Fruit: Sweet Treats Harvest

All over the country, the race is on to bring this our food. It's harvest

time! Gathering in the bounty of the land is the most crucial event in

the countryside calendar. Now, as this year's harvest reaches

its climax, it's time to see exactly what is happening with all our

crops. Seeds of life to sustain us, fresh

vegetables pulled from the Earth, fruit that is our sweet treat - all

conjured up from Mother Nature. We will be discovering the remarkable

craft and magic of farming, and finding out just where our food

comes from. No matter how clever farming

becomes, our crops are still at the No matter how clever farming

mercy of the weather. Harvest 2012 was a disaster. After

record summer rainfall, crops failed and prices spiralled. Can 2013

record summer rainfall, crops failed our farmers back on track to deliver

the food we all rely on? As the harvest comes in, we will reveal the

results. This time, we're getting a taste of

British fruit. We will discover which of our sweet

treats has had a vintage year. Welcome to Harvest 2013.

We're in beautiful Herefordshire at the, height of the cherry harvest.

For me, it's all about the growing and the quality. I could never

produce fruit like this at home, and definitely not on such a massive

scale. We've been tracking the progress of

the cherry crop on this farm all year. Now we are here to bring you

all the action from the harvest. It is a delicate business: it

requires high-speed precision picking and high-tech processing and

packing. Gregg, you're going to have your

work cut out today. You're joining Gregg, you're going to have your

the harvest team. 40,000 of these they pick per day. Are you up for

that? Are you fit and strong enough? Can I say, you watch! Actually, UK

cherry growing is growing through a renaissance at the moment. Over half

the cherry we eat are imports but British growers are fighting back,

and these guys are at the forefront of that revolution. We will also be

finding out how to grow super sweet strawberries, and witnessing the

sheer speed of the blackcurrant harvest.

Growing anything is always a gamble harvest.

with the moods of Mother Nature. To food experts Stefan Gates gives us

some of the scientific secrets of success.

2013 has been an extraordinary year for our fruit crops. Starting with

the long cold winter, and then the very late spring.

We've been following the struggles of Herefordshire farmer, Andy Hunt.

How has this year's weather affected the cherry harvest. We will bring

you the results from this farm and all around the country. We will

discover who has won and who has lost in Harvest 2013. All we're

missing now is farmer Andy. I know he's out there somewhere worrying

about his cherry. Let's meet him. Andy Hunt is a farmer with a

singular talent for trees. He started out as a cereal farmer, then

turned to vegetables. 35 years ago, Andy found fruit, and now he is a

pioneer for a new method of growing cherry - whole orchards under cover.

The cherry tree requires a great deal of care and attention.

We consider almost every tree as an individual, so we have 60,000 trees

that we have to care for. I've always been keen on precision.

In my own garden, I like straight lines.

I am even sat at the table rearranging my cutlery, which is all

very sad, but that's me. What I find about fruit farming is

that you have to be very precise. We build tunnels which are effectively

buildings over your trees. So everything has to be planned, and

that really suits my nature. Andy Ravishes months of meticulous love

on his trees, but he can't pick the crop alone. At harvest, he's joined

by 250 pickers and packers. Although there is a real buzz on the farm, it

can be quite stressful. Tempers can be a bit fraught. We are all

determined people here. Some people might say even obsessed about

getting the fruit in. It is very important to our futures at the

getting the fruit in. It is very of the day. The whole business is

about getting the cherry picked, packed, and sold.

This is where it started, is it? It is - 20 years ago. This is the first

cherry we ever planted on the farm. Why cherries? We knew there was a

market out there because all the cherries we eat in the UK is

imported, simply because of our weather. They are difficult to grow.

Nature tends to throw everything at the cherry. Is it a particularly

Nature tends to throw everything at tricky one, the cherry, do you

think? Yes, it's been the most difficult challenge I've faced as a

grower. And all that knowledge and the rest of it didn't save you last

year. Was last year awful? Yes, last year, we had incredibly low light

levels which had an effect on the taste of the cherry, and of course,

cherries are all about taste. I love about you, it's a complete love

affair between you and the cherry, isn't it? It is, it has become

affair between you and the cherry, passion, to be quite honest.

Elsewhere in the orchard, pickers are hard at work harvesting the

cherries. This year, things are busier than ever. The unusual

weather has brought mixed blessings for Andy. He's got a bumper crop of

cherries, but they've ripened all at once. In a normal year, the British

cherry season lasts two months, but this year, he's faced with

harvesting 40 million cherries in just five short weeks. The race is

on. So what is it about the cherry that makes it so aluring? And why is

it so difficult to grow? Not so long ago, cherries were our favourite

summer fruit. Their tantalisingly short harvest only added to their

appeal. The Romans were the first to

cultivate them in orchards across southern England. But growing

cherries commercially is tough. To produce a good crop of fruit, the

trees need a lot of looking after. Our traditional cherry orchards were

not fit for the supermarket age. The 60-foot trees were hazardous to

pick, and, exposed to the elements, there was always the risk a whole

crop could be lost to birds or the weather.

