the new equipment a final check-over before starting it working, nervously checking for leaks and issues, before getting changed into suit and tie.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester came to visit, spending time touring our factory and meeting the team. He bottled his own oil, before enjoying refreshments, chatting to our guests. It was a great event, I was very proud to show off our team at Farrington Oils. I was delighted to talk about our investment in equipment, a new staff position to look after national sales and our two latest export customers in the Middle East and Asia.

Following the visit, everyone was really pleased with a job well done, although exhausted. It is fantastic for company moral to be able to do something different and exciting occasionally; to invite customers and other guests to show them first hand what we do and, to be proud of our village and our county.

Day 32 in this year’s harvest and exhaustion has taken over from adrenalin. After an initial rain interrupted false start, the rape harvest went without a hitch, which despite the lack of rain in the months before, produced a pleasing ‘good average’ result. Following the rapeseed, we moved straight into to some early wheat on light land that had died a premature death from lack of moisture. This also flew by in record time, although the low yield had something to do with the speed we moved across the acres. Everything went to plan, no machinery breakdowns, long dry days and plenty of packed lunches and supplies to keep us going for two weeks without a stop, clocking up more hours than I like to think about.

Following the early wheat, we then had to be patient and wait for the next bit to mature. The weather was still perfect for combining, many neighbours were at it, but we had to wait a few more days. This is frustrating, as with experience the weather will change at any time. In theory, we only had another two weeks of combining and it would all be done for another year.

Finally, the wheat was just about ready, we combined one field with a very pleasing yield on our heavy land that I would not have expected only a month earlier. Then the rain arrived. The weather reports say the Jet Stream has gone south and our island nation is stuck between a high and a low-pressure system battling it out; the result being a prolonged period of sunshine and showers. All pretty standard, but frustrating never the less. We have now finished all of our winter wheat, combining as soon as the conditions allow, in a stop-start fashion resulting in us harvesting the same hours in a week as we were doing in a day at the start of harvest.

When conditions are like this, it is difficult to keep the adrenalin and motivation going, having to ensure we are absolutely ready in the right place when conditions are right. Late one Saturday night we needed to move the combine 300 metres from one field to another when a tyre blew on a trailer. Quickly Marvin and I got the compressor and tools to try to repair the tyre, but could soon see it was not going to happen. Rain was due the next day and we wanted to keep going. Time for blocks of wood and the forklift, and we were able to drag the trailer to the next field so the work could continue a bit longer.

We still have another few days worth of harvest to do, but I don’t know when we will get these days as August now turns into September. Father, Marvin and I have worked hard over the last month, we are all getting a little tired and some may sit grumpily at times. It is standard procedure and something long-suffering farmers’ wives and families have to put up with on an annual basis. Something I try to remember, as, without the support team in the background, the job would be impossible.

In the following weeks of June, we have been getting ready to harvest which will now soon be upon us. Marvin has been busy cleaning the grain store from top to bottom, with the help of a German exchange student who stayed with us for five weeks to learn about life on a British farm. He has also methodically gone through every piece of machinery that will be used over the next four months. Each machine has been brought to the workshop. Worn out or broken bearings, pipes, electrical wires, and parts have been repaired and replaced, before the machine is then washed and greased in readiness for work. No doubt there will be something we have missed which will come to light as soon as the machine is used, but good preparations should reduce the chances of downtime when we don’t need it.

At the same time, we are currently making the largest investment to date in Farrington Oils, increasing our oil pressing capacity by two-thirds. I have bought four extra oil presses and storage tanks that have arrived and are waiting to be installed. Father and others are fabricating hoppers and frames for the installation. It is a full team effort in order to get everything finished before harvest, firstly because we will not have time for building projects once the combine starts rolling and secondly because we need the space, as the farm yard currently looks more like an engineering works with half-built machines scattered around the place.

The weather continues to be wonderful in Hargrave over the last few weeks. Unfortunately, although I hate to say, but a little rain would have been appreciated. One day my daughters came back from school in the nearby town, soaked to the skin from a heavy rain storm while they were playing sport, while the sun continued to shine in Hargrave. It is a common occurrence that rain misses Hargrave; there must be some very righteous people living in our village. My only hope is that we do not get a repeat of last year, where the heavens open during August, which was the wettest month of last year by some margin.

