Category Archives: HortNews

Fyffes records record rise in profits

Ireland-based Fyffes Plc has reported revenue growth of 7% for the last year, mainly thanks to growth in bananas and melons.

Fyffes said EBITDA was up 16.4% at €56.1 million, representing the group’s seventh consecutive year of earnings growth.

“There was adverse weather in the early part of the year in the production regions which increased costs and resulted in some quality issues in certain varieties for part of the season. This had a modest adverse impact on average selling prices,” Fyffes said.

“Towards the end of the year, the Group purchased additional melon farming assets in Guatemala which contributed to a mid-single digit increase in volumes in this category in the year and is expected to result in a 25% increase in volumes on a full year basis in 2016.

It added that it had, “achieved a strong result in the banana category in 2015, with a mid-teens percentage increase in operating profits. This was delivered despite a significant currency headwind, with the US Dollar strengthening by 16% and 7% against the euro and Sterling respectively during the year. The impact of this was partly mitigated by reductions in key input costs, further logistical efficiencies combined with lower fuel costs, operational efficiencies in the Group’s distribution network and reductions in other import costs.”

Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons

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Morrison’s and Amazon sign supply agreement

Supermarket Morrisons and Amazon have announced a new supply agreement which will see hundreds of Morrisons products made available to Amazon Prime Now and Amazon Pantry customers.

According to the retailer, it will provide a wholesale supply service to Amazon, allowing Amazon’s customers access to a wide range of Morrisons ambient, fresh and frozen products.

In a statement, Morrisons said, ‘We are focused on our six priorities to make the supermarkets strong again. In addition, we have an opportunity to build a broader business that complements our supermarkets and is consistent with our commitment to pursue capital light growth. Wholesale supply enables this by growing volumes and leveraging our manufacturing, distribution and wholesale capabilities.’

David Potts, Morrions Chief Executive, commented, “Today’s agreement is built on Morrisons unique strengths as a food maker. The combination of our fresh food expertise with Amazon’s online and logistics capabilities is compelling. “This is a low risk and capital light wholesale supply arrangement that demonstrates the opportunity we have to become a broader business. We look forward to working with Amazon to develop and grow this partnership over the coming months.”

In addition, Morrisons has been in discussions with Ocado to grow Morrisons.com and has agreed in principle to take space in Ocado’s new Customer Fulfilment Centre Erith, while Ocado delivers a store pick solution for Morrisons.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons

The post Morrison’s and Amazon sign supply agreement appeared first on Hort News on 3 March 2016.

Record breaking winter for England and Wales

The Met Office has confirmed that 2015/16 was provisionally the warmest winter for England and Wales since the record series began in 1910, while it was the third-warmest for the UK as a whole.

It has also been the wettest in the record series for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and the second-wettest for the UK as a whole just behind the winter of 2013/2014.

In a statement, the forecaster said, “Following the extreme rainfall in December and early January across mainly northern and western parts of the UK, this has been a wet winter. The figures show a rainfall total for the UK of over 529 mm, well above the long term winter average of 330.4mm. This makes Winter 2015/16 the second wettest on record behind 2013/14 (545mm). These are the only two years with rainfall totals exceeding 500mm, the next wettest is 1995 (485mm).”

The only places where above average rainfall wasn’t recorded were parts of East Anglia and eastern England, but there were large contrasts across the country. The wettest areas were in the west, from Wales to eastern Scotland where many areas saw double the amount of rainfall normally recorded in winter.

Photo Caption: Winter rainfall and mean temperature for Winter 2015/16

Photo Credit: Met Office

The post Record breaking winter for England and Wales appeared first on Hort News on 3 March 2016.

First European earthworm map

In 2015, as part of the International Year of Soils, scientists from eight different countries, including Spain, created the first large-scale European map of earthworm abundance and diversity in addition to distribution maps of widespread earthworm species such as Aporrectodea caliginosa and Lumbricus terrestris.

In recent years, “the classification of edaphic invertebrates and their distribution patterns have not received priority for funding, meaning that a lot of information from unpublished studies has not been digitised,” comments María Jesús Briones, a researcher at the University of Vigo and one of the authors of the study. In addition, these animals -affected by the use of soils- were not well documented in the records, but their presence and role in the ecosystem greatly enhance the quality of the soils where they live.

France, Ireland and Germany were the top countries to gather information regarding the biodiversity of these invertebrates -France collected data from 1,423 locations- thanks to access to substantial funding to study the entire territory. On the other hand, there is still a lot to be done in Spain. “The study is the first step to creating a database of European earthworms, which needs to be improved on,” point out the authors. Given its environmental importance -being a reflection of the quality of their habitat-, the study strives for a better understanding of these invertebrate communities in addition to improved monitoring.

Photo Caption: The new worm map

The post First European earthworm map appeared first on Hort News on 26 February 2016.

Scientists implant slugs with trackers

Scientists at Harper Adams University are implanting slugs with tracking devices in an attempt to gain a better understanding of the important crop pests.

The researchers are hoping to prove a theory that, rather than being evenly distributed across fields, slug populations are focused in patches. Knowing this would help improve control strategies.

The slugs are anaesthetised before a small cut is made in the skin and the tracker, which is smaller than a grain of rice, is inserted. Once released, the slugs can be tracked, even underground, using a device which looks similar to a metal detector.

Funding for this study has come from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), which estimates that slugs can cause £100m of damage to UK crops if they aren’t properly controlled.

