British apples and pears in the spotlight

Despite the challenges of cost inflation, low supermarket returns and the British weather, UK apple and pear growers are showing their resilience and fighting for their future.

As a strong voice, British Apples & Pears Limited continues to push our growers’ case to both retailers and the government, while also exciting consumers to buy British apples and pears.

British apples –the hidden superfood

New research and endorsements in the last year mean we now believe apples are a superfood. This will form a key part of our start of season consumer messaging.

Our in-store and media start of season promotional activity starts on 2 October. Look out for supermarket promotions, grower features, health facts and lots of social media activity throughout autumn.

Speaking up for our industry

This year more than ever, we’ve been speaking up for our growers with government and retailers.

We’ve achieved more than 75 pieces of media coverage to date, including interviews on BBC Radio 4 and 5 Live as well as Sky News and the BBC One Show.

Our messaging has been strong and consistent. We need government support and fair returns from supermarkets.

Supermarket returns have remained static, while grower costs have increased 23%. In addition to ONS, NFU and our own grower survey data, we commissioned Andersons Midlands to calculate the cost of production of Gala apples, which was found to be £1.26 (median cost) per kilo.

Our new monthly British apple sales data has also caught the attention of the supermarkets – www. britishapplesandpears.co.uk/supermarket-sales-data. Now, everyone can see which supermarkets are supporting British.

We’ve also met with all the major retailers at least twice in the last year – often with British Growers Association and British Berry Growers to reinforce our message.

Research and development

We now have a full research and development programme for top fruit. Following the demise of AHDB, BAPL joined other grower associations to form Horticulture Crop Protection (HCP) Limited.

While HCP handles EAMUs and EAs, BAPL’s own technical committee commissions vital top fruit research. Current projects concern canker, woolly apple aphids, codling moth, woodlice and lifecycle carbon analysis. The results will be shared with our growers.

Set for the future

All our work supports our ambition to achieve 60% market share for British apples by 2030. Despite the challenges in the short-term, it’s an ambition we remain determined to meet.