Josiah Meldrum on how Hodmedod’s hit on the pulse of British-grown produce | Analysis & Features

A cause of flatulence. A dull vegan staple. More punishment than pleasure. British pulses have long suffered an image problem. But it wasn’t always like this. Fava beans were a staple in Britain for over 3,000 years and even featured prominently in the first known English cookery book in the 14th century.

B Corp benefits

Here again though, change may now be afoot. Hodmedod’s brand of local traceability helped sales jump 2,000% overnight at the start of the pandemic.

Commercial interest is also on the rise. Meldrum attributes much of this to the B Corp process, “which has forced a lot of brands to think very differently about their relationship with their primary production”.

“We’re getting calls from people who say: our product contains chickpeas and we don’t even know where they’re from. They hadn’t realised their manufacturer would just be fishing on a global commodity market to find the cheapest chickpeas.”

The sheer impact of Hodmedod’s on mindsets is particularly surprising given that turnover remains a shade under £2m – not much bigger than a convenience store. Processors once laughed at the trio for suggesting fava beans could be retailed to the public. Today Hodmedod’s struggles to keep up with demand.

British grown lentils, chickpeas and saffron, meanwhile, are all now available thanks to Hodmedod’s pioneering agronomy. Some, like quinoa, had been growing on British farms since the 1980s, but was used for bird feed. Others, like camelina, were grown as part of jet fuel trials to try and reduce emissions. Now they’re sold as an ingredient for baking.

Hodmedod’s does not farm itself, but works with about 25 farmers around the UK to sell their produce on through hospitality, wholesale, and online. Meldrum is well aware this places them in the realm of “middlemen – so often vilified as the person that skims off a percentage and doesn’t contribute much to the food system”.

Where Hodmedod’s is different, he explains, is that it uses its position to be a positive broker for change, acting as a channel of communication between farmers and customers, and helping to enable a more co-operative, sustainable, and equitable food system.

Hodmedod’s mission to be an “enabler of change” means it has a different approach to the major mults and manufacturers, Meldrum adds. “Their relationship with primary production is very extractive. They often tell farmers what the price is, when they want it, what the specification is. And farmers often agree because that’s the only customer they’ve got.”

These types of conversations often act as inhibitors of change. British-grown lentils, for example, were long hampered because of the food industry’s focus on making any UK grown crops as cheap as Canadian imports, says Meldrum.

So instead of immediately focusing on issues like how quickly volumes can grow to maximise profit, Hodmedod’s works with farmers to first establish if and how they could grow lentils, before exploring issues of scale and profitability.

The approach does mean higher prices. A 500g bag of Hodmedod’s chickpeas, for example, costs £3.79, compared with £1.20 for Waitrose own brand. But as Meldrum points out, “if we seem too niche and expensive, then why? Because we’re paying a fair price.”

Their collaborative approach is drawing attention. Meldrum takes two or three calls a week from farmers asking to supply them, while major supermarkets are also knocking on the door.

Meldrum is cautious, recognising that such a tie-up would be a “confrontation of models”. But he also acknowledges that fundamental change is nigh impossible without the supermarkets on board. “The question for us is whether we’re the business to go in and try and make that change.”