Be bolder with apple choices to boost sales, says farmer

A farmer says fruit growers need to be more adventurous with their choice of apple varieties to help sales following a tough year for yields.

The summer's record-breaking temperatures and lack of rain have led to many struggles for farmers across the country, with many crops failing to grow.

Henry Dobell owns Moat Farm in Kenton near Debenham, Suffolk, where he grows 15 varieties of apples. He says that in his 21-year career it has been the most challenging season - with many of the apples struggling to grow.

He said he was struggling to sell traditional English apples in volume and believed that, as a nation, we had "lost a taste for interesting, delicious, fresh, seasonal apples".

Dobell said the spring had started off well for his apples, but due to the intense heat, the apples burned and did not swell to a large enough size.

He explained that the fruit usually grew to between 65 and 70mm and wholesalers required sizes of 75 to 80mm.

But about 25% of his apples were smaller than 65mm, he said.

He described the situation as "very worrying" and he was trying to sell at more markets and trade shows.

English apples had a "fantastic flavour", Dobell added, but he said they were "not really understood in the same way they used to be".

"People don't look forward to the start of the new season in the way they used to, and we are struggling to really sell the volumes we need to sell," he said.

"Unfortunately, as a nation we have been engineered into having rather bland apples year in or month in, month out.

"[We have] the same varieties, just coming from different parts of the world, and we've lost a taste for interesting, delicious, fresh, seasonal apples."

Tim Chapman is the managing director of Giggler Cider in Bramfield near Halesworth, which grows apples for cider.

He similarly said he had experienced a "bad crop" of apples this year which were smaller and therefore would create less juice.

Chapman believed he was about 75% on his crops this year, but he stressed there was still enough cider to sell.

On an average year, the business typically makes between 3,000 and 5,000 litres.

"We had a relatively good crop last year so we have cider in stock which will help with this year's lower crop," he explained.

"Obviously if there are no apples or we have such low crops that we're not getting the apple juice to make the cider then we would have to [reconsider our business model].

"We're a very small orchard so we can't really afford to build reservoirs and store water.

"So we're at the mercy of the weather, unfortunately."

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