Monthly Archives: May 2016

McCain Foods fined £800k for safety issues

McCain Foods has been fined £800,000 following an incident last year at its Whittlesey factory near Peterborough.

On 21 August 34-year engineer Adam Regan was examining a conveyer belt when his arm became trapped in the machine and was almost severed. Although his arm was saved he now has limited movement in his hand.

An inspection by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the conveyor did not have the correct guards and that an internal risk assessment by the company failed to recognise the potential danger.

McCain Foods (GB) Limited of Havers Hill, Eastfield Scarborough, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, and was fined £800,000 with costs of £12,831.51.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

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New AHDB board members

The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) has appointed five new members to its specialist sector boards, including Dr Louise Sutherland who joins the Horticulture Sector Board and Reuben Collins for the Potato Sector Board.

All the new members were recruited through open competition with selection made on merit. All five members began a three-year term in office effective from 1 April 2016. Tom Hind, Chief Strategy Officer of AHDB, commented, “These new members have a wealth of experience in their relevant sectors as well as a passion for the industry that is crucial to these roles. We look forward to them making a valuable contribution to the organisation.”

Dr Louise Sutherland brings more than 25 years of experience in the fresh produce and soft fruit sectors including stints at Marks and Spencer, and a PhD in plant pathology. She is also Chair of the Red Tractor Fresh Produce Scheme and a member of the Assured Food Standards Board. She currently chairs the Raspberry Breeding Consortium which is part funded by AHDB Horticulture.

Reuben Collins is a farmer in a family farming partnership which rears beef and grows potatoes and cereals in Cornwall. After studying agriculture at Duchy College, Reuben worked in the Eastern counties with potatoes, onions and cereals followed by farming early potatoes in Cornwall.

Photo Credit: AHDB

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Bayer Crop Science sales show small growth

International chemicals giant Bayer has reported growth in all sections of its business in its first quarter results, including modest growth in its Crop Science division.

In a statement the company said, ‘Bayer got off to a successful start in the new fiscal year. In the first quarter of 2016, the Bayer Group improved sales by 3.2% to €11.9 billion and EBITDA before special items by 15.7% to €3.4 billion. All segments improved their operating performance. Crop Science outperformed the prior-year quarter despite a weak market environment.’

First-quarter sales of the agricultural business (Crop Science) moved ahead by 1.2% to €3,023 million. “We slightly expanded business at Crop Protection/Seeds despite an ongoing weak market environment,” explained CEO Dr. Marijn Dekkers. In regional terms, the Crop Science business developed positively in North America in particular whereas sales in Europe were level year on year.

The seed growth business grew by 5.4% and fungicides grew by 2.9%. However, sales of insecticides and herbicides declined by 12.2% and minus 3.8% respectively. Sales of Seeds grew by a substantial 11.9%.

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NFU plans to increase fruit and veg. consumption

Defra Secretary has helped unveil plans for the autumn by the NFU and others to boost the consumption of home-grown produce, including fruit and veg, as part of the government’s ‘Year of British Food’.

The NFU, Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, Red Tractor and Love British Food are uniting to coordinate a calendar of events starts with the NFU’s Back British Farming day in September, followed by an autumn of driving consumer awareness of quality, assured British food. This activity includes Red Tractor Week, British Food Fortnight, a 12-week Red Tractor on-pack promotion across retailers and foodservice operators, supporting TV and in-store advertising campaigns.

Environment secretary Elizabeth Truss said, “I’m delighted to see our world-leading food and farming industry celebrating British food and drink to help grow our food industry further. With 3.8 million people employed in the food chain we know it is vital for our economic future we make British food and farming all it can be and I am determined to work closely with the farming industry to harness innovation and technology, develop new skills and promote our rich food heritage.”

NFU Deputy President Minette Batters added, “I’m pleased to see our farming organisations collaborating and coming together to champion great British food and the thousands of farmers and growers who produce it every day of the year. I hope this plan of action will help showcase British food which, as we know, is the best in the world.”

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Smart cauliflower harvester trialled within a year

Reports from Germany suggest that automatic brassica harvesting, a long held dream for many in the industry, could be one step closer thanks to new work by researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation IFF and their colleagues at ai-solution GmbH together with five other partners.

They are working on a smart harvester which it is claimed will be as selective as human pickers. The so-called VitaPanther builds on the ‘Spargelpanther’ asparagus harvesting machine developed by a previous project, with the team aiming to complete a working prototype in time for next year (2017).

Fraunhofer IFF are working on hyper spectral camera technology and programming which will ensure that the machine picks the mature and ripe crops while ai-solution GmbH in Wolfsburg are working on the actual harvester unit.

Christian Bornstein, CEO of ai-solution GmbH, explained, “Our goal is to build a module that can be adapted to the existing unit.” Farmers will only have to purchase one “vegetable harvester” in the future.

Photo Caption: The ‘Spargelpanther’ asparagus harvester.

Photo Credit: ai-solution

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BerryWorld launches buckets of berries

Fruit marketing group BerryWorld has launched a new branded multi-pack of soft fruit aimed at time poor convenience shoppers.

