Its all happening now; Cherry picking is still in full flow, Plums are underway and the first new season English apples have appeared in wholesale markets and English Apricots are a growing presence in retail outlets.
Strawberries and Raspberries are now so well established that we take for granted high quality supplies of both over many months of the year. Oh! and English Blueberries and Blackberries are an increasing presence.
The Apricots were purchased on Friday morning as my wife and I visited the Jempson's of Peasmarsh Supermarket while our Cocker Spaniel 'Poppy' was having a 'wash, cut and blow dry' at Mucky Pups in nearby Beckley.
Jempson's is an amazing institution; 50 years ago I was playing football for Rye United in the Sussex County League and returning home from Rye would often stop off at the 'modest shop' in Peasmarsh for cream cakes for tea. Over the years this small shop was replaced by a modest Supermarket (what the likes of Tesco & Sainsbury would call a 'Convenience Store') a few years later this store went under the bulldozer and a shiny new Supermarket complete with a petrol station rose from the site.
Bear in mind Peasmarsh in East Sussex is just a village and it never ceases to amaze me how they attract the customers for a Supermarket with 30,000 lines; But they do!
Whenever possible Jempson's 'Champion' local suppliers; it may be apples, pears, potatoes from Romney Marsh, local sausages, 'you name it and its there'
The Dengate family who supply much of the apples pop into the store daily to check the stock and go back and pick fresh supplies for Jempson's store. That's Fresh!
To visit the website click on Jempson's of Peasmarsh
On Tuesday, The English Apple Man popped into Paul Mansfield's award winning Owens Court farm to observe Regina Cherries being picked.
Below left: Deleha (Delia) picking Regina Cherries at Owens Court. Below right: Regina Cherries at Owens Court
On Friday a visit to E.G. Butcher & Sons Toke Farm at Linton where the grower (Gay Hudd) and her family and staff were busy on their first pick of new season Discovery.
It is comforting to still find a true 'family operation' with Gay and her sister Sally alongside (Mum & Dad) Mike & Rosie Butcher + Gay's daughter and nephew and their friends all helping out with the apple harvest.
Opal Plums in Waitrose
.jpg "New season English Opal Plums")
Also news of the first Opal Plums arriving at Waitrose from Michael Bentley's Castle Farm at Newent in the West Midlands indicates the Plum season is up and running.
The seasonal summer stone fruits are grown on selected farms for Waitrose including Bentleys Castle Fruit Farm in Newent, Gloucestershire. Growers Michael & Chrissie Bentley have owned the farm since 2002 and grow Plums exclusively for Waitrose.
The early Plum season this year is in contrast to the very late season last year. Plum ripening favours the differential between warm daytime and cool evening temperatures, and recent weather conditions have been ideal growing conditions. Orchards in Gloucestershire and Kent are heavily laden with plums with a superb crop expected.
The English Apple Man spent a very long day at Fruit Focus on Wednesday
Fruit Focus opened at 10am; officially opened by George Eustice - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for DEFRA.
The event, which took place on 23 July at East Malling Research in Kent, hosted a highly informative mix of topical forums and the latest market and technical information laid on by 120 exhibitors, which attracted over 1200 visitors.
However The English Apple Man had an early start; attending the WATERR Project Seminar held in the EMR Conference Centre at 8am.
The aim of the WATERR project is to support irrigators in the South East of England to improve their water availability and irrigation use efficiency. A key issue arising from this research is the lack of water for irrigation in many South East 'catchments' and in particular the potential impact of changes to irrigation licensing regulations.
After registration and a breakfast; an update of the WATERR project reminding the attendees of the objectives and progress to date.
To date 50% of irrigators have been affected by supply issues. By 2050 most will be suffering from over abstraction! In tunnel crops there is a 3-5 fold differential in efficacy of use. Surveys of 125 licensed irrigators (the South East has 450 licence holders) looking at the correlation between Best & Worst Practice delivered some very interesting information.
One involving Potatoes where an application range of 15-45 cubic metres per tonne of Potatoes delivered a 30-35% improvement in yields and an avaerage net benefit of £2K - 3K per hectare. The range; £1K to £7K.
An interesting point raised by Sarah Taylor EA (Environment Agency) regarding more efficient handling of water resource; the use of untreated water; e.g. direct from rivers, rather than potable water (from the mains) by mapping water source and user requirements, it would be possible to deliver greater efficiency of supply. Sarah foresees moving 'untreated water' to 'areas of need' and suggests 'group collaboration' would aid the efficacy of that prospect.
If irrigators formed 'water user groups' they could 'trade' with water companies and share costs/benefits. Sarah recognised this is probably a long term aspiration; possibly 30-40 years.
This WATERR 'workshop' is the first of a programme of workshops aimed at researching the sources and users of an increasingly valuable resource and developing a long term strategy for more efficient 'supply and use' of irrigation water vital to maintaining the production of 'home grown' produce.
Fruit Focus.
The ability to visit more than 120 different exhibitors in one day, set in the grounds of East Malling Research is an opportunity not to be missed by growers of fruit and grapes. Built on Soft Fruit and Top Fruit, Focus has seen changes; Viticulture has become more and more prevalent at Fruit Focus over the last decade and is now an important aspect of this 'one day' annual show.
In addition to the 'formal exhibitor stands' a selection of Forums covering a range of topical subjects is an established part of the day.
One of the first things The English Apple Man did after arriving at Fruit Focus was to walk along to the Pear Concept Orchard with Tim Long; Tim and his family grow 170 acres of Pears at Cliffe (don't mention the airport) in North Kent.
