The late Florian Brann, who ruled the Outspan Organisation in Europe during the 1960s and into the 1970s, believed public demand for larger fruit size was rising by one carton count size every two years.

This has almost proved to be a truism, held back only by nature; for, otherwise, oranges would outstrip a World Cup football, and bananas would be the size of those that are paddled along the seashore.

Perhaps, for this reason, I’m always intrigued when people talk about the larger end of the scale when it comes to fruit and vegetables. There is a big difference between those cup-winning crops that appear at local shows in the autumn and commercial production.

It is also a question of subjectivity. At about the same time as the Outspan opinion, a well-known character in the fruit trade was arranging a party. All was going well until he saw the suggested menu, which described the dessert as “kiwifruit with little sponge fingers”. Not wanting to appear mean, he told the chef: “If they are so small, better call them giant!”

At least size seems to have been no problem for Tesco this week as it unveiled its giant South African grown satsuma hybrid. While a novelty and headline catcher, it is a further indication that multiples are using this attribute to fragment and add value. The pattern is already established with extra large avocados, mangoes, and most recently, the arrival of King Berries.

But everything, inevitably, has its limitations, which is becoming evident in Europe this year in particular. Taking apples as a first example, official Prognosfruit forecast suggest a preponderance of small-sized fruit. This was brought home to me on the National Orchard Walk around one of the Kent farms owned by Adrian Scripps last week.

Irrigation apart, late downpours appear to be doing a great deal to improve fruit size in Kent, but for many growers of root vegetables as well as fruit, finding the right size or quality this winter for the multiple trade is going to figure prominently in marketing discussions.

For some crops it may even prove to be a time when the world is divided into the “haves and have-nots”, simply because of the diversity of climate. In Europe, as a whole, the onion crop is showing a wide variance in both yield and size.

At the recent asparagus trials I reported a leading agronomist has already warned of a potential drop in yields next year. And at the same event I was told by English growers that because of the summer drought, many brassica crops are already past redemption and there will be planting problems next spring, while some iceberg stopped growing altogether during the heatwave.

Nature will always have its way so it is up to the marketeers to innovative with thier crop, whether that be through generating interest in mini veg or putting more apples in pre-packs.

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