Cheshire apple harvest plummets as drought cuts orchard crop by more than 70%
Apple grower Chris Hewitt
A Cheshire farming family is facing one of its most challenging harvests in recent years after prolonged dry weather significantly reduced apple yields across its 20-acre site.
NFU members Chris and Johnny Hewitt, who run Boundary Farm in Dunham Massey, grow 70 varieties of apples for juice and cider production. The farm sells its products directly to customers as well as supplying local cafés and restaurants across the region.
The third-generation farmers say a lack of rainfall throughout the growing season caused trees to shed larger-than-usual amounts of fruit during the natural "June drop" period, leaving fewer apples to mature through to harvest with crops far lower than expected.
Chris Hewitt said: "This year has been incredibly challenging.
"At this stage last year, we had pressed around 32,000 litres of cider. This year we're well over three-quarters of the way through harvest and haven't even pressed 8,000 litres.
“The crop is significantly down across the orchard."
The impact has been felt across a number of varieties. One block of Katy apples, used for juice production, generated four tonnes of fruit last year but produced just over one tonne this year.
Mr Hewitt added: "It's not so much the size of the apples, it's the amount of fruit on the trees.
"The trees were shedding fruit to protect themselves because of the dry conditions. The amount being lost earlier in the season was phenomenal.
“We usually open up the farm so people can experience apple picking and see the process in producing apple juice and cider, but this is the first year we can’t offer it because there aren’t enough apples.”
Boundary Farm's orchard contains 70 varieties of apples, ranging from traditional heritage trees to modern cider varieties. Some of the varieties are grown specifically for cider making, while others are used for apple juice pressing.
Every stage of production takes place on the farm, from harvesting and pressing through to bottling juice and fermenting cider.
Always looking ahead
The harvest challenges faced at Boundary Farm reflect wider concerns across the farming industry.
The NFU is urging for investment in water resilience measures, including greater access to on-farm water storage and more flexible water management policies, to help farm businesses withstand increasingly unpredictable weather and safeguard future food and drink supplies.
Despite the reduced harvest, the Hewitt family remains committed to producing drinks using fruit grown in their own orchard.
The family hopes that growing a wide range of apple varieties will help build resilience against future weather extremes.
Mr Hewitt added: "Farming is always looking ahead. We'll finish harvest, move into pruning, watch the blossom return next spring and hope for better growing conditions next year."
Cheshire County Adviser Helen Wainwright added: “The Hewitts’ situation is reflected in many other farms across the region. They’re fortunate that the business can survive this year and it’s great that they’re proactively trying to adapt to the changing weather conditions, but it highlights how the weather and other influences like fuel prices and production costs are having a real effect on farm businesses.
“The NFU is working hard to press Government for urgent investment in water infrastructure, including on-farm reservoirs, more flexible abstraction rules and planning reforms, to help farmers capture and store water when it is available and build resilience to increasingly frequent drought.”
