Hargreaves looks to expansion

Soft Fruit Propagation (SFP), a department of Hargreaves Plants Ltd, has launched an ambitious overseas and UK expansion plan.

Large-scale strawberry and raspberry trialing and marketing programmes are underway in European countries, while in the UK Hargreaves is entering the blueberry market.

Rupert Hargreaves, commercial director of the SFP division, said: “Up to 55 countries are preparing for trialing and marketing products on a large scale principally strawberry plants, raspberry canes and more recently asparagus. The asparagus market is newer to us, but we have three world-renowned asparagus breeding programmes.

“In the UK we are conducting marketing and trialing of blueberries for the first time. Though in relatively early stages our results have been very encouraging and we have selected a set of varieties.”

The company’s high standards help maintain quality. Production manager Garth Baxter said: “Our standards emulate ISO regulations and other government standards to which we full adhere to.”

One example is the hi-tech temperature control equipment by Adcock Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Ltd in the soft fruit cold stores. Baxter added: “Plants are sometimes kept in our cold stores for up to seven months before being passed onto growers. Temperatures must be exact, as any significant long-term changes could mean the loss of entire harvests.”