Under 40s unveil next location

A roving conference focused on driving more youth into the fruit industry has
announced its next location in Europe.



The 21st Under 40s (U40s) conference, which looks to encourage young people into engaging and progressing in the industry, will take place in Provence, France in February 2011.

The conference will tour the region with intentions to visit businesses in the fields of stonefruit, soft fruit, top fruit and possibly a vineyard.

The conference organisers, who are all volunteers who work in the produce industry, have already garnered a number of sponsors including Agrovista, Norman Collett and the Farm Advisory Services Team.

The four-day conference is likely to include a day of presentations and talks before visits to various growers in the region, where UK delegates can learn and share thoughts with their French counterparts.

Frank P Matthews’s Stephanie James, who is organising the marketing and PR for the U40s, told freshinfo: ”We considered taking [the conference] to Poland but we felt somewhere like the south of France offered real diversity which would interest and attract people. We are aiming to keep prices low to attract more younger people and have kept the February slot as it is a less busy time for growers.

“We’re looking to get a greater number of growers involved and enable more young people to experience the way different businesses are run in France.”

James was speaking after a meeting, chaired by Ben Ashdown with vice-chairman James Shillitoe, of the U40s committee at Fruit Focus in Kent.

In January, growers toured top-fruit research, growing and processing facilities in Germany, from a base in Leipzig.

2009 - Under 40s Leipzig Conference Programme

The UK market for fresh produce is a fast-moving, complex place with a fluid agenda set very much by a combination of consumer power, media messages and innovation. More than perhaps any other sector,
fresh food is singled out as a high profile product with strong potential for messaging in the competitive marketplace, with the environmental and social story behind produce becoming increasingly important.

For 40 years the Under 40’s fruit growers association has worked to support and develop the fruit marketing sector through the delivery of bi-annual conferences giving insight into market place, production and innovation. Visiting Portugal, Italy, Holland and Spain in the last decade, delegates have had experiences from walking through snow laden Kiwi in the hills of Emilia Romania to Strawberry and raspberry harvesting in January and state of the art cooperative packing houses, but there have also been companies founded, jobs created and friendships forged.

January 2009 will see the delivery of the 20th conference, based in Leipzig, Eastern Germany. In one of a series of breaks with tradition the first day of the conference will be technical and marketing presentations by industry leaders representing our sponsors; the Under 40’s has a long association with companies such as Bayer CropScience, Omex, NP Seymour and HOPS GB who are again key supporters, this year joined by Fresca; part of the Mack group of companies. We are pleased to announce the support of the NFU once more and the opportunity for delegates to meet with Richard, NFU Chairman of the Horticultural Board and to discuss current issues such as the SAWS scheme, Pesticide approvals and the future of Horticulture in the UK. Richard will our after dinner speaker at the Gala dinner on Friday 30th January.

The programme includes a visit to the National Plant Breeders rights trial, LVG Erfurt – a large farming cooperative growing stone, top and soft fruit with a large, new packing and storage facility, Beckers Bester – a juice processor which works closely with Innocent and M&S and one of the regions best sparkling wine producers, amongst others.

The 2009 conference will also see our first European delegates with representatives from Dutch propagators and Polish and German farming cooperatives.

The full programme:

28.01.2009 – fly to Berlin, then coach to Leipzig. 06.25 flight
11am registration at Westin Hotel, Leipzig
12pm: buffet lunch
1pm: Technical presentations
Conference session: 1.30 start
20 minute presentations from key sponsors and industry leaders
7pm session ends
8pm Evening meal: Sponsored by Fresca at a local restaurant (Leo’s Brasserie, Reichstrasse 20)

29.01.2009
Depart Westin at 8.30am
9.30am Sachsen Obst - large fruit growing, packing and marketing cooperative, specialising in stone and top fruit
Lunch: At Bundessortenamt
2pm Bundessortenamt - National Plant breeders rights trials

30.01.2009
Depart Hotel at 8.30am
Am: LVG Erfurt - specialist Government funded research institute for Horticultural crops
Lunch – local restaurant/packed lunch from Hotel
PM: Beckers bester Eisleben - Juice processor serving M&S and Innocent

31.01.2009
Depart Hotel at 9.30am
10.30am Rotkäppchen sparkling wines,
2pm Berlin – free time
Depart Berlin - 10.20 flight

Click here http://www.u40s.co.uk/2009-under-40s-fruit-growers-leaflet.pdf for a copy of leaflet for 2009 Under 40s Fruit Growers Conference. The conference runs from January 28th to 31st 2009, if you have not yet booked your place, please contact Sarah Calcutt on 07894 411743. Delegate places are still only £195.

2009 - U40s pick Leipzig for 20th outing

The 20th U40s Fruit Growers’ Conference will be held in Leipzig, Germany, at the beginning of February 2009.

The biennial event takes young UK growers out of their day-to-day environment and gives them a rare chance to attend seminars and visit growers in an overseas production region. It hopes to attract 150 delegates for its 20th outing.

Sarah Calcutt, pictured, new business development manager at Norman Collett, is chairman of the organisation committee. “Principally, the event is about developing contacts and friendships within the industry, and it is also an opportunity to travel and see business practices and technologies in another country,” she said. Also on the committee are: Karen Whiting of Berry Gardens, who is in charge of sponsorship; Ashley Wensak of Phoenix Trading, in charge of transport and logistics; JJ Clarke and Paul Day of JA Clarke & Sons; Paul Keuntenius of Berry Gardens; and James Deering of Clockhouse Farm.

Leipzig has been selected because it is the home of Raifhausen Agil, a huge vertically integrated co-operative for German growers, and Beckers Bester, one of Europe’s foremost juicing units, which counts Marks & Spencer and Innocent among its customers.

