So how do we stand this year?

A clear message and good marketing strategy has meant that the English apple and pear market is the strongest that it has ever been writes Sarah Calcutt, Norman Collett Technical Manager.  With numerous campaigns featuring growers, with a positive and direct message that fruit is local, healthy and with low food miles attached to the product it is proving to be a very attractive proposition to the UK consumer.

Everybody is in agreement within the Quality Fruit Group that despite a challenging season, fruit maturity is around 10 days ahead compared to last year, fruit quality is excellent, skin finish and colour are exemplary and juiciness is clearly not going to be a problem either!  Close attention to detail has ensured that fruit has been well managed; properly pruned, thinned and with an abundance of quality information available, combined with well guided picking information this should ensure the very best product available to the consumer. 

Early concerns over extensive damage by hail have largely been mitigated by much of the lightly marked fruit growing out and the thinning of the more heavily marked crop. Strong, comprehensive support by the retailers has led to commitments to market hail marked fruit. Talking to Shaun Doherty, Tesco Fruit Technical Manager he confirmed that Tescos would be widening their specification for hail tolerance which will allow more fruit to be provided to the customer, this will be identified with special labelling explaining the situation to the customer.

Prognosfruit predictions put the new season’s crop at 4 to 5 percent above that of last year; around 185,000t compared with 174,000t.  This comes as a surprise to the more pessimistic as it means that even with hail damaged fruit reducing volumes, this year’s crop is one that will satisfy the market with no element of over stocking or threat of price dumps. Adrian Barlow has reported that there would be no southern hemisphere overhang this year so a clean changeover start to the season is expected.

Norman Collett MD Andy Sadler is confident that there is high quality fruit to satisfy the needs of customers, secure in the knowledge that the new season fruit is a good size and colour; English fruit will be sold by eye appeal as well as by its excellent eating characteristics.

Reports from Fruit Focus featured several crop technologists talking about the pressures on growers this year.  Throughout this summer growers have had to contend with high scab infection pressure caused by constant high humidity and hail damage.  With reporting at that date putting crop reduction at 10% its not surprising that there has been talk of little else, but as the Prognosfruit figures have been released fears have been allayed that there was potential for a shortfall in good quality fruit.