Bumper year for UK cherries as farmers hail ‘wonderful crop’
This year we’ve already been treated to a spate of massive, delicious strawberries, and it seems the mild nights and toasty days have still got more in store for us.
Warm weather has led to the UK’s biggest cherry yield in at least three years, a supermarket said, as it introduced larger pack sizes of the fruit for sale due to their abundance.
Grower and Tesco supplier Place UK, based in Tunstead near Norwich, Norfolk, said the warm weather had led to a ’wonderful crop’.
Tesco has introduced larger 600g and 1kg pack sizes of the cherries, priced at £4.50 and £6 respectively.
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The supermarket said these offer shoppers better value compared to prices at the start of the season and support growers.
Dan Yordanov, head of fresh at Place UK, said: “It’s been a really good season for us so far with the warmest spring on record helping to produce a wonderful crop of cherries – easily the best we’ve seen for at least three years.
“This has resulted in an abundance of great tasting, perfect British cherries being picked at peak ripeness.
“With this above normal crop we are thankful for Tesco’s action, which allows us to avoid waste, and to provide more home-grown, highest quality, nutritious British cherries to be enjoyed by the nation’s consumers.”
Tesco cherry buyer Olivia Amey said: “The recent heatwaves have created the biggest UK cherry yield for at least three years with many growers around the country seeing unexpected extra production of about 10 to 15% higher than normal for this time of year.
“The quality of the fruit this year is first class with plump flesh, a firm texture that is juicy and a sweet taste with a slight tartness that perfectly balances the flavour.
“We’re very happy to help out our British growers and customers at the same time.”
Place UK is one of eight cherry growers across the UK which work with Tesco supplier Driscoll’s, with the others based in Herefordshire, Staffordshire, Kent, Fife, Perth and Kinross and the Scottish Borders.
Tesco said this regional diversity supports a longer season and ensures consistent quality by taking advantage of different microclimates across the UK.
The UK cherry industry has changed over the past two decades, with more and more British growers seeing better yields by using dwarf root stock, grafted onto new tree varieties.
These produce smaller trees which can be grown in plastic tunnels, creating a micro climate with temperatures similar to the Mediterranean and protecting the fruit from any inclement British weather.
These new smaller cherry trees can now be picked by workers on foot rather than ladders, enabling British cherries to remain competitively priced.
British growers are this year set to produce an estimated 8,000 tonnes of cherries – around four times the harvest in 2018, according to Tesco.
In 2015, just 559 tonnes were picked in the UK, it added.
Rachael Davis