The cost and unpredictability of the home harvest sent supermarkets

looking abroad. By 2000, only one in ten of our

British cherry farmers were still hanging on.

Something had to change. These trees have shrunk because they

look nothing like those massive ones we've just seen on that piece of

film. Why? So we can pick them. It is the simple answer. The main

reason we can achieve a small tree is by growing them on a rootstock.

It is a dwarfing rootstock which controls the height of the tree.

You've got the root from one one cherry tree and the rest from

another and stuck it together. You can see it down there. This is what

they one cherry tree and the rest from another and stuck it together.

they one cherry tree and the rest You can see it down there. This is

what they call the "union". Here is the rootstock, here is the tree. The

bulbous by the in the middle is the join? Yes, it sort of grows like

that, and it grows on. So the roots are governing how far the tree

grows? Absolutely. Is it more productive, would you say? Very much

more productive. What you're doing now is producing a tree that's

relatively small, hasn't got an enormous amount of wood or leaf, and

it can put its effort into producing fruit. Everybody that grows trees

for commercial harvest will grow them with this type of rootstock. It

has revolutionised the UK cherry business. In, modern trees are three

times more productive than the older ones.

Before we find out what it takes to get the cherries off the trees,

Before we find out what it takes to let's look back at what it took to

get here. The story of our cherries actually

starts way back in winter. I enjoy this time of year. It is

cold and crisp. You've got plenty of wildlife. The trees appear to be

standing there idle, but, actually, within the tree, there is a lot

happening. The January snow was great news for Andy because each

cherry tree needs a precise of chilling through the winter months

to produce blossom in spring. And then fruit in summer.

In it doesn't receive the right amount of chilling, it can affect

the quality and the yield, and in stream cases, it may not even fruit

at all. But it is not just cherries. All our

fruit crops need those crucial chill hours during the winter months if

they're going to produce fruit. So what is actually going on inside

the plants? Stefan Gates reveals more about this mysterious

phenomenon. How do our fruit trees know when to

start growing, when to flower, and when to drop their leaves? It is all

due to the fact that plants really do feel the cold.

When the trees lose their leaves in winter, they become dormant and that

is because they are genetically pre-programmed to shut down.

But what is it that causes the tree to wake up again? It is down to a

mysterious process called "vernalisat Take Take this apple

tree. It is only when the tree gets cold for a prolonged period of time

that another set of genes is activated, and this begins the long

process of preparing the plant for spring. It is a little bit like the

plant's internal clock is being reactivated. Prolonged low

temperatures in winter trigger the release of a hormone called

florigen, and this is this that kick-starts the plant into flowering

and eventually to produce fruit. To make an apple, the tree must

endure around 700 hours of temperatures colder than seven

degrees. Without that, it simply won't flower as well when the

weather warms up. Andy's cherries need even more cold

than apples: 1,200 hours, to be precise, and this winter, they

certainly got that. But the cold weather dragged on and

on, and spring came really late, so Andy began to worry that he had

another problem on his hands: that, by summer, all his fruits would

develop at the same time. And, as if that wasn't enough, in July, along

came the longest heatwave of this century. Those prolonged warm

temperatures accelerated the ripening, and now all the cherries

are pretty much ready at the same time. Will they be able to pick all

the cherries while they're still perfectly ripe? Gregg has gone to

meet the pickers that Andy is trusting with his precious crop.

I've been told to come here. Bev, available between 12 and two. I

am a bit early. Bev Woodyatt is in charge of the

seasonal workforce at Lower Hope. She used to be a picker herself.

Traditionally, all our fruit crops were harvested by local people, but,

like so many things in farming, times have changed, and now we

employ thousands of foreign times have changed, and now we

to do the job. I greet the students, I do their

inductions, make sure they've got the right paperwork, do their wages

and look after the campsite. I am like their mum but I don't cook and

clean for them. Why are they all eastern European? We do advertise

for British people but they don't seem to be really interested. We

have had a couple, one lasted an hour, one lasted a day. It is hard

work. At the moment, it's a shame, but they just don't seem to want to

do it. On your office door, one lasted a day. It is hard work. At

the moment, it's a shame, but they lasted a day. It is hard work. At

just don't seem to want to do it. On your office door, it says "meeting

by appointment only". Why is that? Constant, knock, knock, knock on the

door, things like, "My lightbulb has gone. What time is it going to stop

raining?" At the height of harvest, Bev has 250 pickers, packers and

pruners all all need housing in the farm's own campsite. This is one of

the caravans. Sizeable. How many people sleep in here? This has six

in. This is Ivelina. We wanted to see how you all live and stuff. Come

in. Hello. Great big television. Have you got satellite? Yes, we have

English satellite, Bulgarian TV. We can watch everything. This is quite

cosy. I think I wouldn't mind a caravan.

