CHILDREN across the county are being encouraged to get creative while supporting Britain’s farming industry.

Budding young poets from from across Cornwall are being invited to flex their literary skills as part of a competition celebrating the country’s pea growers. To celebrate this year’s Great British Pea Week, which runs from July 7 to July 13, 2025, Yes Peas!, the campaign dedicated to championing the UK’s frozen pea industry, is launching a nationwide pea-themed poetry competition for pea-loving children.

The highly successful Yes Peas! campaign is run by the British Growers Association and funded by growers, freezers and machinery companies from the vining pea sector. The campaign aims to promote the versatility, provenance and nutritional benefits of frozen peas and engages with consumers to inspire them to use peas as an ingredient, as well as an accompaniment, to meals.

Those entering the competition aren’t only supporting growers, there is also a prize for the best poems. The winning young poet will receive a pea-themed goodie bundle worth £150 packed with lots of pea-tastic cooking treats, alongside receiving the unique honour of having a real pea viner named after them. That’s right – a giant harvesting machine, officially bearing their name, in tribute to their poetic pea passion!

Open to children aged between five and 11 across the UK, the competition invites children to write an original poem celebrating their love of peas. Whether it’s a haiku about the pea harvest or a rhyming tribute to their dinner plate favourite, anything goes – as long as it’s pea-themed! After receiving entries, a panel of pea-loving enthusiasts will review the submissions and select the winner based on creativity, enthusiasm, and how well the poem celebrates the small but mighty pea.

The competition coincides with the tenth anniversary of Great British Pea Week, an annual celebration of the UK’s dedicated frozen pea industry. Every year, more than two-billion portions - which is measured at 80 grams - of peas are grown across the country during a fast-paced eight-week harvest, going from field to frozen in under two and a half hours and helping keep the UK 90 per cent self-sufficient in pea production. The occasion also encourages households to make peas the star of any dish – whether added into a risotto, mashed onto toast, or blitzed into a soup.

Lisa Stannard, at the British Growers Association has praised how unique the competition is and how it hopes to encourage healthy eating.

She commented: “What other poetry competition lets children name a giant harvesting machine and celebrate one of the UK’s most loved veggies?! We’ve launched this competition to get kids thinking creatively about healthy eating and British farming, and we can’t wait to see what brilliant and imaginative poems they come up with!”

Entries are open now to all children aged between five-years-old and 11-years-old, with the competition closing on Sunday, August 31. Those looking to submit an entry can do so via email to [email protected].