Scottish berry growers suffered at the hands of Britain’s worst storm this year, with violent winds damaging polytunnels for strawberry production.
Storm Ali hit northern Britain this week, with Northern Ireland and Scotland bearing the brunt of fierce winds.
Strawberry growers using polytunnels are vulnerable to stormy weather which can tear them from the ground and cause structural damage.
Angus Porter of Angus Soft Fruits, based near Arbroath, said they had received some damage with winds ripping the plastic polytunnels and pulling them apart.
“It caused some severe damage, the tunnels are damaged and the plants are damaged. It wasn’t the worst one we have had but we have had some damage.”
Peter Thomson, director of Thomas Thomson said: “We have had a bit of damage, but it’s not severe. There were winds recorded of 102mph on the Tay Bridge.
“We had some structural damage to the polytunnels, which have bent from the wind. It was a small percentage of production damaged, bad but not catastrophic.”
Storm Ali is the latest example of tough weather conditions for British growers, after heavy snowfall in March, and a record dry spell in the summer giving producers a real headache.
Growers at Alanhill Farming, in Fyfe, were lucky to escape the storm however, after finishing their harvest ahead of its arrival.
Tom Wood, soft fruit manager at Alanhill Farming said: “We just got all our polytunnels down, we had just about finished all our harvest. We might have kept them up a little bit longer but we decided to take them down.
“Without a doubt it would have done damage.”
