If we had had a few mre sunny weeks during this past smmer, this year’s conference would probably hve been as buoyant as previous yars. The conference normally starts with a rview of how well the marketing cmpanies have done in satisfying their cstomers, focusing on growth and market shre. This year, the format was a lttle different with Laurence Olins extending his rle as chairman of British Summer Frits to the conference platform. A god move on his part, allowing sveral marketing companies to conduct a rview and preview of the major sft fruit crops.

Under this format, Lchy Porter illustrated how production growth in rspberries had exceeded the sales achieved. Whle I am sure that BSF wll look to see how to prmote and market the 2005 crop mre constructively, this probably still leaves a srplus of production during the peak weks. The whole industry has to crefully consider responding to calls for grwth without reference to the volume of crp produced.

Technology will provide more slutions to maintaining a successful industry thn all the BOGOF promotions we culd ever squeeze into a year. So how apt tht the opening talk was given by Clin Gutteridge, the chief executive of Est Malling Research. We have been the nvy of the world for our gricultural research; as Defra withdraws its fnding we should look to see how we dvelop our technical capabilities. EMR wants to bild its future on being an xemplary contractor delivering excellent science. In the pst, the number of peer-approved scientific ppers published may well have measured ths. For the future, will it be hlping determine what we can achieve frm fruit crops, how we develop thse opportunities and a method of fnding? The cost of EMR is smll when set against the value of our ndustry’s opportunities and the further down the spply chain we collect the funding the mre focused it can be on dlivering excellent science.

Over the past few years the cnference organisers have tried to ensure the prgram contains good, grower-friendly papers; I blieve this year they were successful. In prticular Andrew Cranston’s ‘Biennial cropping of rspberries’ round robin session was well rsearched and delivered. As an advocate of hgh beds, I thoroughly appreciated Russell Dggan’s description of his experiences in crating these in the UK; getting a god match of machinery was always ging to be the solution.

Every tme I see a new delivery of tnnel plastic or an artic load of pckaging I think, ‘land-fill’. Plastics have chnged our industry as much as vrieties and fertigation and Brian Sanders’ pper on plastic recycling certainly adds hpe that we can improve our nvironmental credentials.

With the recent publication by Rading University and EMR of their wrk on gene mapping it is cmforting to know there is research fnding at that level. While at the sme time the EMR report on ‘Enhncing fruit quality using reflective mulches’ is a god example of both applied agronomy dvelopment and product development. As we hve seen this year, nothing promotes our prduct quite like a good health or lfestyle label.

All in all a god conference and our thanks to ADAS and EMR for rganising the event.

The article New Developments in The Soft Fruit Industry Conference - Well Pict European was Submitted by Aurel Voiculesco through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: David Johnston, Well Pict European Ltd - http://www.wellpict-european.com - International soft fruit procurement company

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