Extending the season for Kentish cherries

樱桃是典型的英国水果，数百年来一直是肯特郡乡村的一部分。参观肯特乡村欣赏樱花开花是历史上旅游收入的一大来源，然而在20世纪世纪的最后几年，许多传统的标准树由于回报率低、病虫害高发以及开裂和冰雹造成的破坏而被挖走。自2000年以来，在矮化砧木上种植新品种的热潮和在隧道（雨水覆盖物）保护下集中生产的热潮提高了生产力，减少了浪费，并为种植者增加种植面积和品种数量提供了财政激励，以跨越6周的收获窗口。樱花开花节，如受日本影响的花见节越来越受游客欢迎（例如Brogdale 2018-19）。对肯特郡樱桃的需求正在增加，部分原因是人们吃季节性农产品，减少食物里程并帮助实现净零目标，尤其是肯特郡樱桃具有上级风味。好的味道部分是因为水果更新鲜，没有经历3-4周的运输时间，因此到达客户的时间很短。英国现有的供应窗口期为6月中旬至7月下旬，晚季作物在供应减少前短期储存1-2周。该项目建议通过多种方法延长肯特樱桃的销售窗口。这包括通过确保果树最大限度地利用隧道下的可用光线来提高生产力，以确保水果均匀成熟，并在收获前实现水果的最大尺寸和甜度。我们将安装环境监测传感器，为种植者提供每小时的数据，帮助他们应对整个果园的天气事件，并预测收获日期。我们将采用最新的技术来捕捉水果成熟度的变化，以便更明智地决定适合长期储存（3-6周）的水果的最佳收获。这将与最新的动态气调贮藏相结合，在动态气调贮藏中，根据水果对氧气的需求设定条件，使氧气保持在非常低的浓度，而不会损坏水果，同时保持良好的酸和糖平衡，这对保持味道至关重要。我们将通过采取额外的新型疾病控制措施将浪费水平降至最低，估计损失将减少5-10%（150-300吨水果，价值在75 - 100万英镑之间）。

Cherries are the quintessential English fruit and have formed part of the backdrop of the Kentish countryside for hundreds of years. Visiting the Kent countryside to wonder at cherry blossom was historically a big source of tourist revenue, however in the last years of the 20th Century many of the traditional standard trees were grubbed due to poor returns, a high incidence of pest-disease and damage caused by cracking and hail damage. Since 2000 an upsurge in planting new varieties on dwarfing rootstocks and production concentrated under the protection of tunnels (rain-covers) has increased productivity, reduced wastage and provided financial incentive for growers to increase plantings and the number of varieties to span a 6 week harvest window. Cherry blossom festivals, such as the Japanese-influenced Hanami festivals are increasing in popularity with tourists (e.g.Brogdale 2018-19).Demand for Kentish cherries is increasing due in-part to the drive to eat seasonal produce, reducing food-miles and helping to meet net zero targets, and not least the fact that Kentish cherries have superior flavour. The good flavou is partly because fruits are fresher, have not endured a 3-4 week transit times and thus the time taken to reach customers is minimal. The existing window for UK supply spans mid June to late July, with the late-season crop being stored short-term for 1-2 weeks before supply dwindles.This project proposes to extend the marketing window for Kent grown cherries by a combination of approaches. This includes increasing productivity through ensuring fruit trees maximise available light under tunnels to ensure fruits ripen uniformly and fruits achieve maximum size and sweetness before harvest. We will install environmental monitoring sensors to provide growers with hourly data to help them respond to weather events across the orchards and predict harvest dates. We shall adopt the latest technology to capture changes in fruit maturity to allow more informed decisions regarding optimal harvesting of fruit suitable for longer term storage (3-6 weeks). This will be combined with the latest in dynamic controlled atmosphere storage where conditions are set in response to fruit requirements for oxygen allowing oxygen to be kept at very low concentrations without damaging fruit whilst maintaining good acid and sugar balance essential for maintaining taste. We will keep wastage levels to a minimum by adopting additional novel disease control measures, reducing losses by an estimated 5-10% (150-300 tonnes of fruit valued between £0.75-1.0 M to Norton Folgate).