According to British Apples and Pears, growers have endured a “testing” season so far, with frost and hail earlier in the year accounting for small numbers of tree deaths reported from around the UK, and particularly the South East.
“It is too early to be able to provide accurate crop estimates for this season” stated Ali Capper, grower and chair of British Apples & Pears, “we hope to be able to provide that data by the end of June.
“However, from what we are hearing our members have found this a particularly testing season so far. Let’s hope that we can look forward to a long, warm summer with plenty of rainfall and good weather for our topfruit harvest”.
The coronavirus has had a huge impact on preparation for the season too, with growers struggling to find the required numbers to prune trees and pick the fruit. According to British Apples and Peas, while applications for picker roles were high, there were relatively low numbers actually starting work on farms.
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