A decade ago, you would not have found many people who disagreed with the assertion that British soft fruit was an unreliable product, beset by unpredictable weather conditions, prone to disease and damage.
Largely because of the introduction of Spanish tunnels - first used by British farmers in 1993 - British-grown strawberries and raspberries have since become the most important market in which UK fruit growers are involved.
As a result sales in UK supermarkets of home-grown berries have increased 130 per cent in the last four years.
The temporary plastic Spanish tunnel structures were developed from similar designs used by farmers in Spain to protect their winter salad crops and they made an immediate impact in the UK.
The commercial volumes being produced now may suggest otherwise, but, in fact, it is not easy to grow berries in the UK. Unpredictable summer weather traditionally made or broke the nation’s crop; rain preventing harvesting, damaging the fruit and sending waste and labour costs soaring.
But long gone are the days when fresh British-grown berries were confined to the June to July window in greengrocers and pick-your-own establishments.
The more reliable climates in Spain, France and the US - countries where tunnels are also widely used - allowed high quality imported fruit to hold sway in the UK market.
Unpredictable returns coupled with increasing production costs caused many British farmers to move out of the soft-fruit game. Those who stuck with berries through the rough times, and more prominently a new breed of soft-fruit organisations, have used polytunnels to extend the season, reduce wasteage and most significantly increase the shelf presence of consistently high quality produce to a point where the British season covers half of the year in UK supermarkets.
Developments have, of course, been driven by the demands of the country’s major customers. The polytunnel is used to protect 80 per cent of the soft fruit sold through supermarkets.
Polytunnels consist of a tubular steel framework of hoops over which polythene is secured. The moveable tunnels are erected and dismantled by farm staff or horticultural contractors at the end of each crop’s growing season. The polythene film has a life of 3-4 years, after which it is sent to a recycling plant.
In the UK, tunnels now provide protection not only to strawberries, raspberries and blackberries, but to tomatoes, onions, potatoes, peppers and flowers.
The stark contrast with the pre and post-polytunnel era is probably no more apparent than in the soft-fruit sector. According to British Summer Fruits, prior to their introduction in the UK, only 50 per cent of the soft fruit yield was Grade 1 fruit; now that figure is pushing 90 per cent. For a privately-owned, family-run soft-fruit grower, that is the difference between having a business and going out of business.
But, despite the huge successes it has brought to horticulture in the UK and the relative stability it brings to the soft-fruit industry, the polytunnel is under threat. High-profile media attention has begun to put pressure on the structures which are being attacked as being, amongst other things, a blight on the rural landscape.
Local councils are awaiting the result of a Public Inquiry into the legality or otherwise of polytunnel structures used at a Surrey soft-fruit farm of the Hall Hunter Partnership before they decide what direction to take. The initial complaint, tabled by Waveney Borough Council, will eventually lead to a report that could go a long way to shaping the future of polytunnels in the UK. The legal process, however, is unlikely to end before the middle of 2006. This uncertainty is causing growers to withhold investment in the future use of polytunnels.
To enable growers to combat some of this negative publicity, BSF distributed an independently-written polytunnel information document to its members in April, containing the hard facts they need to derail potential misconceptions.
Written by journalist Jessica Berens, the four-page leaflet was sent to marketing companies for onward distribution to their growers. “This is not meant to be used pre-emptively,” said Laurence Olins, BSF chairman. “It is a tool for growers to use when their local population asks for information.
“Growers can of course do what they want with the information once they have it. But the situation is different in production areas around the country; some have not been under pressure at all on this issue,” he says.
“When this process ends, the industry will be relieved to have some clarity, so that we can make plans for the future,” says Olins. But in the meantime, BSF has armed its members with a common industry position.
The leaflet outlines the integral part played by polytunnels in extension of the domestic fruit season to increase import substitution; guaranteeing consistent quality and competitive prices; reducing the use of pesticides by up to 50 per cent; the development of organic berries; and increasing employment to strengthen rural economies.
Since polytunnels were introduced, the soft fruit industry employs 5,000 more staff on a permanent basis and 50,000 on a seasonal basis.
The leaflet says: “The British soft fruit industry, a capital and labour intensive industry, comprised of family-owned and run farms, has become an important and successful rural business able to meet the challenges of a very demanding marketplace. Polytunnels are essential to this.
