The clarion call from the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) last week extolling the virtues of British growers and the need to win a greater share of the marketplace is to be expected - it has echoed down the corridors of power and into the public domain for as long as I can remember.

The good news is that the public perception of the horticulture industry is far greater than in days gone by when I was a cub reporter. At the time, the sector even had to fight for its place within the NFU at its annual general meeting. This lasted at least two and half days in which the various committees reported on the state of their sectors. However, with the stars being meat, dairy and cereals, our fruit and vegetables hardly got a look in. My colleagues and I, who were covering what was almost regarded as a niche market, waited patiently to see where our chosen subject - regardless of the agenda - was fitted in. This was usually before lunch on the second day, so that the preceding Welsh committee could catch the train home back across the border.

If this business went on longer, we were sublimated while the potato and pig farmers had their say. By then, following the fruit committee, it was often time to go home, so we had to return to hear what the vegetable growers had been up to the following day.

Thankfully, today, horticulture is far better recognised by the NFU and public alike for the value that it has always had. And to its credit, the industry has been forward-thinking enough in the battle to win public attention and increase consumption to invest its own cash to support a number of successful promotional voices, exemplified by the berry, top-fruit, asparagus and watercress industries to name a few.

This, in itself, is quite an achievement. Previously, from the early 1960s - with the exceptions of the statutory Apple & Pear Development Council and the Potato Marketing Board - any activity was launched and funded on a voluntary basis through the very well meaning British Farm Produce Council, which alas, through financial constraints, ultimately ran out of steam.

That said, even if the current message is now hitting home, appealing to the finer instincts of the British public is in itself, while laudable, hardly sufficient.

Our fresh produce market is facing more competition today than ever before, making the golden rules even more relevant if there is any hope of stabilising the UK share, let alone increasing it. More than ever, the products must be right, even needing a complete rethink to meet the changing fashions in taste. Varieties must be available in peak condition at the right time in what has already become an extended seasonal calendar.

And above all, UK horticulture, particularly in times of economic downturn, will have to continue to compete in price on the retail shelf.

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