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.
While our UK growers are still busy picking this year's crop, new season apples and pears are appearing on Supermarket shelves
The National Fruit Show 2024 is less than four weeks away!
The National Fruit Show will be a 'one day' event to be held on Wednesday 6th November.
The English Apple Man published this news after the NFS AGM held back in April
Click on: National Fruit Show AGM 2024
Since then, NFS Chairman Nigel Bardsley and his team have been organising the 2024 show in it's new format.
In this week's Journal and 'Courtesy of Kelsey Media' an Editorial by South East Farmer Editor Malcolm Triggs features an 'up to date' account of Nigel Bardsley's plans for this year's National Fruit Show
South East Farmer is the region's favourite farming magazine. 45,000 farmers, growers and allied traders read the magazine each month in the counties of Kent, Sussex, Essex, Surrey, Hampshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.
In Part 2 The English Apple Man will look at the measures taken to create a globally successful Apple Brand.
Presentations by Florient GUIDAT and Jan BUTER will explain some of the key actions taken to establish and maintain JAZZ TM as a leading branded apple variety globally and Worldwide Fruit Ltd development 'specific' to the UK.
Florient GUIDAT - 'Special Projects Manager at DALIVAL his role for T&G is to manage T&G' varieties plant material in Europe - more than 3 millions trees Commercial varieties since 2003
Jan Buter a Supply & Continuous Improvement Technician at T&G Global - CI in the Orchard - What is Continuous Improvement?
"The process of analysing performance, Identifying opportunities, and making incremental changes to products, processes and personnel
AND a summary by The English Apple Man of elements not 'fully featured in this Journal
In mid August The English Apple Man was invited by Worldwide Fruit Ltd to a JAZZ TM Symposium celebrating the progress of this variety as a leader of the trademarked apple varieties on a National and Global stage.
As the Symposium was very comprehensive, I intend to recount it in two parts.
JAZZ TM Symposium Part 1
The event was held at Howfield Manor in Kent at the heart of WFL's UK based operations.
This was a poignant event for me as in the last years of my working life at Worldwide Fruit Ltd I was involved in the early establishment of Jazz in the UK.
From those early steps, WFL has progressed JAZZ TM to be one of the most successful apple varieties in the market and one which delivers satisfaction equally to the consumer and grower alike.
The English Apple Man Comments
Back in the early 1990's Pink Lady became the first Club apple and set the scene for developing Jazz as the next 'kid on the block'
JAZZ TM - The original cross was made between Royal Gala and Braeburn and the variety named Scifresh in 1985 on trees at Goddard Lane, Havelock North, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. It launched commercially in April 2004.
The formula for a successful Club Apple requires 'first of all' a high quality apple delivering very attractive appearance, perfect texture and juicy distinctive taste, AND global control of production and marketing:
The climate must allow a long growing season.
To achieve the stringent formula, only growers able to consistently deliver these objectives were chosen.
Licences are only offered to growers who could match the specification.
This week Ali Capper and her colleagues at British Apples & Pears Ltd hosted a meeting at The Barnyard at Gore Farm Upchurch
The Barnyard - Gore Farm Upchurch
"It is a pleasure to be able to welcome you all (our retailers, Defra, NFU, the media, our local MP, our Board and Promotions Committee) to this beautiful part of Kent, to the AC Goatham & Son business, to British orchards right in the middle of our harvest.
I have a few things to cover before we take a walk up the hill to look at a stunning view of British apple orchards.
We have exciting news to share today on the winner of British Apples & Pears awards for Supermarket of the year and Most Improved Supermarket of the year.
While The English Apple Man took some of the photographs in today's Journal, many were taken by my friend Martin Apps of Countrywide Photographic. See link for Martin at bottom of Journal.
Healthy people and Healthy plants
The health of 'homo sapiens' and 'plant life' are equally enhanced by a well nourished diet!
A good start makes a significant difference: good seed quality is the key start in life!
"Way back (50-60 years ago) I was farming with my father and we started to use Maxicrop as a foliar feed. Initially due to the persuasion of an old school (Judd at Tonbridge) friend of Dad's - one Dennis Longhurst, and after several visits and leaning on the 'old school friend' personna, "Dad ordered some" - well I was still using Maxicrop when I sold up and started a new life in the 1990's"
The benefits of foliar feed was clear then, and since then many more foliar feeds have become available and now sophisticated biostimulants have been developed 'stimulating' the efficient uptake of nutrients.
In this week's Journal my friend Mike Stoker who has been involved in the technical aspects/benefits of plant nutrients & Biostimulants for more than 20 years, reviews the products of ORION.