BerryWorld Berry Buckets contain two packs each of blueberries and raspberries which have been hand-picked when the fruit is at its best. Packed into four convenient, re-sealable 80g buckets, they are said to be perfect for including in lunchboxes and eating on the go.

Online supermarket Ocado, which is selling a pack of four buckets for £4.99, says that, ‘one 80g bucket counts towards one of an adults recommended 5 a day. They also make a great addition to desserts and salads.’

A spokesperson for BerryWorld said: “These delicious berries are juicy, sweet and bursting with goodness, perfect for including in lunchboxes or eating on the go.”

Photo Credit: Ocado

The post BerryWorld launches buckets of berries appeared first on Hort News on 5 May 2016.

Planning victory for Lee Valley grower

Plans for a 92,000 square meter glasshouse in the Lee Valley on greenbelt land at Nazeing near Harlow have been backed by the Court of Appeal.

Valley Grown Salads was granted permission for the expansion at its Paynes Lane site by the local authority in August 2014, but the decision was fought by the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority as, as well as being a green belt site, it said the site was within the Lee Valley Park and less than a mile from the Lee Valley Special Protection Area.

The principal issue in the case concerned the consequences of a proposal being appropriate (or “not inappropriate”) development in the Green Belt. The glasshouse was appropriate, since it was a “building for agriculture” under the first bullet of paragraph 89 of the NPPF. In his decision, Lord Justice Lindblom stressed that new buildings for agriculture and forestry are not viewed as “inappropriate” in the Green Belt.

Photo Credit: Volvo trucks

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Poor conditions inhibiting potato crop growth

According to AHDB Potatoes unseasonably cold and wet conditions are hampering the early development of potato crops across the UK, as well as holding up planting for remaining fields.

The board’s Potato Weekly newsletter reported on Friday that, ‘A mix of dry and wet days, including some snow showers, was not ideal for planting yet growers were able to progress in many areas. Night temperatures have been low with some frosts.’

Although some growers in Lincolnshire and the West Midlands had finished planting and some crops were just starting to emerge, many others were still behind and frosts had caused concern, leading to some Cornish growers to keep their covers on for longer than normal. In Scotland planting conditions were described as ‘good but cold’ with some growing conditions for early planted crops said to be ‘very poor.’

Photo Credit: Richard Crowhurst

The post Poor conditions inhibiting potato crop growth appeared first on Hort News on 4 May 2016.

Cameron commits to supporting farmers post Brexit

Prime Minister David Cameron has responded to a letter from CLA President Ross Murray which called for Government to outline a Plan B for farming in the case of a Brexit vote in June.

Although underlining that he thought that staying within the EU would best serve farmers’ interests and provide the greatest access to market, Mr Cameron pledged, “As long as I am prime minister, I would make sure that an agricultural support system would be properly maintained. However, I can obviously not make the same guarantees for future governments.

‘It is unclear, for example, where some of my opponents, including Jeremy Corbyn, stand on the issue. We should remember that previous Labour governments have been in favour of either reducing key agricultural subsidies or abolishing them altogether.’

CLA President Ross Murray commented, “The Prime Minister is a clear and passionate advocate of the case for remain. He is making the case that farmers that want greater certainty can play their part by voting for remain in the referendum. We respect his arguments and many farmers will agree with him. We also respect the speed with which he has responded to us.”

Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons

The post Cameron commits to supporting farmers post Brexit appeared first on Hort News on 22 April 2016.

HTA and NFU set out Brexit positions

The National Farmers Union (NFU) and Horticultural Trades Association have set out their positions ahead of the UK’s referendum on whether to remain in the European Union.

After what it described as ‘a full consultation with all members’ in March the HTA has declared a neutral position. After attracting responses from 169 members (around 12 per cent of the total), there was no majority in favour of any of the three proposals (leaving, staying and remaining neutral) and based on that HTA will remain neutral.

HTA Chief Executive Carol Paris comments, “From the good response rate to our survey and comments sent members are interested in the EU referendum and its impact. With views across the spectrum adopting a neutral position ensures that the HTA doesn’t alienate the views of members. Working with other organisations we will endeavour to provide a balanced picture of the pros and cons in the lead up to the vote on 23 June.”

In contrast the NFU has joined other UK Farming Unions in saying that it believed the industry would be better served if the UK remained in the EU. In a statement it said, ‘The NFU recognises and respects the diversity of views among its membership. The NFU’s position is based solely on an evaluation of the agricultural merits of the case and the NFU is fully aware there are many wider issues at stake. The NFU will not be actively campaigning in the referendum; it will not be joining with any campaign groups and it will not, in any circumstances, advise its members how to vote.’

In an interview NFU president Meurig Raymond said, “We believe it’s for the betterment of the future of British agriculture. On all the surveys we have done in the NFU, the majority believe that we should stay in.”

However, in a poll of 350 farmers alongside Farming Online news articles in February, 50% of respondents favoured leaving the EU, whilst 34% said they would choose to remain.

Photo Credit: HTA

The post HTA and NFU set out Brexit positions appeared first on Hort News on 22 April 2016.