You wouldn't want to share a room with someone having nightmares. Some

workers stay for ten months a year, so there is a strong

workers stay for ten months a year, community around the campsite, they

cook, do their washing together. It's got a real holiday camp feel,

except everyone is here for one main reason: to earn money. They get paid

by the weight of the cherries they pick. Why do you publish everyone's

earnings? They like to know every day how much they've earned. This

picker here, Mateusz Klus, he is earning about £100 a day. In fact,

there are four or five people there earning near on £100 a day? Yes. If

you're willing to work, you can earn good money. What is the tapal day of

your cherry worker? Ve could be 5 o'clock in the morning, it could be

six, it just depends, and they normally work about eight hours a

day. When they finish at night, it is one big mad dash to get in the

showers, usually it is not long before they're in bed because

obviously they've got to start and get up again four or 5 o'clock in

the morning ready for the next day. Much socialising here in the

evening? Yes, they usually get together and have a drink. Mostly,

there is a birthday every day with this amount of people, if not two,

and then we usually do barbecues for them. Is there much interpicking

romance? We have had marriages, we have had babies. Really?Yes. That's

fantastic. It is 20 years since Bev was a

picker herself. It is a lifestyle she grew up with. How was it being a

picker? It is hard work, but it was fun. This is m. No way. Us kids used

to sit and pick hops into an umbrella. Here's when it was all

done by hand. Not a lot has changed, really? Lots of people on the land

then all bringing in the harvest. Yes. But of course there are plenty

of other things that have changed. Right now, everyone is racing to

bring this this incredible crop, but we wouldn't have all these cherries

without one thing: polytunnels. Polytunnels were introduced to

British farming 20 years ago, and they've completely revolutionised

our summer fruit industry by increasing the reliability of the

harvest. Andy led the way in using them to cover whole cherry orchards.

They Lou him to control the growing environment to suit the precise

needs of the trees. The scale of his man-made cherry heaven is

staggering. The tunnels go up in spring when Andy's team cover the

whole orchard with a giant plastic roof.

It is important the trees are protected from late frost. In

summer, the polytunnels keep the ripe cherries safe from storms that

would split them and devastate the harvest. I have to say, I will

confess to you, I am not a big fan of polytunnels, but it's lovely in

here. It's a lovely climate, a of polytunnels, but it's lovely in

beautiful climate. It allows us to amend nature, really. We can make it

warmer in the spring, cooler in the summer. How do you ventilate them,

then? We use these poles.This is not going to be press a button? Not

quite. How many miles?About 50 kilometres which is 30 miles of

tunnels, so it is a lot of tunnels. 30 miles of tunnels. So every time

you decide it's a bit hot today, you've got to do 30 miles? Yes.

Also, how much does that cost? It costs us about £1,000 to push all

the tunnels up and pull them down again. Shallwe? we? , all you do is

- I won't do this 3 miles.I will show you. You simply put the pole

here just on the bottom and pub it up underneath. The ropes tighten and

hold it. You come alongside the rope, tuck it into here. By the time

you've done this for 30 miles, ght, midnight, isn't it? A little bit

further, please. Quite particular. That is you, though. You're so

particular. Very particular. We simply go along. Try the ne one. .

It is a good workout. In the winter, then, are they protecting them? We

actually take them off in the winter. What you've done wrong there

is you need to get the bottom underneath and they won't slide

down. Are you saying my work on the farm is sloppy? You need a bit of

training! How much does this whole rig cost? All these polytunnels and

everything? How much is that in rig cost? All these polytunnels and

terms of inselection? We spent about £2 fingerprint 25 million on

tunnels. It's a huge investment. Absolutely. For you it's the

difference of growing cherries in the UK. Without them, we wouldn't

difference of growing cherries in growing cherries in the UK. That's

the same for lots of fruit as well, particularly one of our favourites,

the strawberry as Gregg has been finding out.

The biggest in the polytunnel revolution is the strawberry. This

The biggest in the polytunnel sweet berry has taken over from the

cherry as our favourite summer fruit. It now dwarfs dwarfs cherry

sales on a massive five to one and makes up over 80 per cent of all the

soft fruit we eat. The original wild strawberries still grow in our

woods. They are delicately small and are shade-loving berries. The larger

modern strawberry was bred in France in the 18th century and is much more

of a sun worshipper. It is also a lot easier to grow than the needy

cherry which explains why the strawberry industry has last eight

the last eight years. It seems there's no stopping this Goliath of

the summer fruit world. Now there are strawberriesing grown all over

the UK. And not always in are strawberriesing grown all over

that I would expect. Here I am in Stonehaven, 500 miles

north of London. It is a beautiful little place. When

I think about food round here, I think about brilliant Scottish sea

food, lobsters or herring - most think about brilliant Scottish sea

certainly not strawberries. Look at these. Mmm. They are seriously good.

