A record number of visitors from across the country headed to Kent this week to attend the UK’s premier fruit event, Fruit Focus.
Just under 1300 visitors attended the show, which took place at East Malling Research, Kent on 22 July, to see the latest agronomy, technology and machinery being displayed by 128 exhibitors, also a record.
Jon Day, event director at Haymarket Exhibitions, said the numbers showed Fruit Focus was becoming an increasingly important venue for growers.
“Fruit production techniques are moving at a rapid pace. This year’s attendance illustrates the value that top, soft and stone fruit growers put on the event, which offers an unrivalled opportunity to stay abreast of rapid change, keep businesses efficient and competitive, and to network with other progressive growers and leading industry figures.”
Nigel Trood, managing director of Fruit Focus principal sponsor Mack, said: "We always enjoy being at the heart of Fruit Focus. This year we placed particular emphasis on quality and advances within the technical sector.
“We were delighted to be able to host Beth Hart, who heads up the technical team for fresh foods and agriculture at Sainsbury's. Her presentation on quality was inspiring.
My thanks to Beth for her support, to Haymarket for yet another great show and to all who attended the Mack marquee. See you next year!"
New technology
There was plenty of cutting edge technology on show. Agrovista demonstrated ongoing developments in its soft-fruit tunnel monitoring systems to improve irrigation practice and disease management using telemetry and software.
The company also launched a new fireblight early warning service enabling preventative or antagonistic sprays to be applied more accurately, and demonstrated novel mapping and scanning techniques produced by drones to better manage crop variability.
Hutchinson showed Omnia Fruit Vision, a system that could count and grade apples and provide yield analysis on the tree. Hutchinsons also announced that its Omnia nutrient and precision farming support system would be extended into fruit.
French supplier Janny MT highlighted its new controlled atmosphere process to preserve produce using modules in conventional cold stores.
Pacepacker Services exhibited some of its latest robotic innovations, including the Retail Tray Loading system (RTL) fitted with suction grippers that could gently lift and pack up to 144 packs/minute) into crates.
Tractors from John Deere’s latest 5G Series for 2015 made their debut on Burden Bros Agri stand. The range included four models Stage IIIA engines from 75-100hp aimed mainly at orchards and vineyard work.
Agronomy updates
Wholesale tree nursery Frank Matthews showed two new cherry varieties from Pico. Starblush and Stardust have large, white-fleshed fruits and pick mid- and mid-to-late season.
Engage Agro Europe launched a new silicon nutrient for foliar and irrigated application to increase the strength, growth and health of crops by boosting cell strength and increasing speed of growth.
Legro explained how research with two industry partners had shown how the company’s optimum substrate, Legro Blue Berry CP Optima, allowed blueberries to be grown in the same container for up to eight years.
Research on show
Important research highlighted at the event included Fruit Focus host East Malling Research’s focus on Apple Replant Disease (ARD) evolution and rootstock interaction (ARDERI) to provide information to help develop breeding programmes.
EMR also hosted the popular research tours, which this year included enhancing natural pollinating insects in fruit crops and controlling western flower thrips with predatory mites. EMR’s WATERR project also featured, highlighting improving water use efficiency when irrigating fruit.
AHDB Horticulture presented information on two new research projects. One aimed to predict the onset of stress in strawberry crops before it becomes visible; the other investigated Verticillium wilt control using beneficial fungi to boost the plant’s defence mechanism.
Agrii showed off a simple pruning technique to save the cost of planting twin-stem apple trees. It is being tested on the company’s iFarm on the East Malling Research estate to see if it can produce similar benefits, such as more even growth and better quality fruit.
Live demos
The live demonstration arena showcased some exciting new developments, including the ultra-compact Orvin Baby Compact tower sprayer from Canterbury-based Kirkland UK
Koppert showed its RotaBug biological agent applicators that include a pedestrian-operated device for ground or low-height strawberry beds, and a tractor-mounted version for table-top systems.
Fruit Forums
Fruit Focus underpinned its reputation for hosting one of the sector’s most popular forum programmes where growers can listen to and debate with leading industry figures.
