13
F
BIFGA Tec
h
nical Day
F
Climate change
Despite seemingly living in an e
r
a of ‘post t
r
ut
h
’ and
‘alte
r
native facts’, t
h
e
h
o
r
ticultu
r
al indust
r
y
h
as
r
eal data to
confi
r
m t
h
at ou
r
climate is c
h
anging. T
h
is asse
r
tionwas
made byC
hr
istop
h
e
r
Atkinson, P
r
ofesso
r
of Sustainable
Ag
r
icultu
r
e andClimateC
h
ange at t
h
eNatu
r
al resou
r
ces
Institute, Unive
r
sity of G
r
eenwic
h
, w
h
o explained at t
h
e
BIFGA Tec
h
nical Day in Janua
r
y at Tice
h
u
r
st, East Sussex,
t
h
at t
h
is c
h
ange in climate (and
r
ise in tempe
r
atu
r
es) is going
to
h
ave an impact on t
h
e
top f
r
uit indust
r
y.
One of t
h
e key
c
h
allenges, saidP
r
of.
Atkinson, will be
h
ow
g
r
owe
r
s’ c
r
ops
r
espond
to a dec
r
ease inwinte
r
c
h
illing – one of t
h
e
mec
h
anisms t
h
at
cont
r
ols do
r
mancy. he
said: “F
r
om lookingback
at data
r
eco
r
dedby
va
r
iousB
r
itis
h
r
esea
r
c
h
institutions, yes, t
h
e
amount of c
h
illingwe a
r
e
getting is declining.” One
study s
h
ows, fo
r
instance, t
h
at t
h
emean
c
h
ill inKent f
r
om 1969 to
1979was 2,545
h
ou
r
s
compa
r
ed to 2,235
h
ou
r
s f
r
om 1987 to
1997.
he explained t
h
at to
b
r
eak do
r
mancy eve
r
y pe
r
ennial c
r
opmust acqui
r
e a ce
r
tain
numbe
r
of c
h
illing units. “T
h
ey
h
ave tobe exposed to ce
r
tain
tempe
r
atu
r
es fo
r
a ce
r
tain amount of time to
r
eac
h
t
h
e point
w
h
e
r
e t
h
ey get enoug
h
c
h
ill.W
h
en t
h
ey
h
ave got enoug
h
c
h
ill
and a
r
e sufficiently do
r
mant, t
h
ey can b
r
eak buds. But to
b
r
eak buds t
h
eymust bewa
r
med. T
h
is isw
h
enwe begin to
get p
r
oblems, in t
h
e sense t
h
at if we upset t
h
e
r
ate at w
h
ic
h
t
h
e c
h
illing is occu
rr
ing t
h
e
r
e a
r
e occasionsw
h
enwe can
induce bud-b
r
eak at an inapp
r
op
r
iate time.” he noted t
h
at
w
h
en blossom time becomesmo
r
e va
r
iable, t
h
is can c
r
eate
issueswit
h
pollinato
r
s and yields.
But w
h
ilst a decline inwinte
r
c
h
ill can evidently upset t
h
e
balance, it could alsob
r
ingwit
h
it some oppo
r
tunities. P
r
of.
Atkinson said, fo
r
instance, t
h
at one advantage is t
h
at we a
r
e
al
r
eady detecting fewe
r
f
r
ost days. “I know t
h
at w
h
en I fi
r
st
sta
r
ted at EastMallingwewe
r
ewo
r
king on c
h
e
rr
ies and
p
r
obably one in eve
r
y t
hr
ee o
r
fou
r
yea
r
swe couldn’t do any
expe
r
iments because all of t
h
e c
h
e
rr
y blossomwas killed.
T
h
at doesn’t
h
appenmuc
h
t
h
ese days.” he also explained
t
h
at t
h
e
r
e could, in futu
r
e, be t
h
e potential fo
r
g
r
owe
r
s in t
h
e
UK tob
r
eed cultiva
r
s t
h
at s
h
ow low-c
h
ill c
h
a
r
acte
r
istics.
“Clea
r
ly places likeCalifo
r
nia andSout
h
Af
r
ica a
r
e able to
g
r
ow apple and c
h
e
rr
y c
r
ops unde
r
a
r
egimew
h
e
r
e t
h
e
r
e’s
muc
h
less c
h
illing.” he also
h
ig
h
lig
h
ted todelegates
h
ow t
h
e
UK’swine-making indust
r
y is al
r
eady effectively exploitingou
r
c
h
anging climate, by b
r
inging in new ideas and newg
r
owing
systems and c
r
ops – “t
h
at’s somet
h
ing t
h
at we need to
continue todo,”
h
e said.
P
r
of. Atkinson’smessage to t
h
e top f
r
uit indust
r
ywas:
“T
h
e
r
e’s a big need fo
r
us to unde
r
stand
h
owwe a
r
e actually
going to use t
h
e
r
esou
r
ceswe
h
ave to copewit
h
t
h
ese
c
h
anges, because I believe t
h
at we can cope –we
h
ave to.”
he alsowa
r
ned t
h
at one of t
h
e key issueswit
h
t
h
e effects of
climate c
h
ange is its va
r
iability. “One of t
h
e t
h
ings t
h
at we
h
ave lea
r
ned, aswe look at climate c
h
ange, is t
h
at it isn’t
simple, it isn’t consistent, it isn’t linea
r
.We cannot clea
r
ly
unde
r
stand va
r
iability, and t
h
at’s a
r
eal c
h
allenge.”
NIABEMRConcept PearOrchard
Is it possible to g
r
owpea
r
s p
r
ofitably in t
h
eUK? “Yes, it is”,
saidG
r
a
h
amCaspell,
h
ead of comme
r
cial fa
r
ming ope
r
ations
ThE FrUITGrOWEr •
MArCh 2017
ef
r
uitg
r
owe
r
.co.uk
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