Britians largest chrysanthemum grower closes

It is the end of an era as Britians largest chrysanthemum grower, Donaldsons, closes down .  The company supplied Sainsbury's with 16 million stems each year. Over the past four years 8ha of chrysanthemums have been lost in West Sussex alone, the heart of this industry. the main reasons are supermarket price pressure, high energy costs and cheap imports. In the 1970's there were 120 growers producing 60 million strems, but times have changed. The nursery will now go over to strawberry production, where a better return can be made.