As energy costs increase, consumers will have to realise the value of food, and supermarkets will have to increase their returns to growers, Robert Mitchell told delegates at the Top Fruit Storage Day in Kent on Monday.
Mitchell of Robert Mitchell Partnership, which runs controlled atmosphere (CA) fruit storage at Foxbury Farm in Kent, took delegates at the East Malling conference centre through 75 years of coldstorage history, and shared his view of the industry’s future.
He stated: “Consumers will have to learn to value food, especially when it is out of season. For the first time in many years, we have seen a genuine rise in food inflation, which is good news after so many years of low-cost food. GM technology is, in my opinion, the best way forward, to eliminate pesticides and feed the world’s growing population.
“Fruit coldstorage will involve high energy costs in the future, and supermarkets will have to take this on. The flat price for apples given by supermarkets is not enough, and as storage costs increase, the price of the produce should increase.
“At the moment we are missing a trick, which someone will make a lot of money out of. And that trick is solar power; now there is a challenge for you. If we could develop an efficient way of harnessing solar power, we could power stores by having the roof covered in solar panels,” Mitchell added.
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