Have British strawberry growers met their match?
Did you know the Wimbledon tournament manages to get through more than 34 tonnes of strawberries every year? The strawberries served at Wimbledon are a variety named Malling Centenary and are produced by Hugh Lowe Farms, a family-run business located just 31 miles away from the Grounds.
The great news for Wimbledon visitors, and everyone else who loves strawberries, is that this spring’s dry weather has contributed to a potentially bumper year for the soft fruit. A warmer than average start to May has had a noticeable effect on the start of this year’s harvest, with the combination of warm days and cool nights hitting the sweet spot for strawberry growers.
This spring’s perfect growing conditions mean that berries are also 10-20% bigger than usual so as Wimbledon starts, tennis fans could be treated to sweeter, supersize strawberries!
This spring’s weather demonstrates a marked contrast from that of 2023, when a cold spring stunted growth. Unpredictable and extreme weather can seriously impact British strawberry production, so growers are adopting new techniques and technology to guarantee a bumper crop. allmanhall investigates…
British strawberry cultivation
With extreme weather now becoming more common, year-round production of strawberries is becoming increasingly important in the UK. So far, the UK strawberry growing season has been extended from six weeks in the 1980s to nine months (March-November).
The earliest crops are typically grown under glass in southern England, with harvests beginning in early April. However, additional heat and night-break lighting can allow for crops to be ready as early as March, and research is ongoing to bring this forward even more.
The growing season continues with crops cultivated under closed fixed polythene tunnels, followed by field-grown strawberries using French and Spanish tunnels, as well as lay flat fleece or polythene film. This method increases the probability of a good crop and extends the UK growing season from 4-6 weeks to a much wider time frame of early spring to autumn.
Traditionally grown, unprotected field crops become available in June and July.
The challenges facing British strawberry growers
Growers’ costs have increased exponentially in recent years through inflation, wage increases introduced by the Government, and high fuel and fertiliser costs. 71% of growers reported operating cost increases in excess of 20% between 2020 and 2023.
The increase in environmental duties and taxes, emission targets and the shift to green energy is driven by policymakers’ focus on environmental sustainability and requirements to meet international climate objectives.
This move is particularly applicable to horticulture, given the sector’s resource-intensive nature. This presents both a challenge and objective – to mitigate environmental impact. Changing climate conditions and climate-resilient methods of production mean that the UK now benefits from one of the longest berry growing seasons in Europe. However, in some locations such as the South East, water scarcity is a challenge that could restrict climate resilience efforts and business expansion. Producers are being forced to look at ways to boost productivity whilst improving sustainability.
This move is particularly applicable to horticulture, given the sector’s resource-intensive nature. This presents both a challenge and objective – to mitigate environmental impact. Changing climate conditions and climate-resilient methods of production mean that the UK now benefits from one of the longest berry growing seasons in Europe. However, in some locations such as the South East, water scarcity is a challenge that could restrict climate resilience efforts and business expansion. Producers are being forced to look at ways to boost productivity whilst improving sustainability.
Another environmental challenge is that of pesticide use, with many common UK food items containing PFAS pesticides. PFAS use is particularly prevalent in strawberry production, with around 95% of 120 government-tested samples found to contain PFAS pesticides as part of the government’s residue testing programme. They have also been described as ‘forever chemicals’ due to their tendency to persist in the environment and accumulate within living organisms, including humans. While they are generally used in household products such as non-stick cookware, some pesticides contain PFAS which arrive in humans via their diet. Like the UK, strawberries were found to be the most likely EU grown produce to contain PFAS, and recent research has also revealed that residues of 31 different PFAS pesticides were detected in European fruit and vegetables between 2011 and 2021. Given that the Environment Agency does not sample rivers in the UK for any of the 25 PFAS pesticides currently used in the UK, more discussion is needed regarding the use of these chemicals.
Similarly to other food items, food waste is also a significant environmental problem, with recent research showing that around 9% of strawberries produced were wasted, which is the equivalent of 10,000 tonnes. The main causes of waste fruit and vegetables are pest and disease damage, as well as the products being misshapen or the wrong size for customers. There is certainly an opportunity to reduce waste from farms, although the problem necessitates a combination of different approaches. If food waste can be substantially reduced, the environmental impacts of strawberry production would lessen.
British strawberry growers innovate to stay ahead
Dyson Farming has developed a 26-acre glasshouse in Lincolnshire which they claim supports the advance of high tech, sustainable strawberry cultivation. Powered with renewable electricity and surplus heat from Dyson Farming’s adjacent anaerobic digester, the giant glasshouse is 760m long with 1456 rows of strawberries and 1,225,000 strawberry plants which will produce 1,250 tonnes of strawberries each year for British consumers. The glasshouse is lengthening the British strawberry season by growing quality strawberries at a time of year, early spring and late Autumn, when traditionally British strawberries are in very short supply.
The Summer Berry Company (TSBC) can now offer year round strawberry production, lengthening their season by five months. Their Green Energy Solution (GES) will reduce the site’s reliance on fossil fuels, incorporating a combined heat and power plant, a state-of-the-art combined water/air source heat pump, a site-wide heat network and LED lighting on the glasshouses. Once it is operational, the GES will reduce the overall spend on energy by around 40%, cut CO2 emissions by 20%, and allow the site to provide extensive additional lighting to the crop in winter. TSBC have also introduced robot harvesting, which was first developed in Belgium. However, the perishable nature of soft fruit means it requires delicate handling, making it challenging for robotics to replicate human pickers.
Tesco as worked with a West Sussex fruit grower to develop vertically-grown strawberries in a production system requiring 50 per cent less water and with a 90 per cent reduction in carbon footprint per kilo of fruit. This method yields five times more fruit per square metre than existing methods and can deliver a constant supply of strawberries for up to nine months without the impact of adverse weather conditions.
The premise of vertical farming is growing fruit or vegetables indoors under fully controlled conditions and reducing the industry’s environmental impact. This is done hydroponically – with a water feed – instead of in soil, in multiple stacked layers in an indoor environment which guarantees yields while improving the supply of healthy, nutritious food and minimising the miles involved in its distribution.
FlexFarming is striving to be the UK’s first net zero strawberry supplier and grower, having received £2.5m of funding from Innovate UK to build a 10-tonne strawberry production facility to proof their concept. The company proposes that vertical farms, which require significant energy for lighting and climate control, can also act as a flexible energy load, providing energy back to the grid during peak demand, effectively acting as a local energy storage unit.
What does the future hold for British strawberry growers?
From becoming climate resilient to developing new methods of production that minimise water and energy usage, to focussing on water resilience, there is considerable scope for the strawberry industry to contribute positively to sustainability. allmanhall will keep you posted on the sector’s progress towards a greener future. And remember that our insights also address seasonal and inflationary price fluctuations to help you plan your menus effectively.
For a delicious and sustainable Eton Mess recipe using strawberries, find it here.