It’s an old adage that there’s no such thing as an average season - a reality which English soft fruit and stone fruit growers are all too ready to confirm when it comes to assessing the past summer - while in many cases, the top fruit industry is not escaping unscathed as harvesting gathers momentum.
Ironically, the portents appeared particularly favourable in the early part of the year with prolific blossom and little indication of frost damage.
Strawberries grown under glass were benefiting from high light levels and there were already indications that this crop could begin to be harvested in mid March, a fortnight earlier than 2006. This was a pattern which was reflected with raspberries by the time May arrived.
Confidence remained high throughout the early spring and summer with a strong consumer demand. In the same month, English early tunnel production took over from a faltering crop from Spain.
Steady sales ironed out any English peaks in production, and considerably more fruit is reported to have passed over the retail shelves.
Reports on raspberry crops under cover were also good, with sizeable volumes of fruit beginning to show.
The halcyon days came to a halt by the time June arrived, though, with the Met Office recording one of the wettest periods on record.
This proved to be a double-edged sword - for while there was still good fruit coming forward, public demand dropped away, coinciding with a spike in production. As Elsanta began dropping off, hopes were still high for ever bearers.
Nevertheless, as the weather was taking its toll on sales, which dropped by as much as 40 percent in the first week of the month, fruit supplies actually shortened up due to the early start.
Certainly there was an air of doom and gloom which manifested itself in the fact that during the second week of Wimbledon fortnight, fruit was even being imported to make up the programmes.
With the polytunnel debate reaching the national press, the industry took the opportunity to stress that without the covered structures we may well not have had a UK strawberry crop at all this year.
At this stage, raspberries appear to have fared better with Tulameen and Glen Ample still holding their own.
With the arrival of July, the term ‘freak season’ was beginning to be used in growers’ vocabulary. Hopes for Scotland to plug the gap and provide a much-needed boost for both strawberries and raspberries helped improve a stagnating demand. English 60-day Elsanta added further respite and the ever bearer crop continued to look good.
By August there was still some confusion with varying temperatures holding back plant growth, so while there appeared to be some excellent potential fruit coming forward, it was still difficult to assess which actual volumes would be available on a week to week basis.
The key aspect was that in simple terms sunshine was needed, which so far - up until mid September - has returned, improving the outlook. Ever bearers have been known to keep fruiting into November if conditions are right.
Midsummer is also a time when the English cherry crop is on display, and here again, as far as several growers were concerned, disaster struck with heavy rains, wind, and even hail, despite a brave turnout at the National Show at Detling.
Again it was a story of many hopes dashed following an excellent flowering season, with an estimated third of the crop, mainly in Kent, affected, although the industry remained confident. Not only are more orchards being planted with new varieties, but a high proportion are covered and netted, offering a degree of protection.
While plum volumes may appear to have been less affected overall - despite reports of hail and wind damage in Kent - there were other factors. Heavy rains led to fruit cracking.
Blackberries are becoming a regular arrival on supermarket shelves over the summer, although the varieties being grown are far removed from the ones found in hedgerows.
Being larger and sweeter, they are more delicate and susceptible to weather conditions. According to several leading producers, this year proved the point that fruit ‘has’ to be grown under cover.
But new developments are continuing to hit the sector. The American strawberry variety Albion is being touted for a big future in the UK, while four new US bred thornless blackberry varieties will also be available next spring to growers in this country.
Meanwhile the longer-term effect of the weather mean that top fruit estimates are still being revised, even as harvesting gets underway.
Inevitably, with the wonderful April conditions creating reports of record blossom, there were hopes that there would be bumper crops which, if nature played its part, pointed towards a season that could get underway a fortnight early.
Growers were inevitably cautious - rightly, as it turned out, as orchards were untouched by frost, but pollination was not as high as expected. The general consensus was that dull weather reduced insect activity.
At that point the lack of moisture appeared to be having little effect - and then the rains came.
The expectations that there would be large size fruit began to slip away during July and August, as there was little growth, so calculations were already beginning to take place which would eventually lower provisional estimates.
There were some areas of encouragement, for the cooler nights were already producing a high level of early colour apparent in July on varieties such as Cameo.
For many growers, though, the worst was yet to come, with freak hail storms, in some cases wiping out complete orchards, hitting between late July and through August. While the West Midlands escaped, the path of destruction stretched down from East Anglia and was particularly apparent in Kent.
Adrian Barlow, chief executive of English Apples and Pears, estimates that the loss to the national crop could be between 12- 15 percent, although the final figure will not be known until harvesting is completed.
“Dessert quality is still very good, and the fruit has a lot of juice,” he reports. “However, there will be much more in the 60/65 mm and 65/70 mm band.
“While much of the hailed fruit will be sent for juice, we expect a proportion of Class 2 which is marketable to still be sold. Several of the multiples who are supporting the industry have indicated they will be offering it to customers in specially labelled packs.”
With the English season having been ‘officially launched’ this month, Barlow has readjusted the figures provided at Prognosfruit.
“We would expect Cox to account for around 47,700 tonnes, instead of being up in the low fifties,” he says, but volumes will still be 10 percent more than last year.
“There has only been a marginal loss with Gala, and we are looking forward to a record harvest which is 19 percent higher than in 2006, with around 26,900 tonnes.
“Braeburn may be slightly less than the initial 8,000 tonne forecast but we are still waiting until fruit is picked.
“It is good news for Egremont Russet which enjoys a very solid niche market with a 35 percent increase to 5,300 tonnes.”
One significant aspect is that other dessert varieties are expected to collectively show a 54 percent increase in volume due to Jazz being commercially harvested for the first time, with more Cameo, and the arrival of Kanzi.
Bramley volumes are still open to debate, as much of the fruit has lacked size and many growers are still hoping it will grow out.
“Broadly it looks about the same as last year at this stage,” says Barlow. “But we are reserving judgement.”
As far as pears are concerned, Conference remains six percent up at 25,000 tonnes, and Concorde is similar at 1,650 tonnes. However, Comice will face a 20 perecent drop to 2,900 tonnes.
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