Shortfalls for Cox and Discovery but brighter news for Gala The forecasts for English dessert apples this year present a mixed picture. With the first Discovery already on supermarket shelves this week, the season is expected to be shorter with less fruit to sell. Latest estimates for Discovery, regarded as a prelude to Cox, point to a 5,000 tonne crop or even less, compared to 7,000 tonnes last year. But for the major dessert variety Cox itself, the outlook is also currently disappointing. Here, too, there will be less this year with growers reporting major shortfalls due to poor fruit setting (when the blossom turns into young fruitlets). Some hail damage has also been reported although this is localised. The continued reduction in dessert apple acreage ­ down 7% this year ­ could result in Cox tonnages only reaching 45,000 tonnes of fruit. This figure could still improve if trees have been able to benefit from recent wet weather which will add to fruit size and thus increase the tonnages if not the numbers. There should at least be sufficient quantities in the run up to Christmas. There is brighter news for Gala, now the second most planted variety, with new orchards and good growing conditions pointing to yields being up by around a third, lifting volumes to 16,000 tonnes with both size and quality reported as good. A mix of other apple varieties including Russets, Worcester, Jonagold and even niche market newcomers such as D'Estival are looking good, although in total they will still only account for some 12,500 tonnes. - Yields of Conference pears are set to rise 48% this year. {{FRESH PRODUCE }}

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