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Soft fruit crop production standards and guidelinesAccording to British Summer Fruits (BSF) – the national organisation for soft fruit growers - British growing protocols are the strictest in the world. This means that our fruit is delivered straight from the fields to the supermarket shelves, ensuring consumers that they are getting the freshest, healthiest and best-tasting fruits that can be found. BSF is made up of six marketing companies that together deal with 98 per cent of all the British-grown soft and stone fruit supplied to UK supermarkets. Each of the six companies has dedicated growers who are contracted to supply fruit for them exclusively. HHP markets its class 1 fruit through the marketing company Berryworld Ltd. Berryworld Ltd is category manager for Waitrose and Tesco Soft Fruit business. All the associated growers – including HHP – and the pack houses adhere to both the Assured Produce Scheme and British Retail Consortium (BRC) protocols. This means that all UK-grown fruit is produced using good agricultural practice and is packed in facilities that comply with BRC standards. This results in a very safe product grown by producers who are independently audited every year. HHP has been producing organic fruit for several years and is one of the most experienced organic berry growers in the country. In 2005, the first organic fruit will be picked from a 70 acre site at Tuesley Farm. The methods used are licensed and approved by the Soil Association. A number of organisations carry out annual audits of the farming operations at HHP. These cover every aspect of farming including planting, soil erosion, crop nutrition, pollution, energy efficiency, water management, conservation and working practices and conditions. The organisations are: |
