Angus Soft Fruits boss publishes report on growing share of value chain

Angus Soft Fruits managing director John Gray has published his Nuffield Farming report exploring how fresh produce growers can grow their share of the value chain.

The full report, sponsored by The Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland and The Worshipful Company of Fruiterers, and is now available on the Nuffield Farming report library.

Gray’s report video is available on the Nuffield Farming YouTube channel and a recording of him presenting his findings at the Nuffield Farming Conference can be found here.

In his report, he said: “The UK berry sector is facing extremely challenging times. After many successful years, over the past four years costs of production have increased by approximately 40 per cent. At the same time, output returns have increased by approximately 20 per cent, resulting in a significant margin gap.”

Gray travelled across the world meeting breeders, growers and marketers to learn how growers can increase their share of the value chain. During his scholarship, Gray travelled to the Netherlands, Norway, Japan, Singapore, New Zealand, and Australia.

“New techniques in breeding, namely molecular marker assisted breeding and gene-editing are speeding up the development of new berry varieties,” Gray said.

“This is likely to bring benefits to growers in terms of higher yields and improved disease resistance which should allow for lower costs of production.”

In the UK, most berries are produced in polytunnels, whereas in the Netherlands intensive glasshouse systems are more common.

“These systems, whilst initially a lot more expensive, allow for large yields per hectare. And should a cheaper source of energy be available, these systems represent an opportunity to increase efficiencies and to extend the availability of UK berries.”

Gray also noted that there are growing markets for berries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

“These countries have rapidly expanding middle classes who are prepared to pay the same or more than European consumers for berries. Due to their tropical climates, they will import berries for many years to come.

“These markets represent an opportunity for UK growers to spread their risk and ultimately add more value to their businesses.”

Investing in people can also have an impact on business success, Gray emphasised. “World-class individuals, when nurtured and empowered, drive businesses forward, fostering innovation and sustainable growth,” he said.

Gray’s study objectives:

To understand how fresh produce growers can increase their share of the value chain by focusing on breeding, production and marketing.

Key messages from Gray’s report:

• We can make significant gains through breeding by utilising new technology and techniques including gene-editing, molecular marker assistance, and growing from seed.
• We can adopt higher-tech, data-driven production systems to extend our season of production in the UK.
• We have the opportunity to develop new export markets, but to do this we need to collaborate as an industry to gain market access and promote our berries internationally.
• We should invest more in people, both management and workers, as they are the key drivers of success.