They come from just down the road here.

I always think of strawberries basking in the sunny warmth of

southern basking in the sunny warmth of

But, in fact, the colder Scottish lowlands are surprisingly

productive. Ross Mitchell grows over 200 acres

of soft fruit on his Aberdeenshire farm.

He believes there are some real advantages to growing this far

north. But, like Andy, he relies on

polytunnels to keep out the worst of the Scottish weather. He is also

adopting some really high-tech growing techniques that mean his

strawberries lead a remarkably growing techniques that mean his

pampered lifestyle. Not what I expected at all, mate.

Gregg, this is strawberry growing in the modern era. This is a hydroponic

system we're growing in so there is no natural soil involved. We're

taking in coir, which is ground-up coconut shells. The plants sit in

the coir, an efficient growing medium which encourages better root

growth and increases fruit production. They receive their food

through a network of pipes. What exactly is going through these

through a network of pipes. pipes? Water, I should imagine?

Water and all the nutrients plants need. They need nitrogen, calcium,

potassium, phosphorous. We are using a computer to measure the humidity

potassium, phosphorous. We are using and sunlight, and when they need

nutrient, they get it. They normally would have got them from the soil?

Yes, or a granular fertiliser that would be applied once or twice a

year. We're giving fertiliser every time continually. You're not giving

the strawberry anything it wouldn' had fifty 50 years ago? No, it's not

get anything that is not a natural resource. Just a different way?Yes.

You've got it on a drip? Yes. We try to take the variables out of it to

You've got it on a drip? Yes. We try grow a more consistent even crop.

You've got it on a drip? Yes. We try You get more yield and better fruit

from this system? We do, yes.How confident hat you that these are

going to taste better than my uncle Ted's ones in Kent? Very confident.

The proof of the pudding is is in the eating. Oh, mate. That's a very

good strawberry. Seriously sweet. Maybe too much potassium in that

one! Is that right!Maybe. Nitrogen balance is Maybe too much potassium

in that one! Is that right!Maybe. Nitrogen balance is absolutely

in that one! Is that right!Maybe. right. ! It is all very futuristic,

but things weren't always that way. Ross is part of a long tradition of

soft fruit production on the east coast of Scotland. Since the 1890s,

thousands of acres of land has been dedicated to growing soft fruit,

much of which was sent under steam to London markets. The

much of which was sent under steam tough without polytunnels, but

farmers were making the most of one of Scotland's natural advantages:

Daylight. And lots of it. In midsummer, this

area gets well over an hour more day light than Kent.

Which has a huge effect on the short life of the strawberry.

Ross, that's great. I am taking it they are the different stage of

development of a strawberry? So, yes, a school lesson here: we start

off with an open flower which then needs to be pollenated. So the

centre of the flower then develops to become the strawberry. You can

see the different growth stages here. So, between here and here,

probably takes about four weeks. And here and here takes about two weeks.

But this is the crucial stage where all the sweetness, all the flavour

is put into the strawberry, so this is the very point where Scotland's

climate makes a difference to the is the very point where Scotland's

fruit flavour. The extra daylight hours means Ross's strawberries have

longer to build up sugars. Because it is generally cooler up here, they

ripen more slowly, giving even more time for the strawberries to develop

their deliciously sweet flavour. Hey, those berries were absolutely

delicious, but these are equally as delicious, and these are all Andy's

cherries, and what I wanted to show delicious, and these are all Andy's

you is even though we think cherries are all the same, look at all of the

different varieties. Yes, you can clearly see when they are put

together they are all very different, are not they? This one

here is my favourite one, called a Sweetheart isn't that lovely? That

looks very cherry-ish. Do they taste differently? You taste, taste the

Sweetheart ones. Taste another one. I can guarantee you that he will be

different. These Sweethearts I think almost taste like a glass of red

wine. They are very sweet.This one is sweet, maybe deeper. Try one of

these. These having these stones in it have

caused a problem in recent years. I am pleased to hear that sales are on

the increase. Because of the stones, because they are difficult to eat,

people have been neglecting them. We've been getting lazy. If I leave

people have been neglecting them. a bowl of cherries out on the table,

people have been neglecting them. they're gone in half an hour in our

house. I don't think you agree with me they taste like wine? I don't,

really. That's because you drink rubbish wine, obviously! What do

they taste like? They just taste sweet. That I think tastes more like

a blackcurrant. I am getting that, and also with the colour as well.