Farrington’s Mellow Yellow’s commitment to environmentally sustainable farming has been recognised in The Grocer Gold Awards 2015, the most prestigious awards in the food and drinks industry. The company were shortlisted as finalists in The Green Initiative of the Year category. The awards focus on key business areas including innovation and customer satisfaction and this is a new category for 2015 recognising ‘specific and material achievements’.

Farrington’s Mellow Yellow launched in 2005 but it was two years before its launch in 2003 that farmer Duncan Farrington decided to become a LEAF Demonstration Farm and planted his rapeseed crops under the LEAF Marque standard. This decision to grow and produce his brand of cold pressed rapeseed oil to the highest environmental standards, raised the bar of British produced culinary oils as he led the growth of the sector within the UK.

Duncan has taken a long term approach to environmentally sustainable farming, changing the ethos of his family farm and making a commitment to continual trial, learning and development. Duncan joined LEAF in 1993 and has played a vital role in the wider organisation as a dedicated LEAF farmer.

One of the unique aspects of being a LEAF Demonstration Farm is the accessibility people have to the farm. From the nationwide Open Farm Sunday event to visits from local schools or Woman’s Institutes for example; Duncan regularly hosts farm walks. It is on these walks that you learn how agriculture and the environment go hand in hand and Farrington’s, like many other farmers, create the produce on your local supermarket shelf. Duncan’s personal passion is how he looks after his soils, using the very latest technologies, combined with traditional practices learned over centuries. Indeed, Duncan’s mantra is ‘From healthy soils, we produce healthy oils’.

Cold pressed rapeseed oil continues to grow in popularity and is much loved by chefs and home cooks alike who appreciate its culinary and health properties. Duncan Farrington said ‘Farrington’s Mellow Yellow is the only LEAF Marque branded cold pressed rapeseed oil, and highlights our unique approach to quality production that is at the core of our trusted brand. We are delighted to be recognised in The Grocer Gold Awards 2015’. The Grocer Gold 2015 Awards were announced at a prestigious event at Guildhall London on 9th June 2015. Duncan and Eli Farrington were joined by Caroline Drummond, Chief Executive LEAF, and Kelly Castelete, Marketing Manager for Farrington’s Mellow Yellow. Despite not winning the category, the company were thrilled to be shortlisted and enjoyed the chance to celebrate the success with customers including Booths, Ocado, Hello Fresh, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose.

It’s that time of year when farms around the country start getting our grain stores and machinery all cleaned and tidy, yards swept and gate posts painted. This is partly to ensure everything is in tip-top condition for when harvest starts next month but is also in readiness for the biggest day in the farming calendar. Open Farm Sunday, on 7th June, is the national open day for British Agriculture, where around 400 farms throughout the whole of the British Isles open their farm gates to show the general public what we do on modern working farms.

This year we are stepping over the county border into Cambridgeshire to help our neighbour, Michael Brown and his family at Bottom Farm in Covington. Michael grows many different crops, including borage, chard, and mangels, as well as the more standard wheat, barley, and rapeseed. We will be helping his team on farm walks, tractor and trailer rides, livestock displays, face painting and much more. There will, of course, be local food and drink for sale, but on the whole, Open Farm Sunday is all about getting the general public involved and hopefully interested in the where and how our food is produced, looking at the countryside and learning about the wildlife on farms. As such it is a free family day out which we will hopefully see some of you at ‘farmer Brown’s.’

Visit www.openfarmsunday.org to find out more about the whole day and a farm near you to visit. I have seen three farms in Northamptonshire this year, where in addition to the usual attractions, you can grind your own flour, talk to beekeepers, see how Northamptonshire cider is made and even see a working steam engine. It really is a great day out that has attracted over 1 million people onto farms over the years.

