Last year was an encouraging year for the industry, says Steve Cornwell, sales and procurement director at ScSMB Produce. “The UK experienced a very good summer, demand was above normal and the warm climate went a long way to promoting the salad trade as a whole.”
ScSMB is based in the UK’s main cucumber growing area, the Lea Valley. Responsible for launching the British Fresh Grower Group (BFGG), ScSMB now expects to market for 22 growers producing under full crop management systems and biological control. “This is our second year of operation for the BFGG,” says Cornwell, “and we expect our volumes to achieve 80,000 trays a week. This would be an increase of 25 per cent on last year, not because more produce has been grown, but because additional growers have joined the group. We intend to increase our business year-on-year and are looking to build and develop more glass, but in a very controlled way.”
The UK cucumber industry has rapidly progressed in recent years as growers work towards securing 12-month supplies. Despite strong competition from Spain and the Canary Islands Stubbins Marketing has a positive view of the future of UK-grown cucumbers, made stronger by the belief that year-round product from its own glasshouses is close to becoming a reality.
Although Spanish crop production will, in the short-term, remain the primary source for winter cucumbers, Stubbins’ technical director Andrew Haycock says there are now real possibilities that UK-grown produce will be available throughout the winter as a viable alternative to imports. “This year the winter weather in Spain has again caused issues associated with quality and availability of cucumbers,” he says. “We have seen a trend towards poor winter weather in Spain and problems of supply continuity for the last three years. With our investment in new glasshouse facilities and the use of the latest technologies including lighting and a new breed of mildew tolerant varieties, we want to achieve the goal of year-round supply as a buffer against potential problems in Spain.”
Stubbins’ winter crop of UK cucumbers from its glasshouse complex in Cambridgeshire, commenced early in January this year and has been described as a ground-breaking crop. The cucumbers were planted in late November but in the future this planting date will be earlier. With the introduction of supplementary lighting at key stages in the plants growth and development of the plant, Stubbins expects to have UK new crop in late November and to be able to bridge the difficult December gap period.
“We are in the process of building new glass with a completion date of July which will double the acreage designated for cucumbers,” says Steve Clarkson, Stubbins’ grower manager at the Cambridgeshire complex who is responsible for overseeing the next stage in the nursery development. “The new glass will be five metres in height and incorporate both thermal screens and artificial lighting with heat and carbon dioxide enrichment provided by the site combined heat and power unit. When completed we will have probably the most efficient cucumber production unit in the UK.”
Stubbins’ next project is associated with the concept of growing cucumbers in a closed production system. “The idea is to control the total environment within the glasshouse without opening and closing vents to the outside air to modifying temperature and humidity,” says Haycock. “The closed system relies on being able to vary water temperature to cool or heat the glasshouse environment according to plant needs through the use of heat exchange units. Trial results show a significant increase in crop yield and considerable cost savings associated not only with energy conservation but also with reduced pest and disease levels and a drop in water consumption.
“This is a fundamental change in the way we have produced crops in the past,” says Haycock, “but it is a system that provides many of the energy and environmental efficiencies for which we have been searching.”
Ongoing research and development has been central to the UK cucumber industry as it continues to evolve and there has been increasing focus on finding suitable varieties.
“The variety we are mainly growing this year is Aviance,” says Cornwell. “This produces consistent medium-size cucumbers with a higher percentage of class I fruit and we have convinced our growers this is paramount to meeting our customers’ needs. We supply major supermarkets, the catering sector and are very active in the wholesale market business, which is still an important part of our marketing strategy. We also trial different varieties every year and this is monitored by our technical manager Chris Smith.”
With the heavy demands of the business it is important to work closely with growers to help control the technical side as well as the commercial side, says Cornwell. “Our technical team ensures it keeps up-to-date with the on-going changes in our industry and we intend to carry out some trials this coming year with selected growers for growing under light in the autumn and winter to create a 12-month supply of UK cucumbers.”
Adequate light levels are as crucial to securing year-round cucumber crops and Stockbridge Technology Centre is in its first year of a year-round project. Its first crop has recently finished and the aim is to establish four crops a year for three years. “We are aiming to establish a baseline for production,” says STC’s Rob Jacobson. “We had the greenhouse fitted out in late summer and the first crop was planted at the beginning of November. There are one or two growers who have installed lights and already begun on year-round supplies so we are now looking at this from a production angle and in the sense of what can be done in terms of energy efficiency.”
The Cucumber Growers’ Association sees year-round production as vitally important, says Jacobson and many producers agree. “Undoubtedly the next shift in the industry will come from the use of lighting,” says Abbey View Produce’s managing director, Brian Hibbard. “However the cost of lighting - from the initial installation to the running - can be prohibitive, and I would question if it were rally worth the expense. It may not be a problem for one or two growers in the UK to implement these systems but not everyone can do it and continue to make a profit. Year-round production carries a high financial expense and if growers aren’t careful, sooner or later they will find out that this method costs too much - it is a fairly new science after all.”
There is, Hibbard continues, also the on-going question of competition to consider. “Cucumbers will continue to come from the Canary Islands and Spain so there could well be a situation of oversupply” he says. “This would be disastrous since margins are already so tight.
“The Canary Islands have good growing conditions. The ideal temperatures for production are between 17-18°C at night and 22°C during the day, which is near to what the Canary Islands have. In Spain the temperature can get a lot lower at night and this can lead to excess moisture in the morning, which can result in fungal problems such as Black Stem Rot and Botrytis. It is possible to grow year-round in this country but the methods of production has to be sustainable and it has to break even.”
It has already been shown, says Jacobson, that cucumber production can be achieved through the winter months but what is now clear is that cost will be a central issue to the viability of year-round supplies. “Much will depend on the loyalty of the supermarkets,” he says, ‘but one advantage that UK growers do have is full traceability and they are also further down the route of biological pest control.”
“The UK is trying hard with the issues of pests and disease,” says Hibbard. “Everything these days is geared towards cutting down on sprays, but if there is a good understanding of the plant then that can prevent problems from happening in the first place. Pesticide use is very low now compared to how it used to be and there are better controls and better technology. The last thing the public want to know about is the use of chemicals.”
Everything about cucumber production is an issue of balance, says Hibbard. “Most producers grow about three crops a year but if everyone does that then the produce arrives at the same time, creating peaks and troughs. We try to space our crops out as much as possible. We have growers who just produce two crops a year in order to maintain continuity and balance.”
There are additional issues impacting on the UK cucumber industry at present. “Gas prices have risen by about a third in the last year,” says Tom Salmon, managing director at Hedon Salads, one of the UK’s largest independent glasshouse companies. While Hibbard maintains that the cost of labour is also creeping up.
To be successful, Cornwell says, safe produce with full traceability good technical practices are essential. High standards in service and the best quality product are also vital. “Working together and having the same common goals make these points become easier to achieve”.
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