The Journal gives a weekly update on events in our English apple orchards, using pictures and video clips to follow seasonal activities and giving the consumer a level of detail not available from any other source.
All aspects of growing, harvesting, storage, grading, packing and marketing are included enabling consumers to understand the challenges English growers face in supplying our sophisticated market place.
As mentioned in last week's Journal The English Apple Man visited Dr Robert Saville at NIAB at East Malling on Wednesday 6th March for an update on the progress of Growing Kent & Medway. My last visit was on 23 October 2023
Kent and Medway is home to some of the most exciting and innovative food and drink businesses in the UK and internationally. From growers of fresh fruit and vegetables, to food processes and makers, through to engineers and robotics specialists automating our supply chain.
I spent an hour over a coffee in the Orchard Restaurant at EMR, listening to Robert passionately explaining the opportunities for introducing more sustainable production via Growing Kent & Medway Business Sustainability Challenge
Robert said this Sustainability Challenge is really about 'inspiring & creating' a business model achieving it's 'own circular economy' with the potential to bring new products from waste generated by the primary product 'closing the loop' with a fully sustainable 'no waste' product
This week The English Apple Man has had a 'funny old week'
Both my wife and I struggle with 'mobility' and receive help from a wonderful lady who specialises in Reflexology and Holistic Massage.
Monday and my wife and I were benefitting from Reflexology and Massage and on Tuesday, we were off to an NHS Clinic where my wife and her Consultant updated her progress, onto M&S for a light lunch and 'a bit of shopping'
Wednesday: The EAM visited Dr Robert Saville at NIAB East Malling to discuss the next stage of Growing in Kent & Medway and the opportunities for the development of grant aided development of sustainable projects.
Thursday: At home researching and writing this week's EAM Journal.
Friday: Continuing writing and in the afternoon attending Kent Farmer Ken Jenner's Memorial Service.
In the Journal for 19th May 2023 The English Apple debated the future prosperity (?) of UK apple growers, and said; "Probably the only home grown apples able to earn a small profit at the moment are the Branded Club varieties. Like Jazz and Pink Lady".
Click on: English Apple Man Journal - 29/12/2023 - THE FUTURE
Poignantly - an article in The Fresh Produce Magazine by Fred Searle discusses the very subject of Branded varieties...
"For decades, own-label has dominated the fresh fruit and vegetable aisle at Britain's top supermarkets. But now high costs and tough market conditions are putting huge pressure on margins. So is own-label still the only game in town?
Shoppers like brands. They like food and drink brands too, but they almost never find them in the fresh produce section. We want to know if fresh fruit and vegetable brands can play a bigger role in future".
'The Power of Branding' is a new section of our website. Right here, over the next several months, we're looking at the new importance of brands for the fresh produce business in the UK.
A brand-new video series from FPJ in collaboration with Coregeo showcases the potential of branding for fresh produce marketers
The East Malling Trust would like to announce the acquisition of Brogdale Farm
The home of the world's largest collections of fruit trees has been purchased by The East Malling Trust, the charity that champions the advancement of science in horticulture and agriculture.
The National Fruit Collection at Brogdale Farm is a living history and home to a rich variety of heritage fruit, curated by Reading University on behalf of DEFRA, with wardens from the Brogdale Collections charity managing access to it.
Its orchards contain more than 4,000 different varieties of apples, pears, cherries, plums, and other fruits and nuts, and the 150-acre farm has become a hub for fruit enthusiasts, researchers, and visitors from around the globe.
Bradbourne House is home to the Hatton Fruit Garden, formerly the walled kitchen garden, which takes its name from Sir Ronald Hatton, one of the most distinguished horticulturists of his generation, and which celebrates the art of tree forming and training fruit trees in different shapes.
History of Bradbourne House
Bradbourne House was previously the family home of the Twisden family since the early 18th century and was put up for sale when John Ramskill Twisden died without an heir. The house as it is seen today was built between 1712 and 1715 although there was a Tudor house on the site built in the late 1500s which has been considerably changed and altered over the years.
Bradbourne House remained in the ownership of one family, the Twisdens, for around 400 years before being purchased by what is now The East Malling Trust in 1938.
The House and park is closed to the public, but can be visited as part of a tour . For more information please contact The East Malling Trust eastmallingtrust.org.
