the watercress alliance | from seed to store | responsible farming

The Watercress Alliance strives wherever possible to farm hand in hand with nature and works with the Farm and Wildlife Advisory Group and other consultancy bodies to carry out environmental best practice.

For instance, to avoid the use of pesticides, discussions are held with neighbouring farms to try to ensure that oil seed rape is not grown in fields adjacent to the watercress beds (and payments are sometimes made to ensure this is the case) as this plant is often host to the same pests which attack watercress; gravel is "recycled"; farmers now voluntarily "give up" the edges of the watercress beds to the birds which love to feed on the plant; crayfish and otters have made their home in rivers alongside some of the watercress farms in Hampshire and every effort is being made to enhance their habitat.

It is a refreshing thought that the watercress we eat now is from a plant that has hardly changed since the days of the ancient Romans. It is grown in mineral rich spring water running over washed gravel beds, whose huge green carpets are home to Kingfishers, Meadow Pipits, Warblers and Snipes and many other rare birds - a veritable twitchers' paradise.

Grown on gravel beds and washed by pure spring water, watercress was a natural convert to organic production. Today, over five per cent of the market is grown to the Soil Association's strict standards. Organic watercress is available at Tesco, Sainsbury, Waitrose and M & S.