Issues

Why polytunnels are used

The British soft fruit industry, one of the few agricultural success stories of the last ten years, faces a crisis as moves are being made to prevent the use of the polytunnel.

British-grown soft fruits, such as strawberries and raspberries, have become an important and successful rural business. Berries now represent the most important market in which UK fruit growers are involved. Sales in UK supermarkets of home-grown berries have increased 130% in the last four years.

The success of the British soft fruit industry can be largely attributed to the use of the polytunnel (sometimes called a Spanish tunnel) which was introduced to British farming in 1993.

These temporary plastic structures were developed from similar designs used by farmers in Spain to protect their winter salad crops. Polytunnels consist of a tubular steel framework of hoops over which polythene is secured. The moveable tunnels are erected and dismantled by farm staff or horticultural contractors at the end of each growing season - a maximum period of six months of any year.

The polythene film has a life of 3-10 years after which it is sent to a recycling plant

How the polytunnel has benefited the British soft fruit industry

Ten years ago British soft fruit was seen as an unreliable product, beset by unpredictable weather conditions, prone to disease and damage.

The British strawberry is seen as a traditional treat, but, in fact, it is very difficult to grow. Summer rain not only prevents harvesting, but spoils the fruit and produces high-cost waste as labour costs prevent the picking of poor quality berries. British-grown berries were produced from June to July and distributed through green-grocers and pick-your-own establishments. Most were used for the processing of jam and other fruit products most notably because the berries were not of high enough quality. Spain, France and America (many of whose farmers use polytunnels) were more successful in the growing of high quality fruit due to more reliable climates and, as a result they dominated the UK market with imports. The devastating impact on returns coupled with the increase in growing costs caused many British farmers to give up the cultivation of soft fruit.

Today the polytunnel is used to protect 80% of the soft fruit sold through supermarkets. It provides protection not only to strawberries, raspberries and blackberries, but to tomatoes, onions, potatoes, peppers and flowers.

Supermarkets represent 85% of the British retail business - that is, their demands for high quality fruit and prompt, consistent deliveries throughout the season must be met if a fruit farmer is to have a viable business. The farmer who cannot meet these standards is 'de-listed' or dropped as a supplier.

Prior to the introduction of polytunnels in England only 50% of the soft fruit yield was Grade 1 fruit ; now it is nearer 90%. For a soft fruit grower, all of which are privately-owned family-run businesses, this represents the difference between having a business and going out of business.

Specific benefits of polytunnels

Polytunnels allow the fruit farmer to:

• Extend the fruit season from May to mid-autumn where once it was limited to eight weeks in June and July. This means that British berries can dominate a market place once filled with fruit imported from Spain France and America.
• Guarantee quality in a market that demands very high standards. Berries are nutritious, as well as delicious fruits, and thanks to an assured level of quality and availability provided by protecting the fruit with polytunnels, supermarkets increasingly provide more shelf space to them. The increase in sales of British strawberries reflects the public's demand for them.
• Guarantee competitive prices in a market beset with price increases. The introduction of the polytunnel has reduced wastage, increased yields and enabled labour costs to be kept under control. The price of a punnet of strawberries bought through a supermarket has remained stable for the last ten years.
• Reduce the use of pesticides by up to 50%. The polytunnel protects the fruit from moisture which reduces the need tospray with chemicals to prevent diseases such as botyritis, (grey mould) downy mildew and black spot. They also provide an environment conducive to the use of natural pest control where one insect is used to target another in a confined area. This includes the encouragement of predatory insects as a biological control against spider mites and thrips. 'Beetle-banks' are made to house the ground beetles which are natural predators of the weevils and slugs that attack soft fruits.
• Produce and develop organically grown plants. Organic farming is certified by the Soil Association and, though organic farmed produce still only represents 3% of total sales, berry farmers are responding to the demand from consumers who wish to buy food grown without the use of artificial chemicals. The use of polytunnels are essential to these endeavors because they are a natural way to protect the plants from disease and from the weather. As supermarkets stock organic food, so soft fruit farmers are expected to grow crops both conventionally and organically. They would not be able to produce organically grown berries to the necessary commercial quality and yield without the use of crop protection.
• Increase employment and strengthen rural economies. The success of the soft fruit industry has enabled farms to employ 5,000 more staff on a permanent basis and 50,000 on a seasonal basis. Harvesting soft-fruit is labour intensive as every berry needs to be picked by hand. Approximately 15,000 of the 50,000 seasonal workers are foreign students employed through the Home Office approved, and monitored, Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (SAWS). The scheme employs students from non-EU countries who are all in full-time education in their home countries and requires that they return no later than 6 months after arriving in the UK.