AC Goatham & Son's production manager Peter Bukowski has been promoted to director of farming.
The country's largest topfruit grower saidBukowski's promotion reflected his significant personal contribution to helping the business grow.
Bukowski has worked at AC Goatham since 2012 and on joining, he was tasked with maintaining an ambitious new planting programme which has stretched to nearly 2.5 million new fruit trees, as well as the day-to-day management of the orchards, sited across 28 farms totaling 2,830 acres in Kent.
He is also credited with helping the business torevive the fortunes of British Conference pears, which is one of the company's major objectives over the next 20 years. Goatham’s large-scale pear planting programme follows three-year trials set up and led by Bukowski and his team, and the company says this has become the template for how Conference pears can be sustainably grown in the UK in the future.
Bukowski and his team are currently planting 380,000 new fruit trees this year, just weeks after completing the planting of over 220,000 trees in 2018.
On a personal note Bukowskiwas named best production manager at the Grower of the Year Awards 2015, where he was praised by judges for his wide and extremely diverse, all-encompassing knowledge of apple, pear and cherry production and his ability as a people person.He and his team have also won numerous other awards including the East Kent Fruit Society Orchard of the Year 2016.
Chief executive Clive Goatham said: “I am incredibly proud of Peter and his team and all of their achievements which has helped our business to grow to where it is today. Peter is a very talented, knowledgeable and hard-working individual who inspires the team around him. It has been a pleasure to work with him over the last seven years and I very much look forward to what the future holds and with Peter in his new role.”
Bukowski himself added: “I am delighted to become director of farming and I would like to also thank the team who work with me for all of their hard work and dedication. This is a really exciting time for topfruit growing here in the UK with some new varieties and technology enabling us to grow even better quality and tasting fruit with significant yields, enabling us to compete globally with other growers.”
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