THE microclimate in East Kent gives it a distinct advantage over the west of the county, with less risk of extremes in temperature or the killer hailstorm. Local producers have rediscovered their confidence in the last few seasons and the big keep getting bigger. WWF's and the UK's largest grower Paul Mansfield, for instance, continues to increase its output, and WWF growers in general are on an upward curve.
The company's top fruit development committee has recommended an increase in the volume of Gala and Braeburn planted, which has been followed, but that does not entail a reduction in Cox. The mainstay variety is stable, while a few have grubbed orchards, others are busy regenerating their Cox offer, backing the strain to retain its popularity with a supportive UK consumer.
“Our biggest growers are still very much behind Cox,” says Steve Maxwell, WWF's marketing director. “Gala volume is now around a third the size of the Cox output, but it is not a variety we want to expand out of proportion. It is a very competitive marketplace and Gala allows for straight import substitution, which fits very nicely with the strategies of the UK supermarkets. But we wouldn't want to grow enough Gala to meet all the demand of the UK market, because that would just see the price diluted and the product becoming too commoditised.
“Braeburn is a different matter. I will take as much English Braeburn as I can get my hands on at the moment. We have a good increase this year but we still have masses of headroom. Within three years there should be at least 1,500t and 2,000t coming through, without any negative impact on the market.
“This year's volume ñ in all varieties ñ is going to be very close to the ideal for us, which will produce a good balance in the market. Our analysis shows us that fruit will be available from the right growers at the right times to fulfil our programmed commitments. Despite the hot weather in the last couple of months, we do not expect any extensive damage to our crop and the fruit will have the legs to match our predetermined sales plans.
“There should be a 55:45 pre and post-Christmas split, which is exactly where we would choose it to fall. A 60:40 split does not cause any real issues, but once you move further than that, prices come under severe pressure. The early indications are that there will be a good price structure and with the promotional activity to back it up and drive early volume, we would expect that to hold firm.”
While size is not everything, WWF is the largest UK top-fruit marketing desk by some distance. Norman Collett is second, again with a sizeable volume lead over Scripps and OrchardWorld. “We're the biggest and we continue to get bigger,” says Maxwell. “Nobody has left us and we have also taken new growers on board, which all adds to our strength and depth as a supermarket supplier.”
The WWF success in the last two years has been based on the implementation of a prescriptive method of planning, says marketing manager Robin Barnett. “Category management principles have pushed the industry into adopting a demand-led approach, rather than its traditional supply-led stance. Since WWF was formed, our growers have been able to benefit from a UK team, which is 100 per cent, dedicated to their needs. They have people they can talk to at all times, who can keep them informed of what we are doing and how the market is developing.
“When Alasdair Robertson ñ WWF ceo ñ heralded the establishment of WWF as a ë phenomenal opportunity for UK growers' they may have sounded like hollow words at the time. But growers have seen that they were not ñ and we have started to deliver.
“It has enabled us to create a system to take growers in the direction they need to be going, rather than the grower having their piece of land and telling us what they are going to do with it.”
A customer focused strategy has seen WWF look at the varietal mix and advise growers which varieties they can grow that are financially viable and which have no commercial future. Each grower can use this researched advice to find the correct balance for them. “We have focused on maximising the experience and capability of our growers, but that does not just mean growing varieties that are quintessentially English,” says Barnett.
The merger with Enza has opened up new opportunities with varieties such as Braeburn, but also with New Zealand bred Jazz. “There are certain varieties that we believe the UK grower should be looking at and we will support them wholeheartedly should they decide to go down that route,” Barnett adds.
One of the questions that growers ask most is undoubtedly ëwhat return can I expect to get on my crop?'. The pre-planning process with each customer and WWF's internal forecasting programmes allow the company to give a direct and realistic response at an earlier stage than ever. “This is invaluable,” says Maxwell. “Growers can now go to the bank manager and say this is the volume of Class I fruit I have got and, all things being equal, this is the return I can expect. It is harder to predict the Class II market, obviously, but there is still a lot of information we can feed the grower. The more information we can provide our growers with, the less googlies can come along during the season.”
