Last year’s poor returns for soft fruit growers dampened optimism in the sector which had been generated by years of sustained growth in terms of market and planted area.
Escalating labour costs and the recent problems encountered by growers in some parts of the country over polytunnel planning permission compounded the misery.
But amid the worries hope seems to spring eternal for the soft fruit industry with many refusing to give up their positive attitude to the future. And who can blame them when customer and consumer demand remains so high?
Award-winning strawberry grower Alistair Brooks, of Langdon Manor Farm, Faversham, Kent, believes there will be a ‘mixed picture’ this year. On the positive side sales growth shows no signs of slowing dramatically on top of the 5 percent growth for strawberries, for instance, last season. This was less than in previous years where high sustained year-on-year growth had occurred. The reason for that was down to supply which was influenced by bad weather and poor everbearer yields in August. In his opinion there will also be huge increases in raspberry sales this year as well as blueberries and blackberries.
“We’re moving in the right direction in terms of the market,” he says. “This season looks like being around two weeks earlier. That’s always better. Volumes will be there. And there’s a huge appetite from customers and consumers for the fruit.”
On the down side, however, a couple of major problems have already arrived: labour costs and local planning attitudes to polytunnels.
“As far as I know, three Hereford growers are under enforcement orders. To have this happen to them at this stage of the season can be pretty bad. Especially with tunnels accounting for most of the production growth seen in the industry over the last few years,” says Brooks.
The government’s abandonment of SAWS raises yet another obstacle. It will make it more difficult for growers to find workers with the inevitable consequence of spiraling labour costs.
“With costs going up over the years and no rise in money for our product, growers have found ways of becoming more efficient in our production methods,” he says. “But there has to come a time when no further efficiencies can be made, It’s like coming up against a wall beyond which you can’t go. We’re going to be hitting that wall pretty soon.”
Chairman and director of BerryWorld and well-known soft fruit breeder Peter Vinson says that at this point in the season things look fine. But, he adds, so much can change: “There’s a lot of fences to jump before the end of the race.”
He goes on: “It’s going to be an early season and given favourable weather I see nothing to worry us. The expectation is that yields will be better.”
One area needed to be focused on in his opinion: “There’s a requirement within the industry that we see some increase in price levels. We’re still on the same prices as 1991, as far as I’m concerned, and costs have gone up significantly. We want to see some realism in price structure.
“Price is also a result of supply. If we get hot weather you could see a flush of supply. Indeed, it’s the increase in production over the last 10 years that’s been one major reason why we haven’t seen the price go up.”
Former grower and now product manager for strawberries at Hargreaves, John Buttler, said that to his knowledge the sector will be growing similar acreages to last year despite most strawberry growers not having had a good 2006 and ‘running poor returns’.
“There has been a steep upwards trend in the area of soft fruit being grown. Now that gradient is decreasing if not plateauing,” he says. “We’re getting a lot closer to supply meeting demand.”
Rupert Hargreaves himself foresees ‘an exciting season ahead with enlarged plantings of new varieties’.
In the everbearer market there is significant increases in the planting of Albion. “Approximately 25 percent of fruit available in the UK everbearer market comes from Albion,” he says. “This year the plant material has been considerably better and has gone in under good conditions.”
He adds that Sonata has an increased presence as a quality berry and there has been an increase in Darselect, which performed well last year as a premium line.
As with most people in the industry Rupert Hargreaves sees the raspberry sector remaining very strong with an increase in canes planted. “The trend for raspberry consumption is going up throughout Europe,” he says.
Hargreaves is excited about a new variety - exclusive to the company - on trial which it believes will be a replacement for Tulameen. ‘Chemainus’ hails from British Columbia and has been trialled for three years. According to Rupert Hargreaves it will need a little more time before it is ready for the market.
Blackberries are becoming increasingly popular. Hargreaves has material coming in from the Arkansas breeding programme of Professor John Clark.
In the marketing arena, Tim Newton, the technical director at BerryWorld, agreed the season was looking early and growers had started glasshouse Gariguette three weeks ago. But weather patterns were giving no guarantees and there was still the possibility of the season moving from early to average. Plants have overwintered well and look to have good potential.
He said the company had a new raspberry primocane T+ on offer this year in small quantities. It had Tulameen characteristics and great potential.
One general worry with raspberries, shared by the whole industry, was the peak in production in July which produced a glut and depressed prices, making marketing at a sustainable rate of return difficult.
Nick Marston, of Berry Gardens, says there has been a modest decrease in the Elsanta area but an increase in Sonata and Darselect - both of these latter doubling in area. The total maincrop area is up around 4 percent.
Everbearers have seen a big increase in the good quality standard Camarillo. Jubilee, in the premium market,
has seen expansion and is set to expand still further.
Nick Marston says it is interesting to note that the Jubilee area is greater in total than Everest was at its peak in 2005. “We always hoped and planned that Jubilee would be the quality premium fruit in such stores as Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury’s. It’s moving 20 percent by volume in the premium category.”
