Blueberry production in the UK may still only occupy a niche market, but the almost insatiable year-round public appetite for the media’s favourite “superfood” means that the industry is poised to change.
David Trehane, managing director of the Dorset Blueberry Company (DBC) at Hampreston - the country’s largest, and only third-generation, blueberry grower who has been extolling the fruit’s virtues for many years - says the tempo has already altered irrevocably.
Still virtually the UK’s only major source, Trehane estimates that just five years ago, there were only about five acres under commercial production in the entire country. But trade estimates indicate that this could be as high as 600a within three years, as other berry-fruit growers have taken up the challenge and their plantations move into volume production.
Blueberries thrive on acidic soil in the open - the principal reason behind Trehane’s location. The right mix of soil and climate enhances their flavour and has given the English crop a reputation for premium quality during a season that stretches through the summer from July to September.
In one sense a breakthrough has also been the development of bushes in pots grown on specially-prepared substrate rather than in open fields, if conditions are less suitable.
From planting it takes around four years before regular cropping, which can average around 6lbs per plant. But bushes last for a long time. Some of the selected DBC varieties can trace their history back to the days when the family began cultivation in 1959.
Now, Trehane has some 20a based on early Duke harvested in July, followed by Bluecrop and Brigitta. He has planted a further five acres this year, including trial varieties from New Zealand.
This is only part of the story, for apart from planning a major expansion in the years ahead, Trehane is already developing plots as far afield as Scotland, Devon, Hereford and Kent, supplying bushes to a new generation of growers.
“In total we would expect to represent around 50a,” he says, “which will be marketed by us exclusively through the Summer Fruit Company.”
Ian Waller, marketing director of the Summer Fruit Company, confirms that more of his growers are taking an interest in the potential of blueberries. “We have been market leaders selling the high-quality English crop for several years, so it is particularly encouraging that more of our growers are beginning to invest in production,” he says. “It is obviously a long-term project, but there is confidence in the industry because of the explosion in consumer demand.”
Following suit with a massive programme - which is on course for 2007 - is BerryWorld. Tim Newton, technical director, reveals that five growers which supply the marketing group with other berry lines have even bigger plans.
“By next spring we will have 150a planted as part of a strategy to expand by 50a a year,” he says. Fruit is being grown in several parts of the country, ranging from the south of England, the East Midlands and north of the border. The varieties are those common to northern Europe.
A similar pattern is emerging among KG producers. Nicholas Marston, managing director, says that at present its members have 40a in production and this will reach 100a by 2006.
There is a wealth of evidence pointing to the fact that the market is there for the taking. In the last three years, the total value of the market at retail level, according to TNS data has risen from £11.8 million to £49.8m.
While the English season does not conflict with winter supply sources, including Chile, the US, the Antipodes and southern Europe, Trehane says the combination of a boom in consumption and consistently higher quality product will retain the home-grown fruit’s competitiveness against the Polish and Dutch alternatives. ‘There is no reason why English and Scottish growers should compete against each other,” he says. “Provided we maintain points of difference as a quality product.”
He is particularly interested in developing the sales of larger sizes, which have already become known as King berries in the industry. Another avenue along which he has travelled is to convert to organic production. Already 40 per cent of DBC’s output fulfils this criteria, and a similar acreage is at the conversion stage. “It will add a new dimension to the market and returns are around 30 to 40 per cent higher than for the conventional crop,” Trehane reveals.
There is also more potential in other directions, reflecting the versatility of the fruit with its use in baking and juices. “We have a use for every fruit we grow,” he says, “and we even have to import at present to keep up.”
And while more fresh fruit is the target, DBC already has a thriving arm of its business selling bushes for both fruit and patio decoration to enthusiastic gardeners by mail order or through garden centres.
Meanwhile, when autumn approaches there cannot be a more traditional berry fruit crop than blackberries gathered wild by the public from the hedgerows. Yet, surprisingly, until five years ago commercial production in the UK was slumbering in a lengthy spell of stagnation.
At a major fruit conference only three years ago, East Anglia grower and propagator Paul Walpole, a member of KG Fruits and one of the largest producers in the UK, estimated that there were probably only 50a of blackberries which met the needs of multiples, while other berry fruit sales had rocketed.
The situation appeared even more extraordinary when set against imports, which in many cases were far in excess of what the national UK market could even dream of providing, Walpole said at the time.
