After years of impressive growth, the soft-fruit sector came up against a number of challenges last summer which put the category under real pressure. Sales slowed to a halt and in some cases went backwards, and the sector has had to work hard to put growth back into the category.
The good news is that they have succeeded, with sales now worth £714 million after 5.1 per cent growth in the last year [Kantar Worldpanel, 52 w/e
20 March]. Crucially, volumes have also risen by one per cent as shoppers bought more often despite price increases. And on the back of what some suppliers are calling a “tremendous” April, every indication is that sales will continue to rise over the coming months.
“Everything looks very promising,” says Nick Kelly, sales director at catering and foodservice supplier Berries R Us. “There’s real momentum after an excellent import season and there have been no production issues. There’s a real feel-good factor around at the moment.”
With hot weather over Easter and the royal wedding boosting sales in the eating-out segment, the season could hardly have got off to a better start, Kelly adds. “There are no recessionary vibes about at all - it’s really buzzing,” he says.
That mood of optimism seems to be spreading right across the industry. Ian Waller, director of Total Berry, says that good and early availability of UK fruit is adding to better balanced supply and demand to give all the indications of a good season.
“The UK season will follow a very successful Spanish and Moroccan season, with very good quality and consistent supply giving a very strong platform for the new season UK crop,” Waller explains.
The industry’s Seasonal Berries campaign will also add impetus, and some innovative approaches have been lined up to boost consumption during the summer months.
Strawberries are continuing to show strong growth, with blueberries’ relentless march up the sales charts also continuing.
Total Berry is launching a number of new strawberry and raspberry varieties this season following its tie up with the Plant Science Breeding programme, and many of the other major players have also announced plans for new product launches as the sector continues to live up to its reputation for breeding excellence.
BerryWorld has predicted a particularly bright future for strawberry variety Sweet Eve, behind which it has placed a significant marketing warchest. Some 6,000 tonnes of the variety, selected by breeder Peter Vinson, will be sold this year, a 300 per cent increase. “Our decision to focus on Sweet Eve has been prompted by the superior quality of the fruit in benchmarking assessments,” says BerryWorld managing director Adam Olins. “In 2010 benchmarking trials, Sweet Eve consistently outperformed competitors, and even some premium varieties.”
But producers are forecasting success for a wide range of berries this year. “In terms of growth potential, strawberries have shown some good growth over the last few months and blueberries, raspberries and blackberries still have excellent growth potential,” says Waller. “We certainly believe that constantly investing in varietal development and aiming to improve the consumer experience is key to maintaining growth within the berry category.”
In addition to strong orders for the main berry crops, chefs are also enquiring after niche lines such as strasberries, pineberries and gooseberries, according to Kelly.
That should have the extra benefit of bringing new consumers into the category. Unlike many areas of fresh produce, children are major consumers of soft fruit, and together with the over 65s make up more than 50 per cent of consumption [Kantar Worldpanel usage data, 12 m/e February].
New varieties and formats are also helping boost consumers’ options in the home, with a surprising 37 per cent of soft-fruit consumption taking place at the evening meal.
Despite all the reasons for optimism, everybody will still have their fingers crossed that the spring sunshine lasts throughout the summer.
“Of course, we are hopeful for favourable weather conditions this summer to help both the growers and drive sales as we are still very dependent on the sun to help stimulate demand,” cautions
Waller.
TAKING THE INTEGRATED APPROACH
Growers are continuing to incorporate integrated pest management into their crop protection programmes as the EU cranks up pressure on the use of chemicals in the horticultural sector.
This year has seen yet more soft-fruit enterprises fully embracing integrated pest management (IPM) as they face the impact of a reduced crop protection armoury, according to Berry Gardens’ lead agronomist Jon Marcar.
While the situation has been anticipated, it has presented some difficult challenges, he explains. “The number of conventional control options available has been depleted over the last 10 years, and more so in the last five. It’s something that’s cut across every crop in the soft-fruit sector - and indeed all of agriculture - as the result of a comprehensive and all-encompassing EU review.
“The withdrawal of broad spectrum active ingredient bifenthrin is one such example, but we knew it was coming and it illustrates where ‘IPM’ has had to step up to the task,” says Marcar. “IPM is now the norm in most types of berry production situations and it’s uncovered the true value of comprehensive soft-fruit agronomy.”
Stephen McGuffie of New Farm Produce has been growing strawberries for over 25 years and explains that a previously routine or reactionary response to pest control has been replaced with an approach that extends to the entire crop production system. “Traditional synthetic pyrethroids are broad spectrum, meaning there is no specific pest targeting and while immediate and devastating pest control is achieved, beneficial predators are completely taken down along with the pests.”
McGuffie says successful control is now a case of careful product selection from the available control armoury with far more diligence in crop monitoring. “It means that we have staff dedicated to the role of crop inspection and that we now have a far more advanced understanding of some of the technicalities of crop protection, such as threshold levels for intervention and how and when to introduce populations of natural pest predators - or biologicals.”
As a result, grower mentality is far more professional and in tune with customer demands, he believes. “Consumers don’t want residues and the removal of some of the older treatments and introduction of modern options has helped address this issue,” he says.
Morley Benson is account manager for horticultural crop protection firm Certis and he believes modern chemistry has evolved to incorporate a far wider range of “modes of action”. “The industry is becoming more innovative in developing solutions that find new ways to control pests, from the use of naturally occurring control agents to solutions that act to literally stop a pest in its tracks.
“The result is that there is a far higher level of expertise involved in product choice according to its mode of action and how that relates to the intended target, stage of crop growth, seasonal conditions and biological crop activity,” he says.
Marcar maintains that “the recognised general principles of crop protection decision making apply more than ever. The components of a successful IPM programme must be effective and deliver reliable and consistent control, when used as part of an overall strategy.” He adds that while ideally, all pest and disease issues will be controlled well before harvest, where treatments are needed just prior to and throughout the harvest period, it’s very important they do not present any potential residue issues.’’
He notes that Spruzit is a prime example of how modern treatments are being incorporated into control programmes. “Spruzit is derived from an organic pyrethrum so differs in some crucial areas from the synthetic pyrethroids that are being widely replaced.
“The trend away from broad spectrum products has also seen more integration of products such as the physically acting insecticide Majestik for whitefly and spider mite control,” he notes.
Marcar stresses that careful product selection and incorporation into an overall IPM strategy, with the use of beneficial insects, crop monitoring and preventative systems, provides the most sustainable results and maintains that “this is only possible through a fully integrated approach’’.
No comments yet