His son David has taken over the day to day management of the farm, but Tim and his wife Sally retain a passion for pear growing which has been central to their life as fruit growers. Tim has a 'consummate knowledge' of Pear Growing and time spent with him is always 'an education' not to be missed.
Below: Fruit Focus Press Release information
"The Fruit Forums sponsored by the NFU proved popular with visitors. The NFU's Dr Chris Hartfield tackled the hot topic of pollinators, hitting out at the "lazy journalism" that was responsible for spreading the myth being pushed by campaign groups that pollinators were on the edge of an apocalyptic decline.
A wide-ranging study based on field records showed there had been dramatic reductions, but these had occurred between the 1950's and 1980's. Over the past two decades the declines had slowed and there had even been slight uplift in the biodiversity of solitary bees that made up about 90% of bee species.
Researchers suggested the slowing was due to conservation work and environmental management work carried out by farmers. Further work providing food and habitat and adopting more integrated pest management technology would aid further recovery and promote farming's excellent record on good environmental practice and stewardship, Dr Hartfield added.
In the second NFU forum examining the use of seasonal labour, Paul Broadbent, chief executive of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority, urged growers to work closely with his organisation to stamp out abuse.
Demand for low-skilled work offered the potential for somebody to unlawfully exerting power and profit, he said. "If you have a whiff of information feel reassured you can call us or email us and we can talk about the best way to solve it."
Key areas to watch included avoiding cheap schemes that looked too good to be true, said David Camp, chief executive of the Association of Labour Providers. "Either they are not paying tax, or the workers are not getting that to which they are legally entitled."
Growers should be wary of helpful workers who offered plentiful cheap labour -they were likely to be unlicenced gangmasters. He strongly advised growers to conduct due diligence when hiring a supplier.
Fruit Forums
The English Apple Man attended two of the forums; Simon Hinks - Sainsbury Technical Manager reviewing Sainsburys support for UK fruit and the second forum Chaired by Adrian Barlow - CEO of English Apples & Pears featuring presentations by Dr. Richard Harrison of EMR, Tony Harding - Technical Director - Worldwide Fruit and Peter Gregory - CEO of East Malling Research.
These two Forums were full of very important information and The English Apple Man will do 'full justice' to the content in next week's Journal
Below: Fruit Forums were very popular at Fruit Focus
EMR's research tours proved as popular as ever. They outlined management of pheromone traps to help identify pests and time spray applications and a demonstration of PomeVision, an orchard-based Apple Counting Vision System to improve crop quality and yield of their crops. The tour also included a visit to the Concept Pear Orchard as well as the EMR Rhizolab.
Vines to Wines, partnered by English Wine Producers and United Kingdom Vineyard Association, gave would-be growers and producers an insight into what the UK wine industry had to offer. It also ran two very popular vineyard workshops in the event's demonstration vineyard examining canopy management and disease monitoring.
The English Apple Man visited as many trade stands as possible, but all 120 is not practical so 'the ones' that catch the eye' tend to hold the attention.
Something different: Below left; this is a Horse Fly trap; and right an SWD trap
On show on the Sentomol stand, David Loughlin explained the insect trap business is one of two enterprise he is involved in; he is Editor of International PEST CONTROL magazine and in that capacity developed the knowledge to start SENTOMOL which supplies a variety of specialist insect traps and attractants..
The Horse Fly is attracted to heat and the rather strange looking device (trap) uses a bulb which gets very hot in the sun to attract 'the pesky little biters' and once attracted they crawl steadily upwards until they enter the trap at the top.
Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) arrived from Asia in Europe in 2008 and threatens soft and stone fruit. It is a type of fruit fly.
The SWD Research and Monitoring Programme, led by East Malling Research (EMR) and The James Hutton Institute (JHI), has shown that whilst very small numbers have been found in commercial cropping areas, greater numbers were trapped in woodland and hedgerows recently and, therefore, growers should start monitoring for SWD early.
Tow and Blow UK demonstrated a portable wind machine to protect crops from frost, with engine and fan mounted on an 8m extendable tower, capable of protecting up to 4ha at a time.
My last visit before departing was to The Edward Vinson stand where Sean Figgis and his team were displaying their range of strawberry varieties bred 'in house' by the Edward Vinson business. Over a number of years Peter Vinson has created many high quality new varieties and 'the new kid on the block' is SWEET EVE.
.jpg "Sean Figgis and Sweet Eve")
Comments from the organiser
Jon Day, event director at Fruit Focus organiser Haymarket Exhibitions, said Fruit Focus had become a key date in the fruit industry's diary.
"Fruit Focus 2014 reflected the event's importance as a place to do business and catch up with the latest technical developments, as well as being a great venue where key policy makers, industry figures and progressive growers can network," he said.
"I'd like to thank all our sponsors, visitors and exhibitors for making it such a success."
Nigel Trood, managing director of Fruit Focus principal sponsor Mack, said: "We love being at the heart of Fruit Focus.
Well - its 11pm (Friday night 25th July) and time to finish this week's English Apple Man Journal. I confess with one eye on The Commonwealth Games and one on my PC, it has taken longer than usual...........but there is a lot to report on this week..........and next week presentations at the Forum by Simon Hinks of Sainsbury, Richard Harrison of EMR, Tony Harding of Worldwide Fruit, Peter Gregory CEO of EMR and Adrian Barlow CEO of English Apples & Pears will be fully covered.
Take care
The English Apple Man
PS - The Commonwealth Games are great - and our 'home countries' are doing brilliantly!