Angus Fruits managing director John Gray has published his Nuffield Farming report 'Fresh produce excellence: Growing our share of the value chain', sponsored by The Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland and The Worshipful Company of Fruiterers.

The full report is now available on the Nuffield Farming report library. John's report video is available on the Nuffield Farming YouTube channel and a recording of him presenting his findings at the Nuffield Farming Conference can be found here.

During his Scholarship, John travelled to the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Norway, Japan, Singapore, New Zealand, and Australia.

In his report, John said: "The UK berry sector is facing extremely challenging times. After many successful years, over the past four years costs of production have increased by approximately 40%. At the same time, output returns have increased by approximately 20%, resulting in a significant margin gap."

John travelled across the world meeting breeders, growers and marketers to learn how growers can increase their share of the value chain.

"New techniques in breeding, namely molecular marker assisted breeding and gene editing are speeding up the development of new berry varieties. This is likely to bring benefits to growers in terms of higher yields and improved disease resistance which should allow for lower costs of production."

While in the UK most berries are produced in polytunnels, in the Netherlands intensive glasshouse systems are more common: "These systems, whilst initially a lot more expensive, allow for large yields per hectare and should a cheaper source of energy be available, then these systems represent an opportunity to increase efficiencies and to extend the season of availability of UK berries."

John also noted that there are growing markets for berries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia: "These countries have rapidly expanding middle classes who are prepared to pay the same or more than European consumers for berries and, due to their tropical climates, will import berries for many years to come. These markets represent an opportunity for UK growers to spread their risk and ultimately add more value to their businesses."

Investing in people can also have an impact on business success. "World-class individuals, when nurtured and empowered, drive businesses forward, fostering innovation and sustainable growth," concluded John.

Study objectives

• To understand how we as growers can increase our share of the value chain through focusing on breeding, production and marketing of fresh produce.

Key messages

1. We can make significant gains through breeding by utilising new technology and techniques including gene editing, molecular marker assistance and growing from seed.
2. We can adopt higher tech, data driven production systems to extend our season of production in the UK.
3. We have the opportunity to develop new export markets however to do this we need to collaborate as an industry to get market access and to promote our berries internationally.
4. We should invest more in people, both management and workers, as they are the key drivers of success.