For strawberries Hermione, a berry from the old KG breeding programme, and a proprietary premium June bearer is on the rise. It has a good brix level and a good sweet taste. Juliet and Cordelia are both promising Elsanta season replacements of excellent fruit quality, he says. And Ophelia is a ‘very promising’ everbearer.
Nick Marston says Albion, from the University of California programme, is increasing in area at the expense of Diamante. Albion has a sweeter taste and better flavour.
For the coming year he says: “If we don’t suffer serious heatwaves there should be a 15 percent or so increase in production in line with market growth. Rate of growth is slowing a little at main crop peak. But as ever, there’s the opportunity to put very high quality fruit on shelves in the autumn.”
Prefacing his remarks by saying ‘all the excitement is in raspberries’, Nick Marston said the raspberry area is up 4 percent but Glen Ample is decreasing. Tulameen is increasing on the back of consumer and customer preference. Glen Doll has potential as a Glen Ample replacement and is in commercial trials this year. Malling Juno, set to be launched this year, is in commercial trials as an early maincrop replacement for Glen Moy. Octavia, a late maincrop variety, continues to increase.
The key to future raspberry success, he says, is the development of primocanes. Driscoll’s Maravilla is doubling in area. Pacifica is coming into commercial production. Dulcita and Cardinal are all doubling. Over the Berry Gardens group there are substantial increases in primocanes. And late season raspberry production is building rapidly.
Blackberries are increasing by 35 percent in planting area each year. There is a measurable increase in commercial production of Carmel, a sweet, dessert berry, this year.
“British blueberries, I believe, will be ‘visible’ for the first time this year and I expect them to be sold and promoted as British berries,” he says.
Sue Orum, of Meiosis, agrees that the raspberry market is buoyant and that ‘everybody seems to want blackberries, Blackberries seem to be the buzzword at the moment’.
Meiosis has some new blackberry material due in from Brazil and from North America which should soon be ready for trialling. For raspberries Washington State University’s Cascade Delight has never been into Europe before, but, says Sue Orum, ‘they don’t mind us having it because they are not so much into the fresh market as we are’.
As for strawberries one interesting thing is that all the UK produced Florence has been sold out. This variety, which suffered from the rumour that the supermarkets didn’t like it because it was too dark, has the great benefit of good disease resistance at a time when UK growers are not allowed to use methyl bromide. Meiosis said it was having to buy plants in from Europe to satisfy demand. One update on varieties released over the last couple of years is that Malling Pearl seems to be gaining in popularity at the expense of its sister fruit Malling Opal.
Dr David Taylor, technical consultant, of Meiosis, told Commercial Grower the organisation was due to launch in the summer - one of which is the early summer fruiting raspberry variety (EM6544/80) Malling Juno from the East Malling breeding programme of Vicky Knight, which stood out in the breeder’s trial at EMR as one of the earliest selections seen to date.
Glen Moy is the current industry standard for earliness, but it is very susceptible to many root and cane diseases and the fruit quality is inferior to the main season varieties, Glen Ample and Tulameen. Malling Juno starts to crop at a similar date to Glen Moy, but Juno’s season is condensed.
The fruit quality of Malling Juno is superior to Glen Moy; the berries having an attractive mid-red colour, are brighter and firmer than Moy and have a good flavour. Malling Juno was highly rated for appearance, texture and flavour by the East Malling Raspberry Breeding Consortium in 2004 and 2005, and by Tesco and Kentish Garden fruit technologists in 2006.
Meiosis is managing Malling Juno on behalf of EMR, including the granting of propagation licences. Licensed propagators are currently bulking up stocks of the variety and large numbers of potted plants will be available to growers for planting in spring 2007.
There is also a primocane raspberry (EM6597/46) ‘Autumn Treasure’ from Vicky Knight. It is available for growers to trial. It is a mid-season variety, the 50 percent pick dates between 2001 and 2005 at EMR ranging from August 26 - September 8, compared to August 16 - 26 for Autumn Bliss.
The average berry weight recorded over the whole season under tunnels in 2004 and 2005 was 3.5g and 3.3g, respectively. The berries are long conical in shape, with a good, bright colour and have a good-fair flavour. The shelf life was fairly good and in totally unsprayed plots there were few post-harvest fruit rots. The canes of Autumn Treasure are spine-free and upright.
Autumn Treasure appears to have few pest and disease problems, which is a major advantage for a new primocane fruiting raspberry. Most new primocane fruiting varieties are from private breeding programmes and these are restricted to different marketing groups. The varieties coming from the breeding programme at EMR are not released on an exclusive basis and so Autumn Treasure will be freely available to growers throughout the industry.
Meiosis, on behalf of EMR, is managing the propagation and commercial trials of Autumn Treasure. Stocks of Autumn Treasure are currently being bulked up by propagators under contract to Meiosis and large numbers of potted plants will be available to growers for planting trials in spring 2007.
Possible others from the East Malling programme are strawberries (EM931) Lucy and (EM1103) Amelia, both short day varieties in the pipeline from East Malling David Simpson’s programme. The decision to launch is under consultation. Launch could be 2008. EM1296 (Sallybright) will be launched this year but is particularly for the amateur market available through Suttons.
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