Fresca has announced it is sponsoring the Under 40s Fruit Growers Conference this year.

The event is held in a different European fruit-growing region every two years and after a successful sponsorship in 2009, Fresca has signed up again.

Andrew Sharp, technical director for Fresca Group Ltd, said: “It’s really important to us that we’re putting up the money and providing real, practical support for this event. We talk often about our innovation programme for retailers, but that programme relies on us having an expert knowledge base in our growers. They need ambition and vision, and technical ability to continue innovating in their orchards and on their farms.”

Sharp believes the industry has a responsibility to support its young people and demonstrate valuable career opportunities in fruit growing.

The 2011 conference is being held in the Loire Valley in France from 23-26 February and will focus the opportunities available to growers due to climate change and on technical innovation to move towards a more sustainable, more secure supply of British-grown

Fruit. “By being a part of this conference, we’re enabling Fresca to stay at the heart of the debate alongside some of the most enthusiastic, talented young growers the UK has to offer,” said Sharp.

The Loire Valley event will feature trips to a grower of top fruit using the fruit wall technique, a progressive blueberry grower, a stonefruit producer and a viticulturist.

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