This is the sweetest of all. Pick the last one up for me there. All I

- That is much sweeter.I don't know what that one is called. That was

the point I am trying to make: they are all very different. That's less

sweet, isn't it? That is the least sweet of all. What I like about

British home-grown cherries is they're likely to be riper because

they don't have to travel so far. If you're picking abroad and you're

air-freighting or put they think on a ship, you're not going to pick

them anywhere near ripe. Let's stay here and scoff some more! In the

spring, all over the UK, orchards are blossoming and they are

attracting insect pollinators. That short flowering season is a treat

for our fruit growers. I always look forward to blossom.

The trees always look at their best this time of year. Andy's not alone.

In spring, fruit farmers all over the UK enjoy one of nature's finest

shows. This is lovely to see the seasons

moving on in the growth stages. Once we see the flower in our fruit

crops, at least we have a chance of getting a good crop. This is both

exciting and a nervous time of year. What happens now and for the next

few weeks will determine what level of crop we have and ultimately what

harvest. We want to be absolutely sure the bees have done their job.

We have such a short window - maybe two weeks - to get the trees

pollinated. If you don't get pollination, you get no fruit.

Praying for good weather. Forever looking at the weather forecast and

hoping things are going to go well for us.

If we can just see the sun shining, the insects flying, and all the

If we can just see the sun shining, blossom pollenated, then, great. It

is so stunning, that it is really easy to get carried away with the

romance of blossom, but of course every single flower is there to

perform a function: they need to be pollenated by insects if there is

going to be any fruit crop at all. But what exactly is pollination?

Stefan Gates has been exploring this fascinating example of co-operation

in nature. The key to a plant's success is sex.

And that is where pollen comes. In. Each microscopic grain carries the

male reproductive cells of a plant. For a plant to reproduce, its pollen

must reach the female plants of another plant. Plants can't travel

so finding a mate can be tricky. That's why lots of plants rely on

animals to act as go-betweens. To attract animal pollinators, plants

entice them with dazzling displays of flowers, rich with nectar and

entice them with dazzling displays scent. Insects, and in other

countries even birds and mammals, feed on the nectar, and, in return,

they provide an invaluable service. Flowers contain both male and female

parts, and if you look at this beautiful lily, these are the

anthers, and they are utterly drenched in pollen. They're the male

part of the flower, and their prominent position is no

coincidence. They stick out so that any visiting creatures are sure to

get a thorough coating of pollen, pollen that they will then carry to

the next plant. Hopefully, it will drop some of that pollen on to this

stigma, which is the female part, and when the pollen drops there, it

travels down all the way down to the bottom to the ovaries.

Once it reaches an ovary, the pollen fertilisers an egg. The flower can

now develop seeds, and, in some plants, the tasty fruit around them.

With that, the plant has successfully reproduced.

Back at the farm, Andy's team of workers are still busy picking his

bumper crop much cherries. They're three-quarters of the way through

the harvest now. But these cherries are only here because of a very

different workforce. Commercial fruit farmers like Andy

rely on an army of insects they buy in to pollenate their crops. Back

rely on an army of insects they buy spring, I went to help Andy on one

of the most important days of his year. Bee day.

It is 29 April at Lower Hope, and the blossom is due to emerge any

day. Andy has got millions of bees, of

several different species, all being delivered to the farm ready for the

massive pollination task. First, the honey bees. For

centuries, we've relied on them to pollenate our fruit crops, and they

are still vital today. With advances in fruit production, they're no

longer enough. Andy has got such a high density of

trees, and the commercial value of his harvest is so great, so he needs

literally millions of bees. He can't only rely on the honey bees and the

local wild bees. He actually has to import more from abroad like these

bumble bees. Why can't you just rely on the wild

bees? There just are not enough of them. The wild bees living all over.

Who is to say they're not going to be in the hedgerow or down the road

somewhere on somebody else's crop. It needs millions of bees to

pollenate this farm. It is vital It needs millions of bees to

they're here and not elsewhere. Andy buys his bumble bees from a

factory in Slovakia that breeds them specifically to pollenate fruit

crops on farms right across Europe. Here, the Queen bees are selected,

mated, and then they lay their eggs. When the colony is big enough, the

bumble bees are boxed up, and shipped to farms like Lower Hope.

This practice is fully licensed by Natural England but still has its

critics. Do you have any conservation worries about importing

bees from abroad? No, no, they're a British sub speakers anyway, native

to this country. So they're not going to battle with our own

species? Not at all.What about disease? Again, the environment they

are produced in is very sterile, so I've personally got no concerns

about pests or disease. We need these bees to have a

successful harvest. Without these guys, we would have no cherries.