The themes of the conference are low carbon footprint, environment-friendly and low-input farming, and innovations in all three. Both Raifhausen and Beckers Bester are involved in their local communities with wide-ranging green initiatives. Raifhausen also has a very young board, which is appropriate; the youngest member is just 22. It has already put together a very interesting programme for delegates, involving its scientific, NPD and marketing teams.

The committee is in discussions with Bayer CropScience, a stalwart supporter of the event, which has trial sites in the Leipzig area. Other sponsors already discussing support are Omex, the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers, Certis, Pro-Tech Marketing Ltd and Norman Collett Ltd.
Contact:

Sarah.Calcutt@normancollett.com

2007 - Fruit is big business in Spain

The 19th biannual Under 40’s Fruit Growers Conference was held this year in the Huelva region of Spain, writes Sarah Calcutt, technical manager at Norman Collett Ltd. The ideal soft fruit production area blessed with light sandy soils and permitted acres of poly tun­nels in every direction!

This year’s conference, ably led by Matthew Spanton with committee members, David Macaulay, Ben Wilkinson, James Smith and Neil Hoskings, was a good example of the purpose of this association – a balanced group of representatives from the growing and commercial sectors meeting to discuss common issues and to learn about the challenges faced by growers in other climates.

The conference ran smoothly with a varied pro-gramme, excellent speakers and with the support of a large group of sponsors; particular thanks must go to the generous commit­ment in both time and money by Bayer, Hortifeeds, Wellpict and Omex providing excellent con­tacts in the area and eloquent speakers.

The first day began with a visit to Bionest, a large organic business currently growing on farms located in Almonte region, close to Donana national park, with more than 500ha currently growing strawberries, raspber­ries and tree fruit destined, pri­marily, for the UK market. On the second day the delegates were hosted by Bayer, who took the party around some of the leading citrus farms in that re­gion and an insightful tour of a leading packhouse. The third trip was to Hortifruit. Like Bi­onest, Hortifruits is one of the largest growers of blueberries in Europe with 180 ha in pro­duction, another 200ha being planted and all from a humble start of 4ha in 1994! They have also invested over £4,000,000 in new staff accommodation and Packhouse facilities.

Visits were focussed on larger, commercial enterprises who are now leading their sector through innovation and investment. Common to all companies vis­ited was the level of investment in packing facilities and staff ac­commodation. Significant grants are available in Spain for the de­velopment of facilities and plan­ning is not an issue in an area that is zoned for agriculture, with the economic contribution of these enterprises recognised by the region. All the organisa­tions visited found no difficulty in obtaining permits to build new staff facilities. Traditionally, afternoon con­ference sessions are given over to technical presentations by key industry representatives. Talks were on soil conditioners, the breeding and licensing of new varieties, residue free produc­tion, advances in packing and labelling equipment. Never short of questions; all speakers were grilled on their subject with good debate from the floor on several issues.

It was a pleasure to partici­pate in such a lively and stimu­lating conference and the del­egates returned to the UK happy with many new contacts and a better insight into other sectors. The next conference will be in early February 2009, in Leese, Germany and will be looking into new, greener technologies and opportunities to add value to our products. As the new chairman, I am delighted that I will be supported by Karen Whiting, Paul Day, John Clarke, Dave Thompson, Ashley Wensak and Seb Dew. Norman Collett Ltd have kindly agreed to sup-port the association and the new email address for enquiries is

U40@normancollett.com

Organic Albion Strawberries from Bionest

2003 - Under 40s finalise conference location

The committee for this year's Under 40s fruit grower's conference has agreed upon a destination for the next event.

Around 100 young fruit growers and employees from several related industries will head to Bologna, Italy, at the beginning of 2003, for a series of conference sessions, discussion and visits to local producers and packers.

The biennial conference was last held in Porto Novo, Portugal, in February, this year. It attracted around 90 delegates and a total of 14 sponsors, including Marks & Spencer, KG Fruits, MY Plastics, Chavereys Chartered Accountants, Field Fumigation and Haygrove Tunnels.

Alongside visits to local farms and growers, the conference included speakers and discussion on organics, GM technology and the future of the fruit industry.

The Under 40s conference is a unique event aimed as it is at the industry's younger producers.

2001 - Under 40's enjoy Portuguese break

Under 40's enjoy Portuguese break Despite the fact that flooding and other factors prevented four from leaving the UK, a total of 88 delegates descended on Porto Novo on the west coast of Portugal country for Under 40s Fruit Growers conference, which takes place once every two years.

With the title 2001, a Fruit Odyssey, an intensive two and a half day programme included visits to local fruit farms and packhouses, a varied conference schedule and plenty of opportunity for discussion.

Growers and suppliers of soft and top fruit made up the majority of attendees, who were able to compare their own businesses with those of others, including Portuguese growers, and to reflect upon the most recent developments in each of their industries.

The conference was given a comprehensive round-up of the activities of the National Farmers Union and the GM and ICM industries, respectively by NFU vice-chairman Michael Paske, HRI's Rick Walden and David Austen from Kopperts Biological Controls. Presentations were also given by Nick Marston of KG Fruits, who gave an overview of the challenges and hopes that lie ahead for the produce industry, and Andrew Sharpe from Marks & Spencer, who detailed the leading role fruit will play in the retailer's fight back for market share.

The event attracted the highest level of sponsorship to date, with a total of 14 companies supporting it. Marks & Spencer, KG Fruit and packaging company MY Plastics were all major sponsors.
The conference was chaired by Michael Reeves of Overys Farm in East Sussex. George Beach of Dunnington Heath Farm, Warwickshire, was unanimously elected as the chairman for the next event in 2003.