Apple or fruit growers wanted!

[Afalau]

Hi there,

I am a final year Physical Geography student looking for some help! I am based in Durham University and am currently working on a dissertation on perspectives and experiences of crop losses and food waste in horticulture, particularly focussing on the apple and fruit sector. I would massively appreciate if anyone on here might be able to help me with this.

The aim of the project is to explore how growers have experienced crop losses and food waste, their perspectives on edible food waste as an issue within horticulture, and what the main causes of edible food waste are in their experience.

I am looking primarily for commercial apple growers (of any kind - small or large-scale), but am also open to other fruit growers. I'm also open to anyone else involved in the apple or fruit sector that might have relevant experience or perspectives (e.g suppliers, people who might be on the receiving end of surplus fruit for cider, juicing etc).

If you fit the bill for any of those things, I have put together a 5-10 minute survey through Microsoft Forms through this link: https://forms.office.com/Pages/Resp...p6bAAtAtUMFpRWU5VVkM0NUJEUlZJSVBaMDRCQzdVUS4u

It’s a one-page survey, with a section on research ethics beforehand, and an opportunity for further participation if desired.

Thank you in advance for any responses!

Sioned

(feel free to ask any questions / make any suggestions on this thread too!)

 

[Afalau]

Really grateful for some responses so far. Hope it's ok just to bump this up in case there might be people who haven't seen this and might have a moment - any responses would be a massive help.

I'm also aware of the pitfalls of surveys and some comments on here about how they tend to be worded badly. Any suggestions or comments are welcome - someone wanting to listen and learn here

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Has @Kidds replied?

There are very few apple producers left in the UK due to past government and food industry policy.

 

[Kidds]

Has @Kidds replied?

yes

 

[Afalau]

Thanks!

That's interesting @holwellcourtfarm - I'm aware that it's really concentrated down in the Marches, but thought we had a pretty good domestic crop?

Also heard that there are a lot of small-scale artisan growers for cider, traditional varieties etc that might not be on the mainstream radar and wouldn't belong to the English Apples and Pears group. Apparently there's been a small renaissance of small-scale orchards for cider recently - not sure how true that is, but encouraging if so!

 

[Fruitbat]

Magners did a cracking job getting everyone interested in cider again, then the public realised how cr@p Magners was and turned to craft cider. Small scale production has blossomed (yes, I know) all on the back of an advertising campaign they didn't pay for. Lockdown hasn't helped with pubs being shut, but who saw that coming? Dessert fruit going into cider too, perfect destination for the apples that are too big, too small, wrong colour, picked on a Thursday or whatever reason a buyer can think to reject them.
Here endeth today's rant

 

[Afalau]

'Dessert fruit going into cider too, perfect destination for the apples that are too big, too small, wrong colour, picked on a Thursday or whatever reason a buyer can think to reject them.' This seems to be the thing that keeps coming up. Too many people want perfection?

 

[Fruitbat]

Buyers want perfection = waste
Consumers want cheap = need to take a hit on uniformity
Not compatible.

It would be interesting to see what proportion of wonky veg is shifted now it’s offered.