After a few weeks of nice sunny weather Fife Fruits, based in Cupar Fife are on the point of starting to pick the first strawberries of the season, "The weather has been pretty good over the last few days, we've not had the highest temperatures, but it has been so much better than last year," said Robert Simpson, Managing Director at Fife Fruits.
"Last year, we were forcing the plants to produce fruit by using additional fleece covers, but this year we haven't done that and are starting around the same time. The plants are looking great, and there are plenty of flowers and fruit on them. Last year, light levels were low and there was much less fruit on the plants."
"As a grower, you are always hesitant to say it will be a good season, or better than last year. So far, the crop is looking better, but the costs are higher. They are continually increasing; this has not changed in the past few years. We have more admin with labour and more charges on the SAWS scheme, also National Insurance has increased this year too. We won't be increasing our acreage this year, I think that is pretty much the same across the board."
Fife Fruits is a member of Asplin's Producer Organisation, which is an English organisation, and the English government has decided to stop the grant funding given to Producer Organisations. Being a Scottish grower, this puts Fife Fruits at a disadvantage to other Scottish growers who are members of Scottish POs, who will continue to get funding from the Scottish government. "This won't come into play until next year, so we will have to see what will happen," commented Robert.
"Hopefully, after 3-4 years of turmoil, with Brexit and an ever-changing labour force coming from different countries, we will have some calm on the labour front. It would be great to get back to having returnees coming to the farm. When there is this much uncertainty, it doesn't encourage people to invest and promote their businesses."
For more information:
Robert Simpson
Fife Fruits
Tel.: +44 1334 655024
[email protected]
www.fifefruits.co.uk