Our Queen celebrated her 90th Birthday on Thursday 21st April
On Thursday while the Nation celebrated the 90th Birthday of our Queen, The English Apple Man spent a very enjoyable morning on the North Downs in Kent.....
The English Apple Man was invited to be part of the team hosting the visit by the Weald of Kent Preservation Society to A.C. Goatham's Griffins Farm at Sutton Valence by Nigel Stewart the ACG Technical Director who along with other senior management members were at The Belfry for the Annual - Fruit Produce Journal Awards at which Clive Goatham was presented with The UK Fruit & Vegetable Awards 'Lifetime Achievement Award' - more about that later'
The visit was organised by Alison and Kay of Coast Communications who have been liaising with Julian, the events planner, from WKPS. Julian was very keen for the group to take a tour of the orchards and gain a better understanding of modern apple production.
Hosting the WKPS visit: Darren Wallis, Piotr Bukowski, Nicky Caney (ACG) Kay Seago (Coast Communications) and The English Apple Man.
Darren is Technical Coordinator and Piotr Production Manager for ACG.
Weald of Kent Protection Society.
The WKPS is a non-political environmental pressure group with three main aims:
To protect and enhance the character and environment of the Wealden towns, villages and countryside
To safeguard the amenities of the Weald of Kent
To cultivate a wider interest in and care for the beauty, history and character of the Weald of Kent
The visit was organised by Alison and Kay of Coast Communications who have been have been liaising with Julian, the events planner, from WKPS. Julian was very keen for the group to take a tour of the orchards.
The group arrived at Griffins Farm at around 10.30am. The WKPS members are avid walkers but with the weather forecast on Thursday to not be as good as in previous days, Darren arranged a Minibus to reduce the amount of walking - this is especially significant as we (the group and the EAM) were all senior citizens and Griffins farm spreads from the top of the downs down steep slopes to the foot of the downs............
A view from the upper slopes of the North Downs across the Weald below.
Following introductions Darren gave the group an overview of the A.C. Goatham business.
Below: Darren Wallis (third from left) 'sets the scene' with WKPS members.....
A C Goatham & Son - is managed today by Clive and his eldest son Ross; the company was started in 1947 by Clive's parents, Arthur 'Conference' Goatham and Phyllis. Originally a farm contracting company Arthur would also buy fruit in the fruit sales around the County. The company would then pick the fruit, pack it and send it to wholesale markets. Following the purchase of fruit on the tree at Street Farm, Hoo, in 1980, Clive went on to purchase the farm and this became the first farm owned and stayed the headquarters up until the move to Flanders Farm in 2013.
The company currently grows 1800 acres of apples and pears on 16 farms stretching the length and breadth of Kent. There is also 5.1 hectares of cherry. A group of nearly 20 growers also supply their apples and pears into the business and this takes A C Goatham's supply of fruit to 30,000 tonnes and growing (90,000 bulk bins)
The main customers are Sainsbury (80%) and Morrison.
The main apple varieties are (in calendar order) Zari, Bramley, Cox, Gala, and Braeburn; Conference pears are grown and the company is in the process of dramatically increasing the area of Conference pears on the latest growing systems. ACG also grow Rubens and Cameo.
Zari a variety identified by Clive Goatham as a potential winner, circa 10 years ago and now licensed to A.C.Goatham after Clive bought the licensing rights from the breeders, is supplied exclusively to Sainsbury's.
The fruit is all packed in the pack house at the Flanders HQ. During the harvest period the labour ranks swell to 600 which include office, pack house and harvest staff.
Click on Flanders Farm to view opening of Flanders Farm Complex in August 2013.
The first orchards visited were the Gala orchards located on the top of the farm and adjacent to the farm buildings.
Below: discussing the science of growing Gala apples
The WKPS group members were fascinated by the science behind modern apple production. Darren and Piotr explained how the trees are grown to circa 3.5 metres tall and how the pruning keeps the tree balanced between 'cropping and adequate new growth' - the whole farm has been 'soil mapped' allowing precision application of fertilizers; e.g. more on the 'less fertile' soil and less on the 'more fertile' soil. The applications are computer controlled using GPS for accurate delivery.
Fertigation (feeding with liquid fertilizer) can also be applied through the irrigation pipes and the amount of water is controlled by 'soil moisture' probes delivering accurate measurements of the water table back to the computer controlling water application volumes.
