Self-confessed fruit geek and new Lancaster resident Viv Shaw reports back from the 4th annual Great Northern Fruit Moot in Sheffield…
As a self-confessed fruit geek, I was very excited to attend the annual Great Northern Fruit Moot in Sheffield last Friday.
The Moot was a gathering of around 100 orchard enthusiasts who came together to share knowledge, skills (and drink apple juice and cider!) in a bid to combat challenges facing fruit growers.
Most of the participants, like me, are actively involved in planting and running community orchards (Lancaster is lucky to have quite a lot, think Fairfield, Claver Hill, Storey Gardens, Scotch Quarry and Miss Whalley’s Field to name a few).
Until fairly recently, the UK was self sufficient in orchard fruit but a steady decline in commercial orchards set in around the 1970’s, and the 80’s saw the removal of government support for research into new varieties, disease and rootstocks.
When you get a fruit tree from the garden centre, you are actually buying two trees joined together (grafted) to produce a new plant.
The roots (or rootstock) dictate how large the tree will get and how long it will live, while the top growth, taken from another tree, is joined onto the rootstock and this determines the apple, or pear, variety.
Over the centuries, growers developed hundreds of varieties, giving them local place names like Worcester Pearmain or Merton Pride, and these were adapted to their local climate.
Changing weather conditions due to global warming is changing the accepted wisdom about what will grow and where and we will need to adapt if we cherish being able to grow and pick fruit locally.
Currently, there is only one commercial rootstock grower in the UK, so it’s likely that if you buy a fruit tree, its roots will have been imported from the Netherlands.
And we are reliant on just five main rootstocks.
Why is this important? Lack of diversity makes our trees vulnerable to pests and diseases which can be introduced unwittingly on the sole of a shoe or packaging crates used to import goods.
So next time you pick a pear from the supermarket shelf or bite into your favourite apple, give a thought to the work going on to make our fruit crops more self reliant and sustainable.
Ah, and did I say there was a cider stall too…?!
Fun fruity facts!
There are about 2,500 apple varieties in the UK alone and 7500 worldwide.
An orchard is classified as five fruiting trees grown together.
Apples originated in Central Asia, specifically in Kazakhstan.
The first British apple orchards were implemented by the Romans and further improved after the Norman conquest.
A falling apple inspired Sir Isaac Newton’s understanding of gravitational force.