“There would be no British soft-fruit business without the use of the polytunnel. There are no realistic alternatives...if the soft-fruit industry is to remain viable.
“Without them the quality and yields for commercial production could not be achieved and supermarkets would buy imported fruit over British-grown.
“Polytunnels have enabled the UK soft-fruit business to become recognised as one of the most innovative in the world, attracting younger horticulturists with modern skills. They could, and probably would, transfer abroad in the event that UK farms were prevented from meeting consumer demand. This means that Britain’s young fruit farmers would be forced to aid in the production of competing imports by investing in EU farms and supplying the UK supermarkets from there rather than farming at home.
“If the industry was unable to use the essential crop protection polytunnels provide, it would undoubtedly revert to the situation of the mid-nineties where imported fruit would once again dominate our supermarket shelves. The difference now is that the volumes would be at far greater levels than experienced before due to the demand that the UK growers have created for high quality berries.
“The ultimate result would be the end of a successful British soft fruit industry and yet another agricultural failure.”
POLYTUNNELS IN FIGURES
Polytunnels used for growing berries cover 0.01 per cent of UK agricultural land as a whole, and only a small percentage of the land of any one farm. Furthermore they are removed at the end of each growing season and during the season are rotated. Figures produced by the ADAS Centre for Sustainable Crop Management for 2004 list the total areas of tunneled UK soft fruit farmland as follows:
• Strawberries - 1,097 hectares (2,709 acres)
• Raspberries and other cane fruit - 299 hectares (738 acres)
• Cherries - 92 hectares (227 acres)
FOLLOW THE POLYTUNNEL CODE
British Summer Fruits has this year combined with the National Farmers Union to create a code of practice for the use of polytunnels for the production of soft fruit in the UK.
UK soft-fruit growers must comply with the code, which sets out the following terms.
SITING AND OPERATION
• Polytunnels must not be sited within 30 metres of the boundary of the nearest residential dwelling unless as a result of prior agreement with the neighbour concerned. Polytunnels may be located closer to residential dwellings if they do not obscure the views from the dwellings concerned and after consultation with the residents.
• All reasonably practicable steps must be taken to minimise noise when working close to neighbouring houses either in the early morning (before 7 am) or in the late evening (after 8 pm).
• Steps should be taken to effectively manage run-off from polytunnels and where possible polytunnels should be sited to reduce the impact of run-off.
• All reasonably practicable steps must be taken, using tree or hedge planting to mitigate the visual impact of polytunnels, from the immediate view of neighbouring residential dwellings.
• Where possible, growers should consider using less luminant types of polythene to reduce reflective glare.
• Loose polythene should be secured to prevent noise nuisance, particularly when close to neighbouring dwellings.
• Polytunnels should be rotated around the farm to minimise the impact, with a maximum period of three years in one location. Under exceptional circumstances, the demands of a particular crop (eg raspberries) may mean that polytunnels need to be located on the same site for longer than three years. In such situations care must be taken to minimise the impact by siting the polytunnels as far away from neighbouring dwellings as possible.
• The polythene covering over the frames must be removed for a minimum period of 6 months in any calendar year.
• Growers must store unused polythene away from public view.
• Where polytunnels are to be removed from a site, the grower must remove the polythene from the hoops within one month of the completion of cropping unless to do so would cause damage to the soil because of poor weather.
DISPOSING OF WASTE PLASTIC
• Waste polythene must be removed and be recycled in an approved manner.
RECORD KEEPING
Records shall be kept of the following:
• The type of crop and whether grown in the ground, in bags or off the ground;
• The date when the framework and polythene cover are to be erected and the expected date of removal of the polythene cover (and frame if appropriate);
• The area and the percentage of the total area of the farm covered by polytunnels;
• Record of any notices given, including to any neighbouring residential dwellings, before work commences.
Special requirements for polytunnels erected in areas of national landscape designation and other statutory and locally (non-statutory) designated areas
In AONB and other designated areas, specific measures are necessary to ensure that the visual impact of polytunnels is minimised.
To that end, the following additional measures must be taken:
• The preparation of a landscape impact map showing the areas of intended polytunnel operations and indicating what measures have been taken to mitigate the impact of polytunnels on the local landscape.
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