FRU Feb 17 - page 3

ThE FrUITGrOWEr • FEbrUAry 2017 www.thefruitgrower.co.uk
3 FEbrUAry 2017 •
OPINION
THE FRUITGROWER IS PUBLISHED BY
The timely arrival of some new cropprotection solutions has helped cushion the blow for
the top fruit industry, that faces several new restrictions to its cropprotection armoury this
year. Speakers at Agrovista’s Technical Seminar gave growers a comprehensive round up
of the issues involved, so the detailed report in this issuewill be required reading for those
whomissed it. The good news is that BASF andBayer are both bringing new fungicides to
market to helpwith disease control this year. However, amongst the bad news is the
confusion over the use of copper in fruit crops, which is a nonsense, as currently the only
fruit crop that the copper-basedprotectant fungicideCuprokylt has approval for is
grapevines.
For thosewhomissed the 7th International Soft Fruit Conference, which attracted650
delegates from41 countries in January, DavidPennell reports from the programme. Getting
theConference off to an excellent start wasKevinSchooley fromCanada, Executive
Director of theNorthAmericanStrawberryGrowers Association, who reported that the
trend in theNorthAmericanmarket was for strawberries tobe no longer perceived as a
seasonal product; berry consumption hadbecome part of a healthy lifestyle. He
emphasised the dominant place that Californian strawberry production holds in theNorth
Americanmarket.With 12,600ha anticipated for 2017, producing84 tonnes/ha and a
market value of $2.6billion, the state produces 79% of USproduction. However, we can be
thankful that in theUK, despite having some challenges in common, Californian growers
have bigger ones, especiallywith drought and the cost of water, increasing labour costs
and soil diseases, nematodes andweed control, andwith fumigation under pressure.
For any fruit grower wanting to try something novel and a fruit that has a lot of potential as a
convenient healthy snack, kiwiberries look tobe an interesting crop andwork being carried
out inBelgiumwas discussed at theSoft Fruit Conference. Kiwiberries are climbers and
largely deciduous andprovide a healthy bite-sized fruit with edible skin and high sweetness.
They are available in a range of sizes, colours and shapes, which provides scope for future
selection.Work over the last 10 years inBelgium has been building up knowledge and
expertise, with some commercial plantingdeveloping in bothBelgium andHolland.
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ForwardTogether
CO N T E N T S
News Page 4
NewMD for
NIAB EMR Page 5
NewHeadof Food
& Farmingat NFU Page 7
NewCA storage
company Page 12
Fruit Technical
Seminar Page 15
International Soft
Fruit Conference Page20
Labour supply
conference Page 23
Crop spraying Page26
Comment Page 27
Research Briefing Page28
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