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。前往肯特郡乡村观赏樱花历来是旅游收入的一大来源，然而在20世纪的最后几年，由于回报不佳、虫害高发以及裂开和冰雹破坏造成的损害，许多传统的标准树被挖了出来。自2000年以来，在矮化砧木上种植新品种的热潮和集中在隧道(雨盖)保护下的生产提高了生产率，减少了浪费，并为种植者提供了财政激励，以增加种植面积和品种数量，以跨越6周的收获窗口。樱花节，如受日本影响的花水节，在游客中越来越受欢迎(例如，Brogdale 2018-19年)。对肯特郡樱桃的需求增加，部分原因是人们吃季节性产品的驱动力，减少了食物里程，帮助实现了净零目标，尤其是肯特郡樱桃有更好的味道。味道好的部分原因是水果更新鲜，没有经历过3-4周的运输时间，因此到达顾客手中的时间最短。英国现有的供应窗口为6月中旬至7月下旬，晚季作物在供应减少之前短期储存1-2周。该项目建议通过多种方法延长肯特郡种植的樱桃的营销窗口。这包括通过确保果树最大限度地利用隧道下的可用光来提高生产率，以确保水果在收获前统一成熟，并达到最大尺寸和甜度。我们将安装环境监测传感器，为种植者提供每小时的数据，帮助他们对整个果园的天气事件做出反应，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，以便做出更明智的决定，以决定适合较长时间(3-6周)储存的水果的最佳收获。这将与最新的动态气调贮藏相结合，在动态气调贮藏中，根据水果对氧气的要求设定条件，允许氧气保持在非常低的浓度，而不会损害水果，同时保持良好的酸和糖平衡，这是维持口感所必需的。我们将通过采取额外的新的疾病控制措施，将浪费水平保持在最低水平，估计减少5%-10%的损失(150-300吨水果，价值在GB 0.75-1.0M到Norton Folgate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).