Photo Credit: Pixabay.com

The post Scientists implant slugs with trackers appeared first on Hort News on 26 February 2016.

Low prices hurting growers

Speaking at the NFU Conference, NFU president Meurig Raymond has warned that completion between multiple retailers, coupled with delays to the Basic Payment, volatile markets and poor weather mean that UK farmers and growers face unparalleled financial pressures.

He called for ‘actions to back the words’ from Defra on its 25-year plan for food and farming, which has been mooted for several months. Mr Raymond said, “British farming has felt blow after blow in recent years – one thing I know for sure is there is no possible way that any sector can carry on in the same vein. Farmers borrowed a £17.8billion from banks in 2015 – a record high. This paints a picture for the many businesses having the profit squeezed out of them. Viable businesses cannot continue operating without profit and farms are no exception.

“We are calling on the government to provide the tools our sector needs to overcome the challenges and ensure they thrive. The 25-year food and farming plan must address the fundamental issues of productivity and competitiveness. It needs to see a culture change about how we value food and farming.”

In her speech, Defra Secretary Liz Truss agreed, “Farmers here in Britain have faced a tough year.” However, while she promoted a number of technical innovations and research spending, she said little about addressing unsustainable market prices.

Photo Credit: Richard Crowhurst

The post Low prices hurting growers appeared first on Hort News on 26 February 2016.

New measures to control Epitrix in Scotland

New measures have come into place to protect the UK potato industry from the threat of Epitrix beetles.

EU emergency measures are already in place requiring potatoes moving from an effected area to be either washed or brushed to remove excess soil. However, there have been nine UK interceptions of Epitrix damaged potatoes, leading Defra to introduce a requirement, through the Plant Health (England) (Amendment) Order 2016, that all potatoes from Spain must be washed before being exported to the UK. This requirement came into effect on 24 February 2016. The aim is to kill or remove any Epitrix which might be present, as well as removing soil in which some life stages of the pest could be present.

Following a consultation by the Scottish Government in November last year, similar legislation will come into effect for Scottish landing ports from 21 March 2016.

Photo Credit: Defra (© Conceição Boavida Instituto Nacional de Recursos Biológicos, Portugal)

The post New measures to control Epitrix in Scotland appeared first on Hort News on 26 February 2016.

New measures to control Epitrix in Scotland

New measures have come into place to protect the UK potato industry from the threat of Epitrix beetles.

EU emergency measures are already in place requiring potatoes moving from an effected area to be either washed or brushed to remove excess soil. However, there have been nine UK interceptions of Epitrix damaged potatoes, leading Defra to introduce a requirement, through the Plant Health (England) (Amendment) Order 2016, that all potatoes from Spain must be washed before being exported to the UK. This requirement came into effect on 24 February 2016. The aim is to kill or remove any Epitrix which might be present, as well as removing soil in which some life stages of the pest could be present.

Following a consultation by the Scottish Government in November last year, similar legislation will come into effect for Scottish landing ports from 21 March 2016.

 

Photo Credit: Defra (© Conceição Boavida Instituto Nacional de Recursos Biológicos, Portugal)

The post New measures to control Epitrix in Scotland appeared first on Hort News on 26 Feb 2016.

Asda asks for supplier payments as profits fall

Asda boss Andy Clarke has said the company will lead the UK supermarket industry in the long term, despite the firm posting the worst quarterly drop in earnings in its history.

The 5.8 per cent fall in fourth-quarter sales, which included the crucial Christmas trading period, was the sixth straight quarterly decline posted by the retailer and was the worst set of Christmas trading figures from the major UK supermarkets.

Mr Clarke said, “In the long run we’ll win in this market. Market share is important to us … But what’s more important is financial control and stability. That’s going to give us an advantage to win in this market.” The company has said it will invest £1 billion to help price cuts, but has recently been reported as requesting help from suppliers.

An unnamed source told the Guardian that suppliers had been asked for “significant amounts of money”, adding, “Individual suppliers are being asked for millions of pounds and asked what they want in return.”

However, the retailer said it wanted to work collaboratively and wasn’t asking suppliers to hit a particular price point. It also said it was working with Groceries Code Adjudicator Christine Tacon to ensure it complied fully with the code.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

The post Asda asks for supplier payments as profits fall appeared first on Hort News.

Robot farming trials begin in Peak District

Trials have begun in the Peak District of a new autonomous farming robot which is designed to drive itself around steep grassland identifying and destroying weeds.

The machine has been created by the IBEX project, a consortium of SMEs who design and build advanced agricultural robotics. Co-funded by Innovate UK, the robot uses a precision arm to be as accurate as human sprayers when targeting weeds.

Although currently focused on weed control on remote hillsides which are uneconomical or too dangerous to spray manually the project could have implications for other areas of agriculture and horticulture.

The developers claim that using the robot could reduce fuel and labour costs as well as reducing the environmental impact from herbicides. “IBEX is the first agricultural robot designed to tackle extreme agricultural environments such the Yorkshire hill farms,” said Dr Charles Fox, project manager of IBEX at Hunshelf Hall Farm. “Taking the concept beyond university labs and overcoming extreme terrain mobility limitations, we designed and built IBEX to military standards, to go where other vehicles can’t operate and to tackle a real world problem affecting many farmers around the UK. We have a very interested and active user group of local farmers and we’re continually using their advice.”

Photo Credit: The IBEX Project

The post Robot farming trials begin in Peak District appeared first on Hort News on 23 Feb 2016.