KG Fruits has announced the appointment of two new members of staff to its technical services department.

Tom Deards (pictured) will join KG Fruits on March 17 as crop production advisor and, in early April, Dr Tom Rogers will join as trials officer – a newly created post to support the co-operative's growers in implementing KG's strategic technical developments.

Technical director Richard Harnden said: 'KG's in-house agronomic trials programme, managed by company agronomist David Northcroft, is now producing some very interesting and commercially significant results. Tom's remit will be to provide follow-on support to our members on their farms to ensure successful technology transfer of our new production systems, as well as assisting KG growers with the commercial production of two new everbearing strawberry varieties from the Driscoll strawberry-breeding programme.' This provision of additional technical support by KG itself will further complement the services already enjoyed by our members from their own contracted crop consultants and agronomic advisors.

Rogers will take over the management of KG's burgeoning new variety trials programme, evaluating a range of strawberry and raspberry cultivars from some of the world's leading breeding programmes as well as providing greater input to KG's own strawberry breeding programme based at HRI East Malling.

'I am looking to forward joining the technical team at KG, and the challenge of progressing work on the development of improved varieties,' said Rogers. 'KG believes that it must continue to improve the quality of its fruit offer as well as to assist its growers in improving their crop yields in order for them to maintain profitability as costs rise.'