DOWNPOUR or drought, you can't please all of the people all of the time, but for Worcestershire Chantenay carrot grower Ross Howard conditions couldn't be better as he eagerly anticipates his summer crop in the next four weeks.

Weather permitting, his Chantenay fields, near Kidderminster, will produce the first of the new season's crop, ahead of the country's other growing regions, Norfolk, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire.

Ross and his brothers Max and Andy began a Chantenay renaissance seven years ago when consumers were hungrily looking for vegetables that tasted like they used to.

Now the Howard brothers grow several hundred acres each year, working with farms such as Andrew Symonds, near Stourport-on-Severn, where he has 20 acres of Chantenay growing, which will supply major supermarkets and independent stores up and down the country.

Very popular in the 50s and 60s, small and sweet tasting Chantenay carrots went out of favour with growers because of their demanding growing conditions.

Not only must they have the very best soil and farming practices to help them grow, they are very fussy about water, needing not too much or too little. Ross said: "We've had some fabulous sunshine over the past few weeks, but our carrots do need water. If this mix of weather keeps up we can forecast a good crop by mid-June.

"The race is now on to see which county will produce the first crop and I'd really like to see Worcestershire come out on top."