A legendary figure in the British tomato industry from the 1950s to the 1970s, Scott Spencer, died peacefully at his home in Hawkwell, Essex on May 17, at the age of 92.
Either through his own initiative, enterprise and enthusiasm, or an unbounded willingness to share information and experience with others, he was involved in developments which form the cornerstones of modern production techniques for tomatoes, not just in Britain but all over the world.
He was one of the first growers to recognise the benefits of maximum light receipt for glasshouse crops and built wodespan, aluminium-framed glasshouses as soon as these became available. The clear spans these structures provided enabled him, in conjunction with research workers at NIAE, Silsoe, to develop labour saving systems, such as the use of steam ploughs for soil sterilisation, using the concrete paths as anchor points. He was among the first growers to achieve 100 tonnes per acre with new hybrid varieties, such as Ware Cross and Eurocross BB.
He was among the first to adopt CO2 enrichment. He installed an oil-fired boiler obtained from a ship to replace the hand-stoked, solid fuel boilers then used as a standard.
Spencer developed high-wire, layering systems for crop training. This produced long-seaon crops of good quality fruit, compared with the interplanting systems then used in Holland, or the Guernsey arch system. He removed the 4-inch cast-iron heating pipes from his glasshouses and replaced these with small-bore pipes,which also acted as pipe-rail systems. He designed simple hand-propelled trollies for the crop workers to move along the pipe rails to tend to the plants.
The list goes on, but without the high-wire layering system we would not have been able to grow tomato crops in the way we do today. It provides the opportunity to manipulate plant populations to give better early production, but with higher summer plant densities, giving good production and fruit quality from crops which are more responsive to CO2 and all with the opportunity to use mechanisation to increase labour efficiency.
Spencer was also ahead of his time in recognising the effects that the burgeoning power of the supermarkets could have on both the supplier base, especially for smaller producers, but also the retail sector generally. Whilst recognising the inevitability of this, he remained steadfastly independent, marketing his fruit through his own Spenhawk brand until he retired.
For such a visionary individual, Spencer was a remarkably modest and unassuming character. As Lancashire grower and at one time manager of the Hawkwell Nursery, David Rose comments, “It was typical of the man that few people, myself included, even knew that Scott had been awarded a Jubilee Medal in 1977, until now.” For services to British tomato growing, of course.
He is survived by his wife Mary and had three children, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Kevin Goodchild, married to his eldest grand-daughter Katherine, said: “I only knew him for 10 years but his kindness, generosity, knowledge and modesty were second to none of the people I have met in my life. He and Mary had a wonderful life together. He was a marvellous husband, father and a wonderful companion”.
No comments yet