OUR ORGANIC RANGE

 Certified by The Soil Association since 1987, we have been growing fruit organically since 1988. During this time we have worked with both industry and research centres to develop systems to, weather permitting, reliably produce a crop year on year. Whilst we fully subscribe to the ethos, spirit and regulations of organic production, we aim to bring consistency and predictability to bear using 'science and technology' rather than 'muck and magic'. Organic systems normally rely on crop rotations - fertility is rotated in whilst pests and diseases are rotated out. This is not an option with perennial crops such as apples, pears or plums as the trees will be in the ground for many years; novel approaches have to be adopted to protect the crop and maintain and enhance the soil's natural fertility.

Climate change is contributing to ever more production challenges; increased temperatures are resulting in additional pest generations over the growing season with all the associated crop damage and pesticide resistance problems that one might expect. Long, hot, dry spells through the summer leading to drought can completely ruin a fine crop; days of torrential rain can allow disease to run unchecked through a crop or make harvesting all but impossible. Given that plant cycles are driven by a combination of day length and temperature whereas insect cycles are driven by temperature alone, there is now emerging evidence of a disconnect between plants and their pollinators; this is an additional problem to be laid on top of the 60% estimated decline in UK flying insects since 2000. It is against this backdrop that we are growing our organic orchards.