With the stakes so high, this year, Andy is also trialling a third

species of bee. He hopes it could have a significant impact on his

cherry harvest and help boost our native bepopulation too.

These are Mason bees, so-called because they build walls of mud in

their nest lick a stone Mason does. These are actually quite solitary

bees, but although you don't see them in big numbers, Andy has a

suspicion that they might be extremely efficient pollinators.

Mason bee expert Chris Whittall is releasing thousands of these native

bees into the orchard today. When it comes pollination, he believes the

nayson berules -- Mason bee rules. Why are these bees better? They have

a short life cycle, only perhaps six weeks, and that that time they've

got to collect the pollen to put in their nest tubes, to reproduce

themselves for next year. It is the natural life cycle that makes them

so ideal. As soon as these bees hatch, they mate. Then the males die

and the females go on an intense food-gathering mission, visiting

lots of flowers in a very short space of time. They have to collect

enough pollen and nectar to feed their developing young before they

die themselves. That is why Chris thinks they are

the most effective pollinators. But what will be the proof? How will we

know? We will see a lot more cherries, much better quality, and

they will taste beautiful. Just two days after we put the bees

out, the orchard came alive. Andy's bees were hard at work

pollenating the blossom that would pollenating the blossom that would

eventually turn into cherries. What is particularly lovely for me

is seeing the difference between just blossom on trees, all these

festoons of fruit and leaves. It looks so, so different? Yes, it

does, and it is a fantastic crop, as you can see. It is an enormous crop

of cherries. The bees all did their job but we were particularly

interested in the Mason bees. How did they perform? They did a

fantastic job. We are certainly going to extend the trial. So next

year, they continue their work? Very much so. We will be putting a lot

more bees in and over a wider area. It is very well having this bumper

crop but then you do need an army of people to harvest them. We do.

Handley, Gregg, even as we is learning how to do that with Bev.

All these little bits at the top, this is all next year's fruit, so

literally if somebody rips that off, that's next year's crop gone. How do

we pull without pulling the - You get the cherry, hold it by the

stalk, and you pluck them off like that. You must never touch the fruit

because the fruit will bruise with your fingers. Listen, I am going to

eat a few of these as I go round. You're not going to eat them. You

mean? If you're seen eating on the field, you will be sent off the

field and you will not pick again. I am a thirsty man in a brewery here.

All right! Rules are rules! Do you want come out? Yes. Make sure you

place them into your punnet. Don't drop them. Don't pick the ones off

the floor because that's dirty now. I think you're getting up to speed.

We need to put you in a team now. I tell you what, this is a hive of

activity. Hi. ,George. Nice to meet you. I am your new star picker.

Where do I start? This is your first tree, second tree. Please can you

stop your trolley here. My trolley is going to be going up and down

here so fast. You don't need to move your trolley. You stop where your

trees and that is it. This is your first. I've - oh. Please, you need

to start from the top of the branch. first. I've - oh. Please, you need

Yes, of course, I knew that! What do you do when the cherries are leaning

over the other side? You can just jump from the other side. It will be

easier for you to come here jump from the other side. It will be

here to pick them just like that. Just like that. These seem harder

than where I was before. What about this one? That is good?No, it's

not. Have a look on the side. You see? It has small marks on it. No,

no. No! I am nowhere near as fast as

Uruguays, and it seems that everybody really has their part in a

team. In your experience, what makes a very good team? The guys need to

be motivated to earn money and to helping each other. We are finish it

as fast as we can. After the pickers, there should not be any

fruit on the tree. It is hard work, and there is no way that you could

do this by machine. Philippa, who is always looking for the easy way out,

she's found a fruit that you can pick with a machine. Trust her.

Rob Saunders is the man in charge of buying 90 per cent of the UK's

blackcurrants. He's the chief taster for Ribena.

Only when Rob is happy the currants are ripe can the machines roll into

action on farmer Anthony Snell's field.

What is the verdict? They're black, there's the rig balance ofmuch

sweetness and acidity. They're ready.

The race is on for grower Anthony Snell and his team to harvest these

blackcurrants and at the time them to the press within -- and get them

to the press within 24 hours, otherwise they start to ferment.

Vibrating fingers at the front of the machine shake the blackcurrants

off without damaging the bushes. The fruit is caught by a conveyer that

takes it to the back of the harvester where it is sorted and

ready to be pressed into juice. How can you harvest fruit with a

machine because ordinarily it is so delicate that you need pickers? It

is a much more robust berry than strawberries and it is going for

juice, so it is ideal to be mechanically harvested. How much

does this machine cost? It is 100,000, but it's replacing 100

people. British growers grow o hundred thousand tonnes of

blackcurrants every year. Growing them in this climate isn't so easy.

blackcurrants every year. Growing Something isn't quite right in the

world of blackcurrants. At the pressing plant, harvest 2013 is more

frantic than ever. What normally takes six weeks is

being compressed into just five weeks.