This year’s opening topic looked at ways to increase fruit consumption and reverse the decline in UK self-sufficiency and attracted a capacity audience.
DEFRA minister George Eustice said the government’s recently announced food and farming plan, a 25-year industry-led strategy to boost UK farm output, would identify the ingredients to deliver growth.
“We want the food and farming industry to be an absolutely crucial part of the growth agenda,” he said. “But I don’t think self-sufficiency should itself be the target. We should instead be targeting competitiveness and making sure we have a profitable industry and then the self-sufficiency point will take care of itself.”
Three key elements would help successful delivery - adoption of new technology, especially in plant breeding, improving skills and better market access.
“If we want a vibrant industry we have to attract new people,” he said. “The horticulture sector has some great examples of new entrants [because the barriers to entry are lower] – the rest of the agriculture sector can learn from that.”
“The top and soft fruit industry has a strong domestic market and there are a lot of opportunities for import displacement. In the top fruit sector we’ve also seen growing exports.”
NFU deputy president Minette Batters said growth was a key priority to tackle the long-term decline in self-sufficiency, which over the past 30 years had fallen from 78% to around 60%.
Declining investment in R and D, a lack of affordable labour and weak bargaining power in the supply chain meant domestic output had failed to keep up with the rising UK population.
“For the fresh produce industry, the focus is not about growing export markets. The focus is on import substitution, getting the increasing number of UK consumers to buy more British-grown food,” she said. “We cannot achieve this without significant help from government.”
The NFU’s Back British Farming campaign launched in February aimed to ensure the drive to increase food production was at heart of policy making across all government departments, Ms Batters said.
The need for that joined up approach was illustrated by the Chancellor’s recent budget announcement on the living wage. Ms Batters said her phone had become “red hot”.
“We are very supportive of a living wage. But there are enormous challenges for horticulture. The fact that this arrived from nowhere - no preparation, no consultation – that was the shock, that was the reason for the phone calls.”
Ali Capper, NFU horticulture and potatoes board vice chairman, said the board was intent on increasing consumption of fruit and veg.
“We need to contribute significantly to a change in the culture, helping society to eat more fresh fruit and veg – prepared, frozen and canned.
“More than one in six meals eaten out of the home,” she added. “We need to start making on-the-go eating a much easier proposition.”
The board had identified three core areas to deliver change, and was engaging with key stakeholders to explore ways ahead.
“We want to ensure there are clear and consistent healthy eating campaigns,” Mrs Capper said. “We also want to influence retailers to promote fruit and veg through improved point-of-sale material and product placement. And we want to encourage producers to develop more consumer-friendly products that satisfy the growing demand of convenience.”
The horticulture board had met DEFRA regarding the proposed British Harvest Festival, which is planned for October, she added.
Beth Hart, head of the technical team for fresh foods at Sainsbury's outlined how the retailer was driving up its quality standards to meet the needs of today’s customers.
Existing quality specs were designed to permit a certain level of imperfection because they were a realistic reflection of what was achievable. But that “knowingly designed in” disappointed customers, she said.
Today’s customers had a wide choice of where to shop and would look for the freshest and the best. They were also quicker to complain, thanks to social media, which could quickly spread.
“At Sainsbury’s we recognise the need to raise the bar on quality. We need to sit down with growers to define what a market-leading specification and standard looks like and then work in partnership to deliver that.”
Investing in techniques and technologies that could deliver a better spec and measure performance, as well as building intelligence about what delighted customers, was key. That way Sainsbury’s could be confident of putting a product in front of customers knowing they would like it, rather than having to ask them if they liked it, she added.
Advice on tap at Vines to Wines
Vines to Wines, partnered by the United Kingdom Vineyards Association, provided an excellent opportunity for new growers to find out more about the wine-growing sector and others to catch up with the latest developments and to network with colleagues.
It also hosted a series of technical workshops in the demonstration vineyard on canopy management and disease monitoring.
Fruit Focus returns to East Malling on 20 July 2016.
