Braw Berry Box shop window for firm’s soft fruit

Forbes of Kingennie branch out – with the help of biodigester and polytunnels

If there’s one thing the Forbes family aren’t adverse to, it’s adding more strings – and value – to the bows of their already prosperous and burgeoning farm enterprise.

The latest diversification at Forbes of Kingennie – the Braw Berry Box – has been launched by Libby Forbes, daughter of Mike and granddaughter of Graham and Cindy.

The idea provides a shop window for the family’s soft fruit which is grown on their farming enterprise at Omachie and East Denside, five miles north east of Dundee.

While the Forbes’ mainstream crops include potatoes, broad beans and cereals, strawberries – for the most part under polytunnels – have steadily increased in their profile.

Now more than 25 acres of the farming units, which extend to 1,100 acres around the Wellbank and Kingennie countryside, is concentrated upon soft fruit.

A virtuous circle linking the growth of maize and a 900-sow pig unit to a relatively newly-installed 250kW biodigester has had a positive impact on strawberry production.

The biodigester, fed daily with around 18 tonnes of mixed maize silage, pig slurry and pig dung, produces methane gas to power a 249kW marine engine linked to a generator.

This, in turn, provides power for the pig unit and returns any surplus electricity to the National Grid.

Some of the heat produced by the engine is piped back into the digester to boost operating temperature and aid digestion, whilst the remainder is redirected to raise the temperature in the soft fruit polytunnels.

At the beginning of each season, this heat is concentrated into around 11 tunnels – covering almost four acres – to promote the early ripening of berries, bringing forward the start of the growing period.

As the main season rolls out, this heat is more widely distributed to provide 20 further tunnels with a moderate temperature boost, again benefiting production.

It means the growing season now runs from mid-May to the end of November.

“We produce around 400 tonnes of strawberries every year,” said Libby.

“Whilst only a very small proportion of this will be sold through the Braw Berry Box, it gives customers an opportunity to get the very best of local produce, literally fresh from the field.”

Although the varieties packed by the punnet change from day to day, the Forbes’ strawberry offerings include sweet and juicy Murano; Sonata berries; Malling Centenary; and Prize; while raspberry varieties include Glen Dee and Glen Fyne.

As the season progresses, the Braw Berry Box will also stock and sell home-grown Bluecrop, Aurora and Liberty blueberries, as well as haskap berries, which are renowned for their taste and health benefits.

Libby Forbes has launched the Braw Berry Box from Forbes of Kingennie, selling soft fruit grown at home at Omachie and East Denside farms.