It has been a wonderful warm sunshine filled April. The blossom on the trees this year is spectacular, thanks to the excellent growing conditions last season allowing trees to make extra budding points on their branches, combined with the warm days and cool nights during April extending the blossom survival. In addition to the trees, other plants are also looking spectacular; the fields of rapeseed part way through their brilliant yellow blossom; or the cow slips, violets and other wildflowers along farm tracks and hedgerow bottoms showing off their colours. Over the next few weeks other plants will come out in blossom in a changing carpet of colour over the countryside. As well as plants, I have also noticed the first bumble bees and odd butterfly making appearances. The birds are also looking their best; the pair of Greater Spotted Woodpeckers on the bird feeder in the garden; the first swallows arriving from their winter’s travel; or the Grey Partridges having dust baths around the farm. No doubt bird watchers have made the most of the early mornings to hear the full dawn chorus. During this lovely whether, we have only had 15mm of rain during April. On our clay soils of Northamptonshire, such lack of rain soon starts showing with cracks appearing and a rock like texture on the surface. However, I’m not too worried as there is still plenty of moisture underneath, but admittedly our spring planted crops which have not got their roots down into that moisture could do with a good drink. No doubt as I write just before the May bank holiday weekend, the weather will change and that rain will arrive. The lack of rain got me thinking about ‘April Showers’ that are supposedly the norm, but looking back through my records, four out of the last five years have had less than 25mm (one inch) of rain during April. Not exactly a wet month then. I am delighted to report that our business has been selected as a finalist in the prestigious, The Grocer Gold Awards, in the Green Initiative of the Year category, alongside major retailers and household food brands. The award winners will be announced at a gala evening in London in June. So whether we win or not, I will clean down the Dinner Jacket and look forward to a great evening out with the big boys.

It’s amazing how a few consecutive days of dry weather completely changes one’s mood after the long wet winter. Fields that were water logged on a Monday morning and looking more appropriate for planting rice than wheat were, by Thursday afternoon, dry enough to start thinking about preparing the soil to plant our spring crops.

From an impatient farmer’s perspective, spring arrived around the middle of March, since when we have been working continuously. It is not just us, as all our neighbours are busy working away in their fields as everything appears to need doing at once.

The first job was to put some fertiliser on the autumn planted crops as soils warm up and day length increases, letting dormant crops realise it is time to start their long growth through spring. To achieve this growth, crops, like humans, require good nutrition to grow healthily, which is gained from the soil and some extra plant food in the form of fertiliser.

Fertiliser applied, attention turned to crops that are not yet planted. Firstly the spring beans, which were planted in pretty much ideal conditions in the third week of March. Next, it is the spring wheat this will take a bit longer to create an ideal seedbed, rather than rushing in just to get the job done quickly. We have started cultivation in preparation for the wheat, but on our heavy clay soils they can change from mud pie texture to concrete in the space of 36 hours, meaning that a mixture of perfect timing, a bit of luck and working with nature rather than fighting it is the name of the game.

In addition to being busy on the farm, we also start thinking about the new season of shows in Farrington Oils. Farrington’s Mellow Yellow is now ten years old and I have always enjoyed meeting customers at food shows, as they provide the perfect opportunity to explain to existing and potential customers why they may like to try our products. The first show of 2015 will be the BBC Good Food Show in Harrogate. We are currently putting the stand together in the office, making sure everything looks spick and span, ready to go, as well as making sure we can get it all in the back of a van to take to Yorkshire. If you are going, we will look forward to seeing you there. If not, then look out for us at other shows during 2015.

Kate Quilton and the team from Channel 4 Food Unwrapped visited Bottom Farm to see first hand how Duncan produces our brand of cold pressed rapeseed oil. Grown to LEAF Marque standards, our rapeseed is cold pressed on the farm. Cold pressing is a traditional process whereby the seeds are simply pressed and filtered and the oil’s natural properties are retained. Cold pressed rapeseed oil is becoming more and more popular as home cooks and chefs appreciate it’s culinary and health benefits. Duncan first launched Mellow Yellow cold pressed rapeseed oil in 2005 and was Britain’s first ‘seed to bottle’ producer, and today remain’s the only LEAF Marque branded rapeseed oil.

The programme airs Monday 20th April at 8 pm, Channel 4.