Plum year for the fruit as growers harvest bumper crop

THE UK plum industry has begun to pull out of a “decades-long decline” with a bumper crop reported this year, a grower has said.

- 

Plum production in the UK hit its peak in 1987 with 28,900 tonnes being produced that year, according to Defra figures.

Due to lower yields and cheaper imports, the industry then declined, hitting its lowest point in 2008 with total production of just 2,500 tonnes.

Since then, growers have adjusted to finding new plum varieties and modern farming systems, and the production this summer is set to be the biggest in three years, according to fruit grower WB Chambers, based in Maidstone, Kent.