no public description

The UK orchard fruit industry was worth £293.4M in 2023, but unsated demand for home-grown fruit meant that £99M worth of plum and sweet cherry were imported in 2023 (DefraStats). Optimum nutrition of UK orchard crops is essential to ensure high yields of phytonutritious fruit with good storage potential, but there are no robust grower guidelines. Consequently, commercial stone fruit growers are unable to schedule fertilisers to match demand with supply, and so current fertiliser practices are wasteful and expensive. An estimated 48kg/ha of applied nitrogen (N) is not taken up by the trees, and so losses of this and other applied fertilisers are high but remain unquantified. Our aim here is to reduce inputs of N, phosphorous(P), and potassium(K) to better match demand with supply in commercial stone fruit production. Our novel sensor technologies will provide real-time data of soil NPK levels to help inform growers' decisions. Norton Folgate leads our consortium of commercial stone fruit growers (A.C. Hulme, Domum Agrum, Torry Hill Farm) and technology providers (Delta-T Devices, Driemtech, EDT DirectIon, Fotenix, Soil Moisture Sense) and academic partner NIAB. Our low-input NPK approach is sustainable and will improve on-farm production efficiency and profitability.

The food retail industry is experiencing increasing demand from consumers for UK grown fresh produce and would like to substitute imports with home produce. The demand for home grown plums cannot currently be met due to unreliable and inefficient cropping systems. This collaborative project will develop integrated new technologies that will address the major existing production problems and limitations for fresh plums. The sustainable intensification of this horticultural crop will be achieved through integration of a high-density growing system with new rootstocks, varieties and manipulation of tree architecture for increased yield, coupled with protected cropping regimes and component technologies that will regulate crop load, fruit ripening and give significant season extension. This intensive and profitable growing system will enable UK growers to confidently invest in plum production, delivering substantial economic impact (>£10 m/yr) to the UK horticulture industry.