Clearly the subject of pesticides is one which concerns environmentalists; while we in the fruit industry know how much has changed in the last half century with the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) principles driving the development of nonpesticidal controls of the vast amount of our 'orchard enemies' it was an enlightening moment for WKPS members to hear of how IPM insect control was "supervised" by qualified entomologists and insecticide applications were based on conclusions reached from periodic monitoring of pest and natural-enemy populations rather than applying pesticides on a 'calendar basis' - the science of understanding how predators control specific pests and which chemicals are detrimental to their safety, has led to predatorial control of aphids, red spider mite, caterpillars, pear sucker et al;
Anthocorids and earwigs - Typhlodromus pyri - lacewings and ladybirds are just some of the predators regularly used to control pests; Predators kill and feed on 'several to many' individual prey during their lifetimes. Many species of amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles prey extensively on insects. Predatory beetles, flies, lacewings, true bugs (Order Hemiptera), and wasps feed on various pest insects or mites. Most spiders feed entirely on insects. sometimes a pesticide may be required to 'reset the balance' if a pest gets out of control, but more and more the controls are biological. Natural biological processes and materials can provide control, with acceptable environmental impact, and often at lower cost. The main approach is to promote beneficial insects that eat or parasitize target pests. Biological insecticides, derived from naturally occurring microorganisms (e.g.- Bt, entomopathogenic fungi and entomopathogenic nematodes), also fall in this category.
With a ride on the mini bus, we moved down to the half way point; embarking to see the last of the Cox orchards which once dominated this farm. The one remaining orchard is retained because it is a very early site and produces some of the first Cox of a new season.
Below: 'last of the past' - Cox three row beds circa 25 year old.
Adjacent to the Cox a new Zari orchard. The trees were raised by Carolus Nurseries in Belgium and they are Magnum trees - these are trees that have had their first young branches (feathers) cut back hard after the first year in the nursery, with the aim of producing better quality fruiting branches; 'at the moment the jury is out' as Zari is naturally a strong growing tree and this Magnum system may not be an ideal format for the variety.
Below Zari
Pollinators.
Originally ACG used Malus Pollinators, but this provided insufficient pollination as the Malus blossom did not coincide fully with the Zari blossom resulting in below optimum fruit set. ACG now plant Golden Delicious at 'one in ten' ratio which has proved ideal with blossom on Zari and Goldens in unison.
Below: Zari row - and - Zari trees 'side on view'
Following the orchard visit, the WKPS members were transported back by mini bus from 'the lowland' to the meeting room at Griffin farm where refreshments were laid on by Nicky Caney, including Champagne for toasting our Queen on her 90th Birthday.
After cake and coffee, Julian thanked Darren, Peter, Nicky and Kay for their visit which seemed to be very much appreciated; the technical aspects and high investment central to a modern top fruit enterprise clearly impressed the WKPS members.
Julien presented Darren with a certificate of thanks from the WKPS for the courtesy extended by ACG in hosting the visit, before proposing a toast to Her Majesty The Queen - "Happy Birthday your Majesty"
Below: The English Apple Man (centre) with Piotr Bukowski (left) and Darren Wallis
Below: Clive Goatham
Thursday was a memorable day for A.C. Goatham & Son as Clive Goatham received a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Clive Goatham wins Lifetime Achievement Award at Fruit Produce Journal (FPJ) awards ceremony at The Belfry
From the A.C.Goatham website; this appraisal from Ross Goatham demonstrates the magnitude of Clive Goatham's 'Lifetime Achievements'
"Ross Goatham, Partner at AC Goatham & Son commented: "We are of course absolutely delighted to have won and been a close runner up in all five categories that we were entered in. I am especially pleased that my Dad Clive, has received this fantastic recognition from his industry peers, for his lifetime's work in the top fruit industry. Dad has been a pioneer in top fruit, from the difficult times in the 1980's when many in the industry were grubbing out orchards or selling up, to his ongoing vision to enable the UK to one day be close to self sufficient in apples and pears, without the need to rely on foreign imports. Dad's enthusiasm and passion for the industry has seen AC Goatham & Son reinvest all profits back into the business for a number of years, to enable the expansion of packing and cold storage facilities, the investment in new technology throughout the business, the replanting of old and new orchards which will have seen 1 million new trees planted by 2020, over a seven-year period.
All in all a very memorable Thursday............
Take care
The English Apple Man