Little Gem

Across the UK season we are growing a portfolio of little gem varieties that see us through the course of the season, with key varieties coming from Enza, Hazera, Rijk Zwaan, Nunhems and Agri Seeds.

As we transition to our future farming agenda, which is changing the nutrition in our fields, we will closely monitor the performance of all of our varieties and variety mix to ensure our little gem continues to improve in this developing farming system.

A Consumer Favourite

Little gem was introduced into the Gs lettuce portfolio in the early 1980’s when one of our mangers found the typology in a garden center. Over recent years the varietal mix has been developed to give a fuller pack fill, while growing on a tighter density than other lettuce types.

Over the years consumer acceptance for the crop has continued to grow with 45% of UK households opting to buy a pack of little gem in the past 12 months.

Little gem is one of the more agronomically stable lettuces crops from a growing perspective.”

Georgi Kostadinov

Product Director Little Gem

Red Gem

While green little gem remains the biggest part of the category, we continue to develop our red gem offer, with a focus on delivering a taller plant, which has a high degree of red colouration, but without the bitterness that is traditionally present in red lettuce varieties.

Over recent years we have been trialing red varieties within the organic system, where growing under 100% under mesh is even more of a challenge for the varieties to deliver a optimum red colouration.

Density

As well as looking for agronomic benefits such as disease tolerance, we are testing growing on tighter spacings, to increase heads per square meter and ultimately yield from the field.

We are also looking at head shapes that suit mechanisation or speed of harvestability to ensure we are growing our little gem as efficiently as possible.