WWF is also developing its website as a communication tool to its growers and has developed a system that can support big volumes of real-time data without clogging up the systems of users.
“The supermarkets are genuinely very supportive of English top fruit and there are some cracking promotions planned for the start of this season. They are not desperate to cut prices on English fruit, just keen to show their customers that they have lots of English fruit available. They have gone through the Discovery crop and into Cox and from late September right through October, we are going to see a huge amount of in-store activity, which will not only focus on price. All of our customers are fully behind the Cox and Gala campaigns ñ they recognise that there is a definite consumer need to be addressed and there is a great job being done now.”
Regional initiatives and grower identification on bags are also on the increase. “Throwing the spotlight onto growers has to be positive,” says Maxwell. “The growers like seeing their name on the bags and have a greater sense of responsibility for the fruit. One of the industry buzzwords at the moment is provenance and by creating the link between the real person growing fruit and the consumer we can generate trust and build on the, sometimes latent, pro-UK product preferences of our consumers.”
The National School Fruit Scheme has been heavily backed by WWF, which is a supplier to 340,000 schoolchildren in the north west of England. In terms of crop utilisation, the scheme provides an opportunity for smaller sized fruit to reap a return that would otherwise not always be available. English apples will be in the hands of all of these kids twice a week through the season, with pears also on the agenda.
“The scale is such that it will have a big impact on the industry and particularly significantly on fruit in the 55/60 size range,” says Maxwell. “The scheme will eventually reach 2.5m children and that is a huge logistical and financial process. We are completely in favour of it and feel it puts a tremendous bottom in the marketplace.
“The scheme is in favour of English fruit, but it has to be available at sensible money. We can make a decent return on small fruit, but it is by no means superb.” The long-term effect on consumption of English top fruit in the UK over-rides that though, he says. “There has been a magnificent job done on this scheme so far and I don't think it has received the publicity it deserves. If the government ever wants people to stand up and publicly support the scheme, we can assure them that the English growers that are part of WWF will.”
GASKAIN SPEAKS FOR GROWERS
So what do the growers think of the WWF set-up? There has not always been 100 per cent contentment shown from growers to their marketing desk, but the signs are that the refreshed, customer-driven approach is working. As far as English fruit is concerned, Charles Gaskain was chairman of WWF in its previous form, Fruition.
“I'm an old-hand who has been here through all the changes over the years,” says Gaskain. “Since Worldwide Fruit was established, there has been a greater degree of professionalism brought into the industry. The dedicated team has brought better specialisation and better customer relationships and realised that the success of any co-operative is ultimately about the ability of its growers.
“We of course are the shareholders as well as the people who produce the fruit and I think we are all benefiting from a more commercial outlook from WWF, and the disappearance of much of the small-mindedness that had dogged the marketing of our fruit previously.
“We don't think like we used to ñ it is now a case of WWF saying Tesco, Sainsbury's, M&S or whoever the customer is want this and this is how you are going to do it, rather than the growers saying this is what we've got and we'll provide it like this.”
Customers are indicating their support for the new direction. “Our customers are very on-side,” says Gaskain. “The level of interest is much greater and we are receiving more visits, which in turn is enhancing the continuity of our relationships.
“From a farming and growing perspective, things are getting much better,” says Gaskain. “Generally, things are looking far more optimistic for English producers than they were three or four years ago. Prices have certainly stabilised and we know where we stand. Quality has improved across the board.
This season, we unquestionably have a good crop to work with in East Kent. It is not massive in volume terms, but the overall quality is the best we have seen for many years. Everyone expects Cox to do very well, and we haven't seen a clean skin finish like this for a long time.”
Gaskain has invested heavily in the upgrading of his packing facilities in recent times and had installed a new labelling line on the morning of the Journal's visit a month or so ago. “There is a demand for a greater level of sophistication and as well as the packhouse we have doubled our management structure in the last three years. We used to pick in six weeks what we pick in two and that requires a more robust organisation.”
Gaskain was packing Estival for M&S in packs that included the grower's name on the label. “The growers love it,” he says. “And we do get reaction ñ I have received letters from consumers. It gives a producer more pride in their product and also an added sense of responsibility, and there is no way that can be wrong.”
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