Top-fruit grower AC Goatham will kick off the English apple and pear season this week by picking the first volumes of early apple variety Discovery.
Grown at Thrognall Farm, Sittingbourne, Discovery apples will stocked by Goatham’s retail customers Sainsbury’s and Morrisons. It will be followed by exclusive variety Zari, grown at Stallance Farm, Sutton Valence. In total, the company grows 15 apple varieties and three pear varieties across 15 farms, and expects to supply around 150 million apples during the 2015-2016 season.
“The last few weeks of the summer are for us spent waiting patiently and watching the weather until the right moment to start picking the early varieties,” said AC Goatham partner, Ross Goatham.
“We then move from farm to farm to pick and place the fruit into cold storage as quickly as possible, which is very labour intensive as it literally is a race against time.”
Goatham said the business employs 300 seasonal workers on top of its 230 full-time staff to help with the harvest period.
“We are delighted that Sainsbury’s are so supportive of British growers like us as the figures published show and also to the Great British customer who votes with their shopping trolley and buys British apples and pears,” he added.
Over the next 20 years, Goatham’s is aiming to double its annual fruit growth by planting 268,500 new fruit trees in Kent. The new orchard plantings will be completed later this year.
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