Ups and downs of fruit business revealed
Peter and Melanie Thomson welcomed visitors from Perth and Dundee as well as local residents to their West Haugh Farm in Rattray as part of the national Open Farm Day on Sunday.
Mr Thomson said the day was a success with nearly 30 people accompanying him on the two-hour farm walk, after which they enjoyed a strawberry tea, the proceeds of which will be donated to Marie Curie Cancer Care.
West Haugh Farm is one of two soft fruit farms run by Peter and Melanie under the company name of Thomas Thomson (Blairgowrie) Ltd. Both farms are situated on the east bank of the River Ericht about two kilometres from the centre of Blairgowrie.
In his welcome Mr Thomson said his family has been in the area for nearly 200 years and built a business with 10 mills spinning jute, flax and synthetics in Blairgowrie, Alyth, and Arbroath.
These all closed in 1979. Along with the spinning mills, the family had bought the land around them and grew raspberries which was the crop that Blairgowrie was famous for.
He explained: “From 1979, this became the family business, and we developed the farms, changing from growing only raspberries for the processing industry, to growing fresh fruit for supermarkets.
“We grew a wide variety of fruit, principally strawberries and raspberries, but also red and white currants, gooseberries, blueberries and aronia.’’
He went on to say that he and Melanie built a business growing over 200 acres of soft fruit on their own and rented ground, but in both 2011 and 2012 they suffered huge damage from storm force winds which destroyed over 150 acres of tunnels between the two years.
“We managed to rebuild the tunnels each year, but the quality of the crop was badly hit, and in these years demand for strawberries and raspberries was often less than the industry was producing so we had to suffer dumping some of our best fruit.
“We also had to leave the farm where we were renting ground, so took the decision to concentrate on our own land and only grow crops for which we saw a future demand.
“Scotland historically had the advantage of cool summers which not only let fruit ripen slowly and so reach the best flavour, but also this meant that we had a later season than England. Changes in growing techniques such as poly tunnels and everbearing varieties of strawberries and raspberries now mean that England can grow these crops from March to December, and the unique Scottish advantage has gone.
“However, blueberries and cherries grow on bushes and trees which are not so easy to change in season, so we still produce these crops at a time when others struggle to supply.
“We now grow 20 acres of cherries, picked mainly in August, and 60 acres of blueberries, which produce in September and October.
“We also grow a few aronia berries, famous for being very good for your health, and we are the only suppliers to Tesco.’’