The future for British top fruit

By Ross Goatham

As we head towards another General Election cycle, every business sector in the UK will be calling on the government for more support, but it is critical that whoever governs this country next prioritises food security.

A sustainable supply of British apples and pears has been a priority of our business for a number of years, and we have now planted close to three million new fruit trees and over 150 miles of native hedging across our orchards in Kent and Medway. The planting programme continues this year with a licensed variety new to the business – Jazz apples, along with higher coloured Royal Gala clones.

There is still a considerable opportunity for growth of the top fruit sector in this country and for some exciting careers within it, as jobs become more skilled and technology advances throughout our business. The industry currently grows and supplies around 40% of the apples eaten in the UK and the industry has an opportunity to increase this to 60%. We are working collaboratively with our supermarket customers to make this happen.

We currently work on a 20-year planning cycle for apple orchards (40 years for pears) and 75% of our orchards are less than 10 years old.

By investing in modern planting, we are growing significantly more fruit per hectare than 10 years ago, optimising returns back into the business

By Ross Goatham.

for investment. Profits are invested back into the business year after year in alignment with our longterm strategy to increase British production and food security. In the last 10 years we have increased production almost five-fold (from 7,000 tonnes in 2012 to 34,000 tonnes in 2022), and forward crop predictions show this to increase to 55,000 tonnes by 2032 (a further 60% increase on today’s volume).

This is one of the most competitive markets to supply into globally, but we pride ourselves on our customer relationships by building trust through transparency and delivering on our objectives, whilst aligning with customers’ strategies to support them in achieving theirs. Responsibly and sustainably delivering on commitments, quality, and price year on year. This culminated in us being awarded Supermarket Fruit & Veg Supplier of the Year on 29 September at The Fresh Produce Awards 2023. I see this as a huge accolade for all the team here at AC Goatham & Son and furthermore tremendous recognition of the British top fruit industry and the important role it plays in food security.

It’s not the first time that the British top fruit sector has faced significant challenges and I’m sure it won’t be the last, but while British shoppers still put a bag of British apples or pears in their weekly shop, we will be here growing them.