Investigating new orchard systems – The English Apple Man – Rob Saunders, Ivan Velasco
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The English Apple Man met Vikram Singh Thakur (a friend) and Rob Saunders from Hutchinsons of Wisbech to view an experimental tree management system trial named HELIOS.
After a relaxed lunch at The Haywain at Brambling we drove the few miles to Hoaden Court Farm where one of the two HELIOS trials are taking place. There we met Rob's colleague Ivan Velasco who is assisting in the HELIOS trials. The second trial site is in Herefordshire.
Maximising light interception is the key driver for any orchard management system.
Given that profit margins are tight and labour is in short supply, a “robot ready” orchard that yields almost twice as much Class I fruit and can be mechanically harvested would probably be a dream come true for the UK’s top fruit growers. Happily, crop production specialist Hutchinsons’ ground-breaking, ten-year project – named Hutchinsons’ Enhanced Light Interception Orchard System (Helios) – could help growers achieve this vision.
Last year, agronomy firm H L Hutchinson began its Enhanced Light Interception Orchard System (HELIOS), a 10-year project looking at how orchard design can be improved to capture more sunlight and so increase yield, while also factoring in establishment costs and likely technological developments such as robotic picking and mechanical pruning, building on work in New Zealand by Dr Stuart Tustin of the government-owned Plant & Food Research institute and putting it in a UK context.
On the hottest day of the year so far, 25 July 2019, top fruit growers and industry professionals gathered at A C Hulme and Sons’ Hoaden Court in Ash, near Canterbury, to listen to specialist agronomists Rob Saunders and Nigel Kitney discuss the progress of Hutchinsons’ Enhanced Light Interception Orchard System (HELIOS) project.