The big freeze last winter meant the blackcurrants ripened all at the

same time, just like Andy's cherries. Now, the juice pressers

are having to work overtime. But long-term, the business faces a

more serious problem. Not boom but bust.

2013 has bucked the trend for warmer winters. In previous mild winters,

bushes didn't get the chill hours needed to make enough fruit, so

recent harvests were poor. Ribena have been working with fruit

scientist Dr Rex Brennan who might just have bred the answer on a

nearby trial plot: a new variety with a snappy name.

?CAPNEXT this seis 95212. It looks like every other blackcurrant bush

I've seen today but I am sure for you it's not. Of this it's not, but

it is a variety we hope will be released commercially and one of the

attributes it has is that it needs significantly less winter chilling

than some of the previous varieties. The big thing of course is the taste

of it. That consistency is important to us because people recognise the

flavour of the drink, and it can't change over time. For 95212 to

become part of Ribena's future harvest it, has to make it through

an expert taste panel. So I've help Rob harvest a sample ready for

testing by the professionals. Time to see if it makes the grade.

Try not to snort it! Really, the cranberry notes are pronounced. A

hint of boiled sweets. We're looking for that leafy almost catty - it is

called a ribese - When have you tasted a cat! The thing is no-one

has mentioned blackcurrants. I don't know what to make of that! Each

criterion is marked from one to five and averaged into a single score.

That is a magnifice 4.4. Final result. That is fantastic. What does

this mean for the future of 95212? It has held up really well. We know

it's well adapted to warm winters, and it tastes great. I think we're

very likely to release it as a and it tastes great. I think we're

variety. Does that mean growers like Anthony will be growing it

commercially in the future? This will be part of the future of

blackcurrants in the UK. I drink to that. Cheers. Best of health.

Cheers. It is actually really nice and quiet

and peaceful, just the rustle of leaves. Everybody is busy.I've

never known it been quiet with Gregg around. How are you doing?

Concentrating. Those guys have picked way more than you have. I've

just emptied two trays. Concentrating. That is the key to

keeping him quiet. I will remember that! Andy Andy, what is the most

difficult part of this whole process for you because obviously you're not

doing the picking, are you? No, just deciding when they're ripe. Who

decides? Every variety has its ideal colour. This variety, Sweetheart, is

best when it is this sort of colour, like a dark red. Like that. You see,

it's got lovely even dark red. Yes. Would you like to try on? You know

the answer to that. It's lovelying able to eat the fruit down here!

That tastes beautiful to me. That's exactly how it should be. It's

perfect. Do you get the supermarkets coming in and wanting to taste them

before you pick? We do get them visiting, but we tell them when they

are ready at the end of the day. There are only a couple of people on

the farm that can make that decision because it's a vital decision. So

presumably, if you got that wrong, and a whole row of cherries was

picked before it was ripe, it would be a bit of a disaster. Yes. You

see, there is a variation in colour within this tree, and it

see, there is a variation in colour like that, but this fruit, a little

bit red, if you would like to try that, you will notice the

difference. So - no flavour.No, nowhere near. That is

difference. So - no flavour.No, The difference is really, really

clear. So the art is to decide when the overall tree is fit to pick

because you're always going to get a few like this. There is a picking

window of maybe three or four days. So what is going on? What is

ripening and why is it so important to fruit? Plants create fruits for

one very simple reason: to spread their seed as far and as wide as

possible. The tasty fruit tempts animals to eat it.

The seeds inside the fruit pass through the animal's gut and are

deposited far away from the parent plant, but creating that fruit

requires a huge investment of energy for a plant. That apple contained

over a tablespoon of sugar which the plant had had to painstakingly

create using photosynthesis. plant had had to painstakingly

plants won't give up their fruits until the seeds inside them are

ready. That is why unripe fruit is so unappealing.

These unripe apples are dry and sour they are packed with carbohydrates

but they haven't been broken down into the sweet sugars that we can

taste. Until they ripen, most fruits are green so they're well

camouflaged within the plant. Once the seeds are mature, the plant

produces a syrupy smelling gas called ethylene causing the sweet to

become sweeter, darker, and much more appetising. For the plant, this

is the potential for a future generation, but for us, it is a food

packed full of flavour and essential vitamins.

Keep picking, boys! Quick, quick, quick, more cherries. I tell you

what, these guys work fast. As soon as I filled up these trays, they are

loaded up and they are off for processing. Now, I've been working

fruit and veg for over 20 years, and I am telling you, what they're doing

is picking these ripe and trying to I am telling you, what they're doing

get them to the supermarkets within two days. That is very impressive.

Fruit of this quality in that quantity, that is great.

Once the fruit leaves the orchards, it comes here to the pack house.

