Tag Archives: British Growers

Fruit and Vegetable Alliance calls for help for UK horticulture

The Fruit and Vegetable Alliance, the industry organisation established by The Food Foundation in July, has met with Defra minister George Eustice to urge for more government support for the sector.

The Edible Horticulture Roundtable urged the minister to develop a strategy to get British consumers eating seven portions of fresh produce a day, with as much as possible coming from UK sources.

The Fruit and Vegetable Alliance is a diverse group of producer groups and organisations including British Growers, British Summer Fruits, G’s Fresh, NFU, Organic Farmers and Growers, Produce World, the Soil Association and others. At the meeting it was chaired by Jack Ward of British Growers, who said, “The coming together of the industry, charity and Government bodies signals a positive new approach to domestic fruit and vegetable production. By focussing on working together to increase support to the UK fresh produce industry, we can help to ensure that horticulture gets the recognition and support it deserves.”

Anna Taylor, executive director of the Food Foundation, added, “We all need to eat more fruit and veg to optimise our health and prevent disease, and for that we need a thriving horticulture sector which stimulates consumer demand. Government policy has a critical role to play in ensuring a productive future for British fruit and veg growers and we hope this new engagement with Defra will help secure that future, in the interests of the nation’s health.”

Photo caption: Jack Ward

Photo Credit: Richard Crowhurst

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Ali Capper is new executive chair at EAP

Worcestershire grower Ali Capper has been announced as the new executive chair of trade organisation English Apples & Pears.

Ms Capper, who grows top fruit and hops, and is the current chair of the NFU Horticulture and Potatoes Board, will take up the restructured role from outgoing chief executive Steven Munday.

Ali said, “I’m very excited about joining EAP as their new executive chair. I’m passionate about the top fruit industry and as a grower myself I understand the issues and the opportunities that face us. I’m looking forward to working with the EAP board and our new services providers to provide a best-value solution to our grower shareholders”.

A spokesperson for EAP added, “On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Steven for all his hard work in delivering our modernisation programme which has put EAP in a much better position to concentrate on the important elements of working on behalf of our growers. It is now clear that we need someone who has an empathy for the industry and who is an experienced and successful lobbyist and we believe that Ali is a perfect fit for this role.”

Going forward EAP will Richmond & Towers to deliver PR and the British Growers Association to perform back-office functions.

Photo Credit: NFU

The post Ali Capper is new executive chair at EAP appeared first on Hort News on 8 March 2018.

Onion season 7-10 days later than normal

According to reports the UK onion harvest has been around a week later than average, with August drilled crops still being lifted into early September.

Jayne Dyas from British Growers told reporters that it was still too early to confirm crop volumes as grading wasn’t complete and many crops still had to reach stores and be cured, but at the end of August the latest estimate of UK production was 466,000 tonnes.

The cool spring resulted in some crops maturing later than normal, although the dry spell from June to July, and later cooler, wetter weather had helped bulbs to bulk up increasing overall yields from earlier estimates. Bulb size has been described as variable to date and the quality is currently unknown until crops are safely dried and in store.

According to Jayne, demand this year has been static, but over the last few years consumption of onions has increased in the UK.

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