The last seven days have been very busy for The English Apple Man and today's Journal is The 100th edition!
BUT, before I review the events of the past week, I want to publicise a very worthwhile event!
My wife is organising a Strawberries & Cream Tea fund raising afternoon in our village hall in support of Breast Cancer Research.
Now I appreciate very few will read this AND be in a geographic position to attend, however IF you are close by, and fancy delicious strawberries & cream, tea and a chance to win something in a 'well endowed' raffle, please join us at; Robertsbridge Community Hall, in East Sussex between 3pm & 5pm. Postcode; TN32 5DA.
IF, you cannot join us, but would like to donate, please make a pledge on the English Apple Man contact page and I will forward details of where to send donations
Last weekend; The Kent County Show!
Friday, Saturday and Sunday spent at The Kent County Show on the 'Why Farming Matters' stand answering visitors questions about Apple production. Many enjoyable and productive discussions with visitors to the stand; favourite topic; 'what varieties' should we plant in our garden/small orchard/smallholding?
On the 'media' front; a cameo appearance on Meridian TV and a live interview with Radio Kent. An opportunity to get the message across that our English Apple growers are winning back market share from our overseas competition, with an ever increasing 'stable' of exciting new varieties.
One of the great attractions on the WFM stand was the Cooking Theatre.
In the pictures below Sarah Calcutt; Chair of The National Fruit Show displays her culinary expertise and Mark Gilchrist from !Game for Everything chef supreme for anything involving a game dish !
All the chefs were very skilled and entertaining, but I have to say Mark came top of my poll; not least for the breakfast he cooked for me and my colleagues on the 'early watch'
On Monday, a visit to The House of Lords with The Parliamentary Fruit Committee where The Chairman of the PFC, The Earl of Selborne hosted lunch with members of The Upper House as our Guests; an opportunity to 'brief the Lords' on the important issues affecting the viability of the fruit industry.
Lord Selborne is a grower in his own right; his Blackmoor Estate in Hampshire produces high quality apples and the nursery produces equally high quality trees, many of which can be found in garden centres across the South East of England.
Lord Selborne is a past President of The National Fruit Show and his position as Chairman of the PFC is a valuable support for fruit growers throughout the UK.
At Lord Selborne's invitation, Lord Henley, Lord Lucas, Lord Eden, Baroness Dean, Helen Grant MP & Damian Hinds MP gave their valuable time to interact with the PFC members on matters of fruit growing.
Lord Henley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment and a very busy man, addressed us prior to lunch, foregoing his own sustenance and eloquently outlining elements relative to our growers future plans and critical to government policy; that is to say; critical to 'noble' government plans for increasing UK food production; protecting our food security, improving the balance of payments position and supporting the aspirations for a 'greener' environment.
These issues are important to Government policies, but for the assembled members of the fruit industry, they are vital in shaping the destiny of fruit growing in this country. Unfortunately the wheels of government move very slowly and the speed with which government departments resolve issues influencing growers ability to make the future investment necessary to expansion of UK fruit production is painstakingly slow. NO! change that to excruciatingly slow!
The lunch and company of the 'invited' Lords was a most enjoyable occasion, everyone is on their 'best behaviour' and growers respond to the charm with which ministers deliver 'pragmatic' appraisal of contentious issues with equal respect, however if we, the growing community, are to make the investment which WILL build on the fantastic efforts of Soft Fruit and Top fruit growers over the last decade, those in government office must make every effort to 'raise the pace' in resolving outstanding issues.
Reflecting on my weekend at Kent County Show and a very relevant link with Monday's lunch with the Lords, I recount one very important issue raised by a grower of apples & strawberries; in line with EU policy, the ability to take advantage of EU funding for the investment which can ensure our growers meet the challenges and expectations laid down in Government policy is in a 'make or break situation.
Now, as one might expect, any EU funding is accompanied by 'red tape' and it is common for us BRITS to blame all problems on Brussels.
However, the logjam we have at the moment is firmly stuck in our Government Departments. This may sound like 'griping growers' but the situation if it was not so serious, would be 'laughable' I refer to what is known as PO (Producer Organisation) funding, where groups of growers put forward carefully structured investment plans, which are eligible for 'matched funding' from EU funds.
At the early stages of this EU funding opportunity our Government encouraged eligible UK growers to 'get on board' and understandably growers were not slow in coming forward. My readers may think this is a case of rich farmers grabbing public funds, but the reality is most growers could not embark on investment programs which will create more home grown produce without the 'kick start' from matched funding from the EU. We as a nation after all, have been pretty slow at taking advantage of EU funding, while the other member states are quick to capitalise on available funds.
RPA(part of DEFRA) administers the scheme under the relevant EU Regulations on behalf of the 'Member State' (the UK)
The 'Member State' is given a degree of flexibility by the regulations but is subject to audit by the EU Auditors.
The PO schemes are very correctly, tightly controlled; quite right' but the spanner in the works came to light a couple of years ago when EU auditors disputed some of the approvals made by UK government departments. This of course caused immediate concern about investments 'in process' within the various PO's and left growers 'high and dry' in spite of reassurances that this would be sorted out quickly and once the necessary 'rules and regulations had been clarified, funds frozen would be released.
The blame for this is normally laid at Brussels door, but the current logjam is due to the inability of UK Government departments in their interpretation of EU PO rules. My understanding, is the crux of the problem is The EU Regulations and thus EU Auditors interpretations are based on the European 'centralised co-operative' model which in storage, packing and marketing terms differs considerably from the situation in the UK, where apple growers in particular have always been cautious about committing to a fully fledged central cooperative.
The current situation is, 'to say the least' very frustrating when one considers the PO schemes came into being about 13 years ago and it was the UK Governments responsibilty to interpret and issue clear guidelines through which our growers could access EU funding.
At the end of 2010 following the ECJ judgement and I think political pressure with the change of Government, the RPA decided to come up with revised and more comprehensive PO regime guidelines to which all UK PO's had to comply.
Issuing clear guidelines for funding approval lies with UK Government Departments, but, I am told they keep changing their mind, first issuing guidelines, then changing their minds again and again and continuously deferring the 'final decision' and this has resulted in payments due to some grower PO's in 2009, 2010 and 2011 still in abeyance.
In addition no payments have been received yet for any approved projects completed in 2011.
FINALLY
The first Discovery are being picked and new season apples will be on the main Supermarket shelves by the middle of next week. The criteria for Discovery's readiness, is Red colour (35% minimum - 40%) Sugars (12%) and of course texture and taste.
As my readers will be aware the very early blossom period and warm weather immediately after, fueled predictions of a very early harvest.
The thinking among many growers now is that the picking date for mainstream varieties like Cox & Gala is moving back 'closer' but not as far as normal picking dates. However it is very important growers are ready for harvest on all fronts; with pickers, picking bins, equipment and cold stores 'primed' for a Cox start in the last week of August.
We will soon have definitive data from The Quality Fruit Group assessments of marker orchards!
I mentioned Discovery and with early sites, picking got under way on Wednesday, the momentum will build next week and by Monday 1st August I would expect even the later sites to be picking.
SO, for consumers it is only a few more days before the 'taste of English' is back on the shelves!
Well as the working week draws to an end, I reflect on starting the week on Monday with lunch at The House of Lords and finishing the week, today Friday watching the England v India Test Match with my brother at Lords!
Next week's Journal will feature an overview of Automation in the Orchard
Take care
The English Apple Man
Below, more pictures from last weekend on The Why Farming Matters at Kent County Show
