Trade body British Apples & Pears has said that new varieties, together with improvements in production and storage, mean that British-grown apples are now available for twelve months of the year.
The organisation told The Telegraph, that it hoped to increase the market share of home-grown apples from 40 to 60 per cent over the next ten years. ‘British growers now supply the nation with apples 52 weeks of the year,’ it said in a statement. ‘We have rebuilt our orchards and we have grown 79 per cent more apples in the last decade and planted nine million more trees in the last 10 years.’
Alison Capper, chairman of British Apples and Pears, commented, “The constant varietal development, especially in the last seven to 10 years, now means that the industry has got a lot more varieties that will store for a lot longer. Varieties like gala, which perhaps 10 years ago, only really did well until about April or May, today the newer clones will go through until July or August, even into September when we start picking the next year’s crop.”
She added that changing climates also created opportunities for growers and said that she hoped some day to see UK-grown Pink Lady apples becoming available.