THE asparagus war came to a head this week when Cobrey Farms, near Ross-on-Wye, emerged clear winners of the battle in the region to get the first of this year's home-grown crop into the big stores.

The race for the supermarkets to stock the first crop is an eagerly-awaited event in the fresh-produce calendar and for Marks & Spencer, who claim to have won it, it was the earliest that locally-produced asparagus had been sold in their store.

Mrs Gay Chinn from Cobrey Farms said the first cut was on March 24 - five days earlier than last year and a week ahead of the target date for this year.

Traditionally, British asparagus does not go on sale until May 1, although in recent years it has entered stores in mid-to-late April, thanks to warmer winters.

"I cannot say that we were the first to cut in the whole country but certainly one of the very earliest and our supplies to M&S were the first in the region," she said.

"We are doing our best to not only bring the season forward but also extend it with our growing initiatives until the end of July. Traditionally, the season used to finish on June 20."

Besides M&S, the Ross-on-Wye enterprise supplies several other outlets.

Cobrey Farms have a total of 300 acres of asparagus planted and will be harvesting from about 200 acres this summer. A few years ago the holding was concentrating on potatoes and although still growing them it was decided to diversify into asparagus.

The holding was in celebratory mood this week after winning the Grocer Magaz-ine's Vegetable Grower of the Year Award for the success of their asparagus crop.