The cool, damp summer has continued, bringing its inevitable disease control challenges. However, there are some good crops to come and for this year’s cherry crop, if protected from the rain, yields were well up on last year. Fruit Focus coincided with the first week of the new Labour Government, so the NFU Forums discussing priorities for horticulture had to focus on establishing new relationships. Martin Emmett, NFU Horticulture and Potatoes Chairman, pointed out that many new MPs have little even basic knowledge of our issues. Growers should use the opportunity of the summer recess to invite their local MP to visit their businesses to open the dialogue. “It’s now about rebuilding the dialogue and laying the groundwork for the future”.
There was little to cheer and much to fear at present. The new Employment Act, which will give workers greater rights, was particularly challenging. Combined with the ‘employer pays’ issue in the new SEDEX proposals, this all heralds ever increasing costs of employing people. Robots are a partial answer to replace people and companies like Saga Robotics and Dogtooth have made terrific strides over the last five years, showing their latest developments at Fruit Focus.
This year’s National Cherry and Soft Fruit Show moved to Brogdale Farm, Faversham, Kent to allow greater public access and a higher profile for the event. BerryWorld joined the sponsors and encouraged many of their growers to enter the soft-fruit classes and this contributed to a good geographical spread from Kent to the Midlands. Winning prizes is important to small family farms like Rachel Sands’ Brian Piper Partners for local advertising of their cherries, but also for bigger businesses like FGA and BerryWorld whose members won many of the soft-fruit trophies. At a very busy time of year, it’s good to see this competition continue to thrive, although a change from the traditional chip basket to market tray presentation is inevitable.
It is encouraging to see that wines made in 13 different counties were awarded trophies at this year’s WineGB Awards after the highest ever number of gold medals were given by the distinguished judging panel. However, demonstrating the South East’s domination of the industry, Kent’s Chapel Down, already a big winner at the Decanter World Wine Awards, secured the top spot this year, winning Supreme Champion and six other categories.
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