No 'bumper crop' this year, says 19th century Herefordshire cider-making business
Head of business development at Westons Cider Darryl Hinksman says they're at the peak of the harvesting season and it isn't going to be a 'bumper' one this time around
Head of business development at a 145-year-old Herefordshire cider-making company has ruled out this year's crop being a bumper one.
The National Trust reported last month of 'bumper crops' of the orchard fruit as well as pumpkins in its gardens.
At the time, it put the 'bumper' harvest down to a combination of weather factors including last year's wet conditions alongside the warm and dry spring which was followed by plenty of sun this summer.
Darryl Hinksman is the head of business development at Westons Cider, which was set-up in the Herefordshire village of Much Marcle in 1880 by its founder Henry Weston, he said it was 'too soon to say' last month at the start of the harvest how the crop was looking.
With the team now at the peak of the harvesting season though he says it isn't going to be a 'bumper crop'.
"The impact of the lack of rain is the size of the fruit, it's the fact that the apples are slightly smaller and they're dropping slightly quicker, it's not significant but all the talk of a bumper harvest a few weeks ago, that was not the case," he said.
"What we're seeing with the fruit is that it is very high in sugar and that's great news but the fruit is slightly small.
"We think now, based on our average yield, it is about 3 to 4% down on where we'd expect, so tonnage per acre is 3 to 4% below what the average is based over the last few seasons."
The harvest is set to continue for the next few weeks up towards the end of November, with Mr Hinksman estimating by then they'd hoped to have processed 'around about 40,000 tonnes' of the fruit.
He says this year's conditions should only have an impact on the current crop, not the next one.
"It really depends on what happens throughout the growing season so when the buds first set in sort of May time through to the end of August, early September," he said.
"What happens this year will probably have no impact on next year so it'll be purely down to what the season is like across the May, May through to September of next year.
"The other phenomenon we're seeing is because of the ongoing mild weather, fruit is dropping slightly quicker than normal, slightly earlier, and it's not keeping that well once it's on the ground so we're making every effort we can to process the fruit as quickly as possible."
Ahead of Halloween, the National Trust also said despite crops ripening weeks earlier than normal due to the summer weather, pumpkins would still be good for it with 'careful storage'.