MARKING the busiest season for the UK pea industry, Great British Pea Week returns for its seventh year.

With two billion 80g portions of peas grown in the UK each year, Great British Pea Week, which takes place from July 4 to 10, celebrates the versatile vegetable and its hard-working farmers.

An annual celebration that champions the UK pea industry, the event inspires consumers to get creative in the kitchen and ensure peas are their vegetable of choice for everyday cooking.

The Yes Peas campaign launched Great British Pea Week to recognise the industry-wide effort made by experts across the pea vining sector, who work hard to produce two billion portions of peas for the UK market and beyond each year.

During the eight-week British harvest, farmers work in unison around the clock to harvest, shell and transport the peas from field to frozen as quickly as possible – with many making it to the factory and through the freezing process in under two and a half hours.

With the average Brit consuming about 9,000 peas a year, the pea harvest is critical in ensuring produce makes it to supermarket shelves to sustain the demand for the full year, with the British pea industry harvesting 160,000 tonnes of frozen peas each year.

Great British Pea Week champions the 700 pea farmers around the country, who work within 15 different grower groups to ensure that Great Britain remains the largest producer and consumer of frozen peas in Europe, maintaining the country’s impressive track record of being 90 per cent self-sufficient in pea production.

Coral Russell, Crop Associations Manager at the British Growers Association, which runs the Yes Peas! campaign, said: “British farmers are proudly recognised for their expertise when it comes to producing high quality peas, with the peas on our plate being the culmination of a full years hard work.

"Britain is 90 per cent self-sufficient in pea production, meaning nearly all peas in supermarket freezers going into your trolley or online order are most likely grown by British farmers on a British farm, resulting in the superior quality and flavour which we know and love.”

For further information, visit www.peas.org.