Change to the packing process at Emery Soft Fruits has allowed significant volumes of berries to be rescued in Hampshire and could be replicated by other BerryWorld UK growers
Highly perishable, short shelf-life soft fruits aren’t the easiest to rescue, but BerryWorld UK and FareShare have developed a simple but effective solution to divert more excess and out-of-spec berries to charity.
Each packing table at Hampshire grower Emery Soft Fruits now has a lined crate on the bottom level for any surplus berries to be placed in. This means that rather than being wasted, the fruit is collected and sent directly to FareShare’s Southern Central warehouse in Southampton, ready for distribution to local charities.
Emery Soft Fruits MD James Emery says: “It’s truly wonderful that we can take something that would otherwise go to waste and repurpose it to help so many people. It’s something we’re genuinely proud of.”
The new system was implemented at the start of June and will run for the rest of the season. It has been so successful that BerryWorld and FareShare are in discussions about replicating the model with other growers in other regions. And Emma Brown, head of fresh produce at FareShare, says she hopes the practice will inspire others in the fresh produce industry to follow suit.
Simon Ryan, the regional manager at FareShare Southern Central, reports that more than 80 local charities have already received almost 50kg of fresh strawberries through the initiative and now “really look forward to their deliveries of local Hampshire strawberries”.
BerryWorld UK has been working with FareShare, the UK’s leading food redistribution charity, since 2020. To date, the berry supplier’s growers have diverted over 750 tonnes of fruit to FareShare, contributing the equivalent of nearly 1.8 million meals to those in need.
Good weather this British berry season has resulted in early flushes of strawberries and consistent volumes. Indeed, BerryWorld UK’s commercial director Paul Avery reports a “wonderfully even crop” from its British growers Emery Soft Fruits, Withers Farm, Tasker Partnership, Busby Partners, and Winterwood.
“When volumes do spike, we work side by side with FareShare to turn seasonal abundance into opportunity, not waste,” says Avery. That’s just as well given that 51 per cent of charities in the FareShare network expect demand to increase during the summer holidays, as parents face additional cost pressures. According to FareShare, fresh fruit is always welcomed by its charity partners as a healthy snack to fuel children’s summer activities.
Since the UK grows more vegetables than fruit, FareShare has generally found surplus vegetables more easily accessible. And thanks to their longer shelf life, root vegetables have been particularly suitable. However, the organisation says there is room for improvement in all other produce types, particularly when there are crop flushes. FareShare works closely with growers and packers to anticipate these flushes, allowing them to prepare in advance. “Increasing direct access to growers would enable us to achieve even greater impact,” says Brown.
The shelf-life challenges in berries are evident, and BerryWorld UK’s technical director Stefan Rusev stresses that soft fruit’s “quality countdown” begins the moment it is picked. “The task is to align that clock with transport, chill chain and FareShare,” he says. “Sharing estimates with FareShare, keeping surplus cool, and coordinating loads from our nationwide growers helps us move more berries efficiently. Costs can be a barrier, so we stay as streamlined as possible, winning extra shelf life and making every punnet count.”
