If a week is “a long time in politics”, then it certainly proved so for the fruit industry this autumn.
At the official launch of this year’s National Fruit Show at the Kent Event Centre, Detling, NFU President Tom Bradshaw pointed out that if the event had been held just a week earlier, the outlook for growers would have been looking more positive after three challenging years.
Show chairman Nigel Bardsley had earlier told those who had gathered for the pre-opening breakfast that a good crop, increasing demand and firmer prices had made it a better season for the South East’s top fruit farmers.
But as Tom Bradshaw pointed out later that morning, the chancellor’s multi-faceted raid on the income of family farmers meant that the launch of the event, the 91st organised by the Marden Fruit Show Society, was overshadowed by the announcements that had been made a week earlier.
The show itself was a lively affair with a good attendance, a wide range of businesses, suppliers and professionals displaying their wares and plenty of opportunities to network and seek out the shiniest equipment and the newest innovations.
While reduced from two days to one as part of a range of measures brought in by Nigel and his team to refocus the event and cut costs, the atmosphere was positive – budget impact notwithstanding – visitors were plentiful and there was plenty to see and do.
While the central display was reduced from previous years, a reflection of the tough times growers have faced over the past few years and the fall in the number of individual growers, the fruit looked as stunning as ever and was a tribute to the skills of the exhibitors.
Both exhibitors and visitors seemed to welcome the one-day event, while other innovations included selling the fruit for £20 a tray, with the proceeds going to support the society’s respected education programme.
The pre-opening breakfast also saw the society’s Jonathan Jones Award presented to John Breach, who set up the British Independent Fruit Growers Association (BIFGA) 35 years ago after his first ten years working in the industry persuaded him that smaller growers needed a voice.
He said he was “greatly honoured” to receive the award, named in honour of the former director of Richard Hochfeld, who died in 2017 aged just 62.
Tom Bradshaw congratulated Nigel Bardsley and the fruit show committee for introducing the new format show and thanked growers for their support in a difficult year, as well as highlighting the work of the education team in teaching primary and secondary school children about home-grown fruit.
Moving on to what was still a talking point a week after the budget announcement, he pointed out the challenges posed to growers by increases in the national living wage and employers’ national insurance contributions as well as the proposed changes to agricultural property relief (APR) and business property relief (BPR) which he said went against assurances given in advance of the announcement.
With wage costs set to rise by around 10%, he said growers could not absorb such an increase and that they would have to be passed up the supply chain.
While welcoming news that a total of 45,000 visas would be available to temporary workers under the seasonal worker scheme for 2025, he said the NFU was still pressing for a permanent scheme and a nine-month timescale.
On the budget proposals, he said the Government must rethink the planned changes and he urged growers to lobby MPs and make sure there was a “groundswell” of opposition to the tax changes. “The Government has to realise they have got this wrong,” he said.
The president went on: “I genuinely think that Treasury officials have given them a paper and it has not been interrogated well enough to understand what the consequences are for you, the family farms, the businesses right across the United Kingdom.”
The NFU has pointed out that while the Treasury claims 73% of APR claims are below £1 million and so would be unaffected, DEFRA’s own figures show that only 34% of farms are under £1 million net worth. The NFU argues that few viable farms are worth under £1 million.
Tom went on: “Over the past few days, we have done everything we can to try and get this overturned. The burden it’s putting on family farms across the United Kingdom is not acceptable and we will not give up.
“The Government needs to know, from all of you, that they do have a fight on their hands. The public is incredibly supportive of what we’re doing in this country and they want access to more British food – and you want to supply more British food.”
After stirring words from the NFU, the atmosphere mellowed when the Rev Nicky Harvey, of St Michael and All Angels in Marden, completed the opening of the show with a blessing.
First time exhibitors at the show included BrilloPAK, whose technical director Peter Newman said the company’s automated ‘pick and place’ technology was already being used by major players including Adrian Scripps,
F W Mansfield & Son and Edward Vinson.
Formed in 2001, the company, which designs and manufactures its products in Paddock Wood, Kent, also offers palletising and autonomous vehicles in its comprehensive line up of packaging options.
It was the first time, also, for the Smart CI Group, which has added agricultural construction to its electrical, fabrication and heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) arms following the arrival of Malcolm Cook.
“Malcolm had experienced the National Fruit Show in a former life and suggested we should be here,” explained operations director Luke Davey. “It’s a great show,” he commented. “It’s given us a chance to meet and chat to customers and potential customers.”
Visitors were equally impressed. “It’s a lot busier than last year,” was the verdict from Charles Whitfield, from NIAB in East Malling, a regular visitor to past events. “The one-day idea seems to be working.”
The switch was described as “a bold decision but a necessary one” by Chris Rose, commercial controller with Asplins PO Ltd. Congratulating the team on the success of the event, he said the turnout was good, although he felt the smaller fruit display was disappointing. “I think that is indicative of the pressure growers are under and the labour problems they are facing,” he commented.
Regular show attendee Andi Taranczuk, group sales and marketing manager at Haynes Agricultural, commented: “If you want to sell to the industry, you have got to put yourself in front of the growers, talk to them about their plans and explain what’s new.”
What was new on the Haynes stand was Aurea Imaging’s impressive TreeScout, a tractor-mounted, GPS-compatible 3D vision system designed to support precision thinning, growth regulation and blossom counting, mounted in this case on a New Holland T4.120f.
Andi also shared the upbeat assessment of the new format one-day show. “Being busy over a single day is great for everyone, and the show has certainly been busy,” he commented.
Read our full review
Photos: ©Martin Apps, Countrywide Photographic
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