Barfoots of Botley has struck a deal with Tesco to supply locally grown sweetcorn to stores in southern England. 

Local sweetcorn went into Hampshire and Sussex Tesco stores last weekend, while Isle of Wight sweetcorn was launched into the retailer’s Ryde store.

Sweetcorn was growing in popularity on the back of its health credentials, Tesco said. The vegetable is rich in carbohydrates and sugars, as well as containing vitamins A, B3 and C, folic acid, fibre and protein.

The sweetcorn deal is part of a Tesco commitment to increase the number of local products in its stores and drive sales up to £1bn a year by 2011. Tesco said it had increased the total number of local lines by 500 to 3,500 over the past year, with “new lines launching every week”.

Tesco locally sourced products, which come from the county in which they are sold, accounted for £450m in sales in the past financial year.