What a dramatic month July 2022 has proved to be. Toppling a Prime Minister and the contest to choose the next one dominated the news; but extreme weather events have also impacted many people’s lives. Temperatures soaring to over 40C as far north as Lincolnshire astonished even experts who had predicted that this scenario would occur a decade or so later. The driest July in England since 1911 and hosepipe bans already announced in Hampshire, whilst Kent and Sussex and much of East Anglia have no prospect of rain well into August, is bad news for fruit crops although not so bad for vines.
How frustrating to grow a terrific crop of cherries only to see the hot weather and warnings of an early season ignored, destroying the marketing opportunities. Supermarkets offering terrific deals to consumers to move the glut and prevent waste of cherries and soft fruit has some PR positives in a time of squeezed family budgets but doesn’t do much to help grower’s losses. Congratulations should go to the unsung heroes of the picking teams working in the heat and living hot caravans in this exceptional summer.
Fruit Focus with an earlier date and new format brought a good turnout and, as usual, provided the NFU and many companies and suppliers with an opportunity to update the industry on the latest issues and products. The whole labour availability situation was exhaustively covered via the NFU Fruit Forum and continued lobbying over shortages remains important. It was good to see the launch of a new early plum variety Malling Elizabeth in the Platinum Jubilee year and it is hoped that this can spearhead a revival in a home-grown plum season by starting in July with a large tasty but commercial variety before Victorias and Marjories. The Cherry and Soft Fruit Show brought wins for Zara as top strawberry and Areko the champion cherry variety out of the 25 varieties entered. The brand change to British Berry Growers (BBG) the trade body representing 95% of the berry industry also gave the opportunity to publicise the value of UK soft fruit which has doubled in just a decade to £1 6billion. It is welcome news that BBG together with BAPL and the tomato and cucumber crop associations has announced a collaboration to help save R&D following the demise of AHDB with a voluntary levy.
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