As we enter September, the apple and pear harvest is 'hotting up'
While pear picking is well under way and Bramley started in August, dessert apples like Scrumptious and Earl Windsor are normally ahead of Gala, but a new early clone of Gala; 'Gala Wildfire' has already been picked and supplied to Supermarkets for at the last 7-10 days. This appears to be a real gamechanger, although some growers feel it is possibly 'too early' - either way it adds a new dimension to Gala this amazing apple 'of which' it's DNA is in a multitude of modern varieties!
The development of Gala which started out as a red striped on a green background apple in the 1930's, but has achieved increasing levels of 'red colour since the Royal Gala mutation was found in 1969.
Below: Gala - Royal Gala - Galaxy Gala an example of how the mutations have changed over the last 50 years
More about the remarkable Gala apple at the end of this Journal
Brogdale Farm, the home of the National Fruit Collection is always an interesting visit and recently The English Apple Man visited with two old (well not that old) friends Neil Franklin and Geoff Briggs.
Neil is in a 'semi retired state' after more than 30 years as an Agronomist advising fruit growers and Geoff is an old colleague of mine (the EAM) from my days at HGF (now morphed into) Worldwide Fruit Ltd. Geoff is also retired and now enjoys his hobbies, especially local walking routes with Neil or his family.
Below: L-R. The English Apple Man, Neil Franklin, Geoff Briggs & Neil's favourite handbook published in 1954 (before he was born) and I am very jealous because it's not in my collection!
Neil and Geoff have been friends for 40 years and Neil spent a couple of years at HGF with Geoff from 1984 before becoming an Agronomist with AGRI in 1989.
Neil still works two days a week for AGRI and is a trustee and part time guide at Brogdale and The National Fruit Collection
My visit was initiated by an invitation from Neil to meet up with Geoff, enjoy a cuppa tea and a natter, before a tour of the NFC (kindly driven by Neil as my body is not up to a walking tour).
Today the NFC holds 2,100 varieties of apple. Each variety in duplicate to cover the possibility of one 'suffering a tragedy'
To use the National Fruit Collection search engine click on National Fruit Collection
On Tuesday members of EKFS gathered in East Kent to celebrate the walk of this year's Winning Orchard.
This annual event highlights the pinnacle of our East Kent Apple Growers expertise. Many growers enter their best orchards into the competition, and the high standard of management from all entrants ensures a very worthy winner.
This year the winner was a 'Gala One' orchard grown on Adrian Scripps Ltd Wenderton Farm near Bridge East of Canterbury.
Before visiting Wenderton, members were invited to meet at Adrian Scripps Ltd Ickham Farm barely a mile and in sight of Wenderton, where EKFS Chairman Paul Hamlyn introduced Russell Graydon - Farm Manager and James Simpson MD of ASL who welcomed us all with an overview and short walk around the orchards at Ickham.
The Ickham farm is cropped entirely with Mariri Red Braeburn, with the oldest orchard planted in 2019. In an adjacent orchard trees of a younger age.
Russell Graydon said due to many vigorous Braeburn trees at Ickham they have used 'root pruning' and Aurea Imaging located on the tractor to identify strong/weaker trees. With this data they were able to apply extra root pruning (both sides)to the stronger trees.
Below: left. Mariri Red Braeburn row and right. colour beginning to show on the Mariri Red Braeburn (cold nights/warm days will
help maximise red colour by harvest in October)
WAPA
The World Apple and Pear Association (WAPA) presented its 2024-25 projections during the 2024 Prognosfruit conference in Budapest, Hungary. The organization is forecasting an 11.3% decline in European apple production, while pear volumes are expected to show a slight recovery, increasing by nearly 5%.
About Prognosfruit
Prognosfruit is the world's leading annual event for the fruit industry. At this conference, the World Apple and Pear Association (WAPA) announces the apple and pear production forecast, and fruit market trends in the EU and outside are discussed. The conference brings together producers, processors and traders from various European countries and beyond.
In 2024, the apple production in the EU for the top producing countries contributing to this report is estimated to decrease by 11,3% compared to last year. This year's crop is also 13,6% below the average of the previous 3 years.
The Prognosfruit Conference is Europe's leading annual event for the apple and pear sector, gathering apple and pear experts from across Europe and beyond. Prognosfruit 2024 took place last week in Budapest, Hungary.
During the conference, WAPA released its forecast for the upcoming season of 2024/2025. The forecast for apples is set at 10.2 million tonnes, 11,3% lower than last year. The pear crop shows a slight recovery from 2023, increasing by 4.9% to 1.79 million tonnes.
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!