East Coast Viners is distinguished by three different qualities which set it apart from most of the rest of the UK pea-producing market - its company structure, its size and the scale of its investment in plant and expertise.

Company Structure
Unusually in the pea and broad bean-producing market, East Coast Viners is not a farming co-operative. The business is run by three farmer brothers and a farm manager, and pea-growing fields are rented from local farmers generally on a single-season basis.

This allows for better crop rotation, with healthier crops and yields, but also enables more efficient planning and management.

The Forbes family has grown peas in this fertile part of Scotland for over 35 years, and has in the process acquired unequalled first-hand expertise of planning and executing highly-efficient sowing, growing and harvesting programmes.

The farming family is completely dedicated to the business of growing peas and broad beans for the frozen food sector. It controls the entire process from buying the seed right through to the final packing, and employs an experienced team of fieldsmen to maintain the highest standards of hygiene controls and records.

Above all, however, the flat, responsive company management structure ensures East Coast Viners can react with speed, efficiency and authority when fielding trade purchasing enquiries from the domestic UK market or from overseas.

Size
With its current capacity of 9000 tonnes of peas and 300 tonnes of broad beans, East Coast Viners holds around 6% of the UK domestic market.

The company’s lengthy tradition of pea production, ability to supply all grades of peas and beans and extensive investment in harvesting and packing technologies make it one of the UK’s leading producers in the frozen vegetable market.

Investment in plant
East Coast Viners owns one of the country’s biggest fleets of FMC/PMC six-wheeled pea and bean harvesters, with six machines currently in service. These market-leading machines operate on a 24-hour basis during the harvesting season.