Since then, however, the picture has changed radically. Walpole, based near Kings Lynn, has 30a either in production or about to become commercial.
“There is definitely a resurgence of interest, helped by year-round availability,” he says. In one sense this is ironic as a decade ago, soft-fruit growers were grubbing up plantations due to a lack of profitability and concentrating on everbearer strawberries.
However, retailers’ strategies to widen their berry offer has not only been successful, but also encouraged demand due in no small part to the arrival of excellent quality imported varieties from as far afield as Chile and Mexico, and from European producers in Spain and the Netherlands. The result is that interest in the English industry has been renewed.
“Our bedrock has been the thorn-free Loch Ness bred by the Scottish Crop Research Institute in the mid 1980s, which has large, black, glossy fruit and a long shelf life,” says Walpole. “In one sense it has become the equivalent of Elsanta.”
Despite what he describes as a limited world breeding programme, growers are also turning their attention to varieties from other sources, such as the earlier cropping Chester from the US, and New Zealand’s Karaka Black.
However, while the good news is that the industry is expanding - estimates vary, but generally put the number of producers in operation now at around 100 - including those that have small plantations serving their own farm shops and p-y-o. Statistically, this still pales in comparison with strawberries and raspberries.
So what are the other reasons? Near Wisbech, Harriet Duncalfe, who has been growing the fruit for 10 years, says: “Blackberries are no longer seen as part of pies and puddings. They are being enjoyed as fresh fruit because of the quality of the new varieties coming forward, and recognised as health-giving and in this sense very close to blueberries.”
Anthony Snell who has a similar acreage near Ross-on-Wye is planning to double production by moving away from traditional varieties, such as Loch Ness, its relation Loch Tay and Chester, to the new, sweeter US strains which are being brought in by KG through a reciprocal berry fruit arrangement with US breeder and partner Driscoll.
“I believe these are more advanced flavour-wise and will do well,” Snell says.
Proof of this is already apparent on Adam Shorter’s farm in Kent, where he has 14a and has just planted a further seven under Driscoll’s Carmel, Simon Cowles and a selection from New Zealand.
At KG, Marston estimates that “blackberries, in total, probably only contribute around 3.5 per cent of the berry fruit market. “But since 2004, according to official TNS data, the fruit’s retail value has risen from around £2.7m to £11.6m.
The UK crop is being grown under protection and in the open for a season that runs from from July to October. It is still rising annually. Including imports, the UK fresh market has seen a rise from 172 tonnes in 2003 to just over 400t last year.
Eighteen months ago, KG reached a point were Marston felt there was sufficient UK volume to provide continuity to retailers.
He also says that improved eating quality has firmly placed the product into the category of fresh dessert fruit. And availability has broadened. “There was a time when there were gaps throughout the year,” he remembers. “Now Mexico supplies the market from October until April, followed by Spain before the English season starts. However, there is a challenge for us to fill both the May/June gap, and again when there is demand for autumn fruit.”
Marston believes this will ultimately be achieved, and points to the limited volumes of glasshouse produced blackberries, although he admits this is an expensive way to produce. Later in the year he says there is the potential for expansion if suitable primocanes can be developed.
At the same time, for the second season in succession, the UK’s blackcurrant growers are out to convince non-converted consumers they are not just missing a treat but the product can rate as one of the healthiest fruits on the produce shelves because of its high Vitamin C content.
While the majority of the average 14,000t crop goes to the drink and food manufacturing companies, Jo Hilditch, chairman of the Blackcurrant Foundation, believes there is big potential for the three to five per cent of the crop that is sold fresh.
She estimates there are a dozen producers concentrating on this market, with the bulk grown in Kent.
Clive Edmed who farms at Horsmonden has 12a based on Ben Conan and Ben Lomond, and is in the process of replacing a part of production since canes normally have a lifespan of around nine years.
His fruit, he says, finds its way into the major multiples, where as a niche producer he enjoys what he modestly calls a “dominant position.”
Meanwhile, the Foundation has raised £80,000, a similar figure to 2005, to launch a media campaign to get its message across, and the encouraging news is the crop is looking very promising.
Picking on the 2,000a which are spread in the main blackcurrant-growing regions of the UK begins in early July and lasts through until August, although Hilditch hints that a combination of advanced storage techniques and later-fruiting varieties could eventually extend this through to September.
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