In Fife, the Scottish strawberry harvest got off to a good reasonable start in mid-May. Robert Simpson from Fife Fruits who grows soft fruit on 32 hectares in Fife, said that the early strawberry crop is good.
“The early fruit went reasonably well, timing was normal as these plants were fleeced and pushed on and did well. However, the plants which were uncovered in the spring and held back to delay production suffered from the cold spring and are now running a bit behind.”
Robert is expecting main season production to peak over the next couple of weeks.
“Scotland has had some hot weather in the last few weeks, but it has not brought the crop on too much, but it will have an effect on the plants, and I expect the production to be more condensed.”
In a ‘normal’ year, the production in Scotland and England complement each other, but it was feared that this year the English season would be delayed, possibly causing a clash with Scottish production, but according to Robert, this has not been the case so far.
“We didn‘t see the peak in the English season that had been predicted. So far, things are going well, we are able to sell everything as we pick it.”
The biggest worry for growers at the moment is still the increasing production costs and labor.
“We all hear a lot about food inflation and have seen the increase in prices in the shops, but this is not being reflected in the returns to growers. Food prices have increased 20%, but we receive the same returns.”
As for labor supply, it is difficult to say if there will be enough as growers haven’t reached the peak season yet.
“We have pickers who say they are coming but just don’t turn up. We will know better in the next couple of weeks if we have enough labor. At the moment, I can say that things are going well, but there is a long way to go, and it is always difficult to predict. The crop is looking good, and if we can pick it all, I’d be happy, but the bigger picture is that we are not making any money growing soft fruit currently.”
For more information:
Robert Simpson
Fife Fruits
Tel.: +44 1334 655024
[email protected]
www.fifefruits.co.uk