Every day, the team pack 25,000 punnets.

The cherries are chilled to slow the age willing process, and reduce the

risk of decay. Then machines wash and grade the

cherries, sorting them into their different sizes before they are put

into punnets. But every punnet must weigh the

same. The accuracy is really quite

impressive. Green light, go ahead. Now I've got to turn all the

cherries face down so the heat-sealed lids don't get punctured

by the stalks. When I buy these, I don't think about the person who has

lovingly packed them. Once they are chilled and packed,

the cherries have a shelf life of about five days.

Here they are. Clearly, the best ones were mine! Ready mine! Ready

for them to go to the supermarket for us to buy them. Every

fruit-laden truck leaving the farm advances Andy's dream: to help

revive UK cherry-growing, but how was this year for him? The weather

was kind through the winter until it went on so long it felt like spring

would never come. But Andy got the polytunnels up in

time to protect his army of pollenating bees, and they certainly

did their job. July's heatwave could have threatened the harvest, but by

venting his tunnels, Andy was able to make the most of the sun and use

it to ripen his bumper crop to make the most of the sun and use

deliciously sweet cherries. Now harvest 2013 is coming to an end.

deliciously sweet cherries. Now Andy and his team have picked 300

deliciously sweet cherries. Now tonnes of cherries, and there are

only a few small pockets of the orchard left to harvest.

It is really hard work in the pack house, and actually quite cold as

well. But it is very important that we keep the fruit as cold as

possible to extend its life. How about the picker here? He He wasn't

bad. He will get there slowly. You are tough! I know I am tough.The

toughest thing is noting allowed to eat them as you're picking. That is

torture. This is serious quality fruit. What sort of harvest have you

had? It's been a good harvest this year as opposed to last year with

all the rain. We had much better weather all through the season, we

had good yields, good quality, and we've managed to make a bit of

profit. What we need the money for is to reinvest. We like to keep

looking forward, looking for better techniques, better varieties, and

more cherries. I think that's lovely. That actually what you want

to be is the best you can possibly be. That's the philosophy of the

guys that work here, myself, and all the other guys. We try to do the

best job we can and be the best out there. The sun is going down now,

the end of the day, and the growing year for you? It is.Do you feel

satisfied? Satisfied, definitely. It is always a little bit sad, really,

to finish the season, but to be honest, the years go round, rather

rapidly, as we get older, and we will be starting to work towards

next season. I tell you what, well done, because I'll happily sit here

and gorge myself senseless. You're welcome to. It's not just the local

crop we're interested in, it is the national fruit crop as well. How did

that do? From early reports, we can make some predictions. Let's start

with our cherries. Like Andy, most cherry farmers are happy. The total

British cherry crop is three times bigger than 2012.

British cherry crop is three times Aroundthree and a half thousand

tonnes. But our cherries are still dwarfed by Britain's ever-expanding

strawberry crop. In harvest 2013, we grew 20 times

for strawberries than cherries. Those berries were bigger than

usual, and we are the too. -- sweeter too. Blackcurrants: after

a couple of lean years, after a good winter chill means our blackcurrant

farmers are smiling. It is still early days for the apple

harvest, but the picture looks rosy compared to 2012 when terrible

weather slashed our crop by a their. Harvest 2013 is almost back to

normal, thanks to the sunny summer. The apples may be a little smaller

than usual, but they're likely to be sweeter.

Our great farme are - our grape farmers are likely to celebrate. In

2012, they struggled to make 1 million bottles of wine. This year,

we estimate grapes are up, and up, and up. There is likely to be three

and a half million bottles of British wine if the good weather

holds. Cheers. Overall, then, the fruit harvest has

been good? In yes, I gather that the grapes exceptionally well. It's

going to be a vintage year so our friends down the road tell us. Can

we have a small celebration, then? Great. Particularly because apples

did so badly last year as well and the year before, so it is really

nice finally to have a good apple harvest. It must be nice for you

guys to get to the end of a day? Yes. Of course, although we are back

at it again tomorrow. Are you, Bev? Is that the case, you get to the end

of the harvest and the work doesn't stop? They go home and we start

cleaning for next year. Do you pull together or are you pushing them

along? A bit of both!Says Gregg with a taste of experience!

Well, what a year it has been. Better harvest than last year on the

whole, I think, but then of course we've only touched on just a few

crops really, and if you want to find out more, of course you can,

and you can get hold of this harvest leaflet. Go on to our website: It's

got more information, but also some rather lovely Gregg recipes in it.

It will also give you details of free harvest events near you. Get

involved. It's part of your heritage, and it is fantastic food.

It's been a really good harvest. It's been brilliant - absolutely

brilliant. Thank you very much. No problem. Cheers. Not going anywhere,

are you? No.We've got this, we've got this!