Middle Pett farm, owned by FW Mansfield apricots and strawberries, it is in the process of becoming a Sustainable Model Farm.
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From a global perspective, UK growers have been late coming into cherry production, historically they had large trees and suffered attacks from birds and frequently rain destroyed the crops. Although these issues are still there, the growers are now using dwarfing stock and have invested in expensive covering systems to protect them from rain and birds.
"The growers have made a lot of changes in varieties which have been planted, most of the UK growers now have modern varieties although there are some heritage ones still around. Growers are also very forward thinking and looking to invest in the new," explained Clark.
Tom Hulme, AC Hulme& Sons with Jon. Tom grows both cherries and apricots.
"Retail always wants change and something new, but there is a market for some of the heritage varieties. Strawberries are a perfect example of this, the Elsanta has been around for a long time and some people want to replace it with something new, but sometimes it is better to keep what you have when it is really good and not sacrifice it just for the sake of change," said Clark.
Charles Atkins at CE Murch, these cherry trees are part of a trial using the UFO (Upright Fruiting Offshoots) system.
According to Clark there is a risk of old varieties disappearing in the cherry industry, "You do have people who understand the older varieties and know that taste is imperative, so they still want the traditional varieties, but what is also happening is that some of the older varieties have been given a modern twist. Merchant is a great example of this, they were high trees with early fruit which was always a bit soft and bland in taste, but when we switched that to Gisela root stock and covered the crop, the result was a cherry with a great taste. Just by making some improvements in the growing techniques and good orchard management you can make a difference, it would be wrong to just get rid of all the old varieties, things also tend to go in cycles in this business. That said, there are some outstanding “new” varieties now in production like Kordia, Regina, Skeena and also Stacatto coming soon"
Some varieties are good for pollination for example Burlatt tends to be soft and a bit watery but is a great pollinator and does come early, so retailers would not necessarily want this variety but for a farm shop in the UK it is the very first and is one people want as it is the first taste of English summer.
The stonefruit at Owen's Court, another of the FW Mansfield farms is grown under the watchful eye of Peter Foster, who got involved with cherries at a the tender age of 5 when he picked them with his mother.
Demand for stonefruit in the UK differs from mainland Europe where it is in decline, in the UK it is not a seasonal product and people have a habit of buying product week in week out. "UK fruit production actually benefits from imports, we are a nation which is used to buying produce on a regular basis and imports help to 'warm up the market' for the start of the English season and for some products are an essential part of the Summer supply. Stonefruit does not have the same huge growth that soft fruit has seen recently but softfruit is easy and convenient to consume on the go, stonefruit is not," explains Clark.
The last stop on the tour was G Charlton, the main offices for the Total Worldfresh team in Kent. The cherries here are grown on a walled system, trees planted 1m apart, which give more light to the trees. James Weekes and Jon checking the progress of the cherries.
Cherries are easy to eat, but according to Clark people will buy peaches, apricots, plums and nectarines if they taste good, local fruit with high sugars and good taste will help drive consumption. The problem in the UK is that a lot of stonefruit has to travel a long way and needs to be picked before it reaches maturity to allow for transit time and shelflife. Local fruit can be tree ripened making it much tastier, with a desire from growers and modern growing techniques that could extend the availability of UK fruit in the future.
The English cherry season will begin at the end of June with the early varieties and run until late August/early September.
Clark has a vision of a 100 days of British cherries, "We are close this year, we should get 70 days and when we get the Stacatto variety online that will add another 15 days easily, then we only need to have good early varieties which are fit for retail, extending the season by a few more days."