AN APPLE farmer feels he has managed to navigate a challenging year for the industry caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Richard Wheeler at Little Peterstow Orchards, near Ross-on-Wye, said he relies on foreign labour, as the industry does as a whole.

But all his workers followed the Government’s quarantine rules, which say seasonal agricultural workers who have an offer of employment can start work immediately, but must self-isolate on the farm for 14 days.

Speaking of the impact coronavirus has had on farming, Mr Wheelers said: “Mercifully, we’ve been free of it; we’ve taken lots and lots of precautions.

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“My staff have been – I do rely on European labour – but they’ve been responsible and taken all the right measures too. They’ve stayed on the farm for two weeks and didn’t go anywhere.

“They were working, but didn’t go off the farm.

“We’ve been fortunate.”

The National Farmers’ Union has continued representing farming at the highest levels of discussion with government, agencies and other industry bodies throughout the pandemic as some UK farmers battled labour shortages, amongst other problems.

It is through this time the Hereford Times has been supporting our county’s farmers with our #BackingHerefordshireFarming campaign.

We have aimed to highlight the highs and lows of farmers, which make up one of the county’s biggest industries.

And this week we’re banging the drum for apple and pear growers like Little Peterstow Orchards.

You can read more about Raymond Blanc launching the 2020 British Apple and Pear Harvest on Page 2. There are also 20 things to see and do relating to apples on Pages 30 and 31.

But back at Little Peterstow Orchards, the 37.6-hectare farm has been owned and run since 1955 by the Wheeler family, who can claim an apple growing heritage that goes back three generations.

Recent plantings have included Gala, Cox and Bramley apples, as well as Conference and Concorde pears.

But this year, which has been challenging for some fruit farmers due to frost and hail damage, the Wheelers have successfully picked their first crop of Sunburst, a sweet, pink-fleshed apple with distinctive tropical flavours.

It is been the first commercial volume of the crop grown in south Herefordshire, packed by Wye Fruit in Ledbury, and should be appearing on shelves at Tesco over the coming days.

Mr Wheeler said he was approached by Scion Fruits, a new company aimed at promoting the next generation of apple and pear trees.

He said: “They found this variety in Kent and identified it as being particularly interesting. When the marketing agent saw it too they were very, very impressed. They brought me a sample a few years ago now, they looked beautiful and tasted absolutely fantastic, quite different to any other apple I’ve ever eaten.

“I was interested and it turns out I’m one of the first people to bite the bullet and go for it.”

While this nearly-new English apple brand is still in its early days and might not be widely available due to the quantities grown this year, by 2024 Scion Fruits, which manages and markets the fruit for the Wye Fruit grower co-operative, expects to have 200,000 trees across Europe by 2024.