Jo Hilditch - Chairman

 

Jo has been running her family farm for around 10 years. Blackcurrants have been a staple crop since the 1930's when her grandfather planted one of the first plantations in Herefordshire and she now supplies Ribena, Pixley Berries and produces her own crème de cassis product. Other crops on her mixed farm include cider apples, potatoes and an arable rotation. Jo began a whole farm environmental stewardship in 1997 and is committed to maintaining the beautiful Herefordshire landscape.

 

Jo's Grower Profile

 

What did you want to be when you were a child?
Having grown up on a blackcurrant farm it never occurred to me to be anything but a farmer. I don’t like to be stuck indoors all day so a job where I can be out and about all day suits me fine!

 

If you could change one thing in modern blackcurrant farming what would it be?

The process of farming blackcurrants has evolved greatly over the years and our husbandry and methods of harvesting are now fairly well refined. If I could wish for one thing however, I would like to see increased interest from the retailers – it would be fantastic to have widespread stocking of blackcurrants both during the season as fresh or off-season as frozen and juices. This is particularly in light of their health benefits which consumers could be reaping!

 

What is your motto in life?

“Don’t let the grass grow under your feet” There’s always people to see, things to do, projects to manage – gotta get on while you can!

 

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Spend time with my beautiful children; Hannah, Willa and Johnny, and my husband, Gio. I play a lot of sport and we also love to travel and see the world so holidays are important to us. Whether its skiing or sunbathing we usually manage to find something to satisfy everyone!

 

What would you request as your final meal?

A British Fillet steak, new potatoes and some seasonal al dente green vegetables with a glass of kir royale made from my very own blackcurrant cassis

 

What is the first thing you do when you go to work in the morning?

It’s usually a rather dull process of checking my e-mails before heading out to the farm and having an update with my farm manager to find out the latest goings on

 

Do you get your 5 a day?

Of course! I try to eat healthily most of the time although this does often prove more difficult at the weekends…! Obviously the purple patch is always the most delicious.

 

What’s the best bit about being a blackcurrant grower?
No two days are ever the same. I love the variation my week brings and nothing beats the feeling of seeing a good crop flourish each summer.

 

 

 

 

 

Chris Alhusen - Board Member

Chris has been running the family farm in the beautiful gently rolling countryside of central Norfolk for 25 years. They have been growing Blackcurrants since 1951. Before mechanical harvesting, their hand picked crop supplied a huge range of jam, jelly and pie manufacturers; now they grow exclusively for Ribena. They also grow a range of arable crops. Chris is very interested and involved in environmental management, and is committed to improving the countryside in which we all live.

 

Chris's Grower Profile

 

What did you want to be when you were a child?
A Geologist!

 

If you could change one thing in modern blackcurrant farming what would it be?

