Why no English apples?

[Jane Gillett]

Well, there are some but few and far between. Subject came up on a food
newsgroup as to why the shops were full of Dutch (and other) apples and
pears even at this time of year but it is almost impossible to find an
English apple or pear.

Please don't just say that the Dutch growers store and we don't. That's
obviously so but why? Business is business so what are the factors which
make it worth growing and storing apples and pears in Holland and not in UK?
Climate should be similar. IAGTU that land prices are not vastly dissimilar
(Holland has a high population like UK). Is the single farm payment applied
differently re fruit? Other govmt factors? Immigrant labour for harvesting?
We have a long tradition of growing apples as shown by all the traditional
names we have so why are we not still growing them?

Cheers
Jane

--

Jane G : j.gi...@higherstert.co.uk : S Devon

[Tim Lamb]

In message <529659801...@higherstert.co.uk>, Jane Gillett
<j.gi...@higherstert.co.uk> writes

Hi Jane!

I have no idea.

My Grandfather's generation were great apple growers and originated
from Herefordshire. Somewhere on the list should be a *William Lamb*
apple discovered by my Great Uncle. Very mushy cooker AFAIR.

Golden Delicious, Discovery etc. outsold English varieties in the 80's
and 90's and imports from S Africa/New Zealand undercut UK produced
product.

regards

--
Tim Lamb

[Howard Neil]

Perhaps the supermarkets have priced themselves out of the market. We
have a guy from Herefordshire who visits us a couple of times a year. He
sells boxes of apples and pears from his own orchards and other orchards
in his area.

They are superb. Much better flavour than those in supermarkets and also
cheaper. However, he only visits farms and has his regular customers so
I don't know how others could get apples like this.

--
Howard Neil

[Pat Gardiner]

Dutch produce has long been marketed in the UK. It is nothing new.

Back in the sixties, I went to work for a Dutch shipping company who
ran a fleet of little vessels running from Rotterdam to Rochester,
Kings Lynn, Boston, Grimsby, Goole and Leith. Much of the inward cargo
was produce in season.

All of the British ports with the possible exception of Leith, were in
areas with market gardening, and in the case of Rochester much fruit
too. Yet imports thrived.

They were carrying on a tradition going back many years.

Why? People usually keep doing the same thing endlessly until
something stops them, then they do something else. That is especially
strong in international trade, for some reason.

Aside from WW2, there was probably nothing to stop a traditional
trade, and after the war, the Dutch needed the cash, the ships that
had escaped to Britain and survived went back to what they were doing
before, as did the growers.

Like everything else, growing fruit is done on a bigger scale
nowadays.

Sometimes we ask why people do something, when we should ask what
started them? Stopping in business is quite hard, harder than
starting.

Often in company collapses, people ask, "Why did they carry on for so
long?" The answer usually is, "They knew nothing else."

So the question maybe should be, "When and why did the Dutch start
exporting produce to Britain?"

PG
>
>Cheers
>Jane

--
Regards
Pat Gardiner
Release and independently audit the results of testing British pigs
for MRSA, C.Diff and Hepatitis E now!
www.go-self-sufficient.com and http://animal-epidemics.blogspot.com/

[buddenbrooks]

"Howard Neil" <inv...@invalid.co.uk> wrote in message
news:YLqdnQyDyMYxZVzS...@brightview.co.uk...

> They are superb. Much better flavour than those in supermarkets and also
> cheaper. However, he only visits farms and has his regular customers so I
> don't know how others could get apples like this.
>

Possibly the supermarket and buying public fixate on appearance and flaw
free fruit, which limits the verieties
and increase the production costs.

[Old Codger]

The supermarkets do, I am not sure that a majority of the public do though.

--
Old Codger
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