Below: Bradbourne House today
The two organisations have a shared commitment to advancing research, conservation, and education in the field of fruit genetics. Dating back over 100 years, the East Malling campus has been at the forefront of pioneering advances in horticulture and has made substantial contributions to the fruit industry. The acquisition of Brogdale Farm further strengthens the Trust's commitment to fruit research and development.
This week's English Apple Man Journal covers a number of different issues. Some from other countries and some from home
But first some sad news as yet another of the fruit farming fraternity that have been part of my 65 years involved in fruit growing has passed onto God's great orchards in heaven
Below: Ken Jenner
Ken Jenner
Kenneth John Jenner was born on 22nd July 1936 and was the older brother of David and sister Betty. He took over farming Great Sheephurst Farm, Marden, with his brother David, following the sudden and unexpected death of his father in 1956.
At that time the farm was 40ha consisting of predominantly hops which were blighted with verticillium wilt. These were quickly 'grubbed' and replaced with apples and in 1960 the opportunity to buy the neighbouring farm extended the area to 100ha. Two further farm purchases were made in 1987 and 1997, expanding the area to its current 200ha (40ha apples and 160ha arable).
Ken officially 'retired' from farming in 2016 following a very successful 60 year partnership with his brother David. He is succeeded by his wife, Gay and two sons Nigel and William.
Kenneth John Jenner was born on 22nd July 1936 and was the older brother of David and sister Betty. He took over farming Great Sheephurst Farm, Marden, with his brother David, following the sudden and unexpected death of his father in 1956.
It seems that lately The English Apple Man has reported on so many challenges facing our fruit industry, mainly due to our Supermarkets intransigence to the desperate need for trade fairness and sustainable prices back to the growers
But is there another way? Is the future for 'many' of our growers better managed by looking back to the farming principles of the past?
This week The English Apple Man visited James Smith at Loddington Farm's new farm shop, the next step in James determination to step back from the uncertainty and pressure of supplying Supermarkets.
Below: The new Loddington Farm Shop opened on 18 January this year
Loddington Farm is run by James Smith. After graduating from Reading University with a degree in crop science, he pursued a career in fresh produce, until 18 years ago, when he joined his father on his great, great grandfather's apple farm in the beautiful Kent countryside. James great, great grandfather was the first to plant BRAMLEY apples in Kent during the 1880's
OUR PRINCIPLES
In 2016 James was awarded a Nuffield Scholarship which enabled him to travel and look at ways of growing fruit for the UK market that could be profitable. Disillusioned with fruit growing in the UK due to concerns over the huge financial risks and the impact of chemicals on people's health, James decided to put his extensive knowledge and experience to use.
He was encouraged to start a programme of self-education to see how we can produce better food - and began a journey in producing food using nature, instead of chemistry in farming systems. In 2020 in one orchard 'he spent more money on books than agrochemicals' in the quest to grow chemical free food.
Over the last ten years, The English Apple Man has featured Loddington Farm in a number of my weekly Journals, capturing the journey from high quality apple and pear production and the transition to regenerative farming.
Click on Loddington Farm - Regenerative Farming
Click on 5 principles of regenerative farming
This week. The English Apple Man follows on from last week's pruning of Braeburn apple trees on the tree structure used by the progressive growers of today, by looking back at styles of pruning more popular with previous generations and a practical demonstration by Nick Dunn of Frank P Matthews Nursery of the system still used today by most apple growers: namely the Centre Leader Tree.
100 years ago many apple trees were still grown on Standard Trees with branches starting circa 6 feet above the ground. by the post World War 2 periods growers were turning to Bush Trees grown on M2 rootstock, but rapidly taking up M9 rootstock allowing smaller trees planted closer together.
Around 1960 a few growers were adopting the Centre Leader Tree on M9 rootstock planted at 12ft x 6ft.
As time progressed the centre leader tree, or Spindle Bush as it was popularly named became the standard format.
This format, with a few exceptions (4 row beds) has been the standard for 50-60 years. Closing the planting distance in the row led to more intensive planting, leading to the Super Spindle, and eventually the Hedgerow/Fruit Wall system highlighted in last week's English Apple Man Journal.
But the centre leader / spindle bush is still the dominant format on any/most fruit farms today.
In this week's Journal two pruning videos by Nick Dunn from Frank P Mathews demonstrate how to prune one year old and more mature (4-5 year) centre leader trees.
Pruning apple trees
Over the next few weeks The English Apple Man will cover pruning apple trees, this week concentrating on the current style favoured by today's progressive growers. This system works best with modern varieties like Braeburn and Gala.
The English Apple Man introduces a friend who has been at the cutting edge of modern apple production and now as a semi retired Consultant offers his breadth of knowledge to anyone seeking his advice.
Below; Mark Holden
"Over a 35 year period, I have managed farms for two premier horticultural business in Kent, with my last role as Production Director for Adrian Scripps Ltd, growing apples, pears, grapes & blackcurrants.
I have been fortunate to travel to many other countries including New Zealand, South Africa , U.S.A & across Europe. Visiting other successful horticultural business & talking to other farmers and growers is such a valuable experience.
I started my own consultancy business in January 2023 with the aim of imparting some of my horticulture knowledge & practical farming skills to other growers in UK fruit industry.
Although I now live in mid- Wales, I still regularly visit Kent & Herefordshire to advise fruit growers on pruning, thinning, tree architecture & management".
Website: Mark Holden Consultancy
Pink Lady, the number one global Club apple now growing successfully in Great Britain, albeit currently in the south.
The first British grown Pink Lady went on sale in February 2023
For the first time UK consumers could buy UK grown Pink Lady (albeit in very small quantities) as the first crop of UK Pink Lady is launched. Grown and marketed by Adrian Scripps Ltd and Worldwide Fruit Ltd growers. Volumes will rise next season (2023)
The most successful high value Global apple is Pink Lady. There are others like Jazz which has modelled it's marketing strategy on the success of Pink Lady. The success required an exceptional apple with great taste, texture and very 'uniform' visual appearance.
For consumers to buy, and repeat buy, uniformity must be delivered. Cripps Pink delivers the optimum eating quality and by setting a specification for high colour (minimum red colour) while licensing it as Pink Lady only to growers capable of meeting the high standard, plus controlling the volume grown to meet consumer demand and NOT exceeding it, delivers profit to the grower ensuring financial sustainability!
On Tuesday, The English Apple Man watched the live broadcast on BBC Parliamentary TV programme where leading members of the farming community were questioned by EFRA about the unfair practices by Supermarkets.
The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRA) is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and its associated public bodies.
Below: Ali Capper, Guy Singh-Watson, Mrs Lizzie Wilson and Michael Oakes
Ali Capper - Executive Chair at British Apples and Pears Ltd
Guy Singh-Watson - Founder at Riverford Organic Farmers
Mrs Lizzie Wilson - Chief Executive at National Pig Association (NPA)
Michael Oakes - Dairy Board Chair at National Farmers Union
I had rarely watched Parliament TV, and never seen a live Select Committee event.
Quite apart from the serious nature and importance of the subject, I found the expertise and eloquence of the panel fascinating.
The session underlined how farming in general, is facing deep unfairness trading with our UK Supermarkets.
While Ali Capper is an industry colleague and friend, I had never heard Guy Singh-Watson speak on a public platform before. The business that he created, Riverford Organic Farmers does not deal with Supermarkets and he is able to argue on behalf of primary producers without the fear so many suppliers face!
Mrs Lizzie Wilson outlined the Unfairness faced by pig producers; the reduction of slaughterhouses compounding the difficulties facing pig farmers. Michael Oakes demonstrated the the shambolic world of 'aligned milk contracts' facing dairy farmers.
BAPL provides strong evidence and clear call for action to EFRA Committee
On Tuesday 9th January 2024, executive chair of BAPL, Ali Capper gave evidence to the EFRA (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) Committee on Fairness in the Food Supply Chain
Ali reminded the committee that over the last two years, growers have faced a 30% increase in the cost of production. At the same time, returns to farmers have averaged just 8%.
Fundamentally, there's a big gap between the increases in costs facing growers and what they are receiving back from supermarkets.
FAIRNESS!
This page initially shows the latest journals. You can use a journal's link to view the full story.
It is now much easier to find a particular journal of interest. Just type your search terms into the search box or select the month and/or year and click Submit.
I have completed the process of reworking my entire archive of journal pages into the style of the new website to make them more accessible to users of mobile phones etc.
Although the content now adapts to the size of the display, some of the archived journals still have photographs that won't fit and so get cropped. Archived journals are best viewed on a computer screen!