S&A to open doors again

8:00am Thursday 4th September 2008

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ONE of Herefordshire’s largest soft fruit firms will give the public another chance to see how it works after a successful open day.

S&A Produce took more than 130 people on tours of Brook Farm, Marden, to give them a better idea of how the company operates.

Table top strawberry production in polytunnels, the packhouse and workers’ accommodation were all included in the tour. Strawberries and cream and tasting sessions were also laid on by S&A.

Rebecca Edmonds, the company’s community relations manager, said the site tours were very popular.

“Of particular interest was the prototype picking rig - a piece of machinery which has been developed by our own engineers for use at the strawberry table tops,” she said.

“It seats 12 pickers and effectively introduces mechanisation into the process, which has hitherto been very labour intensive. We are hoping to use this technology next year.

“The feedback from our visitors was very positive and we hope this will encourage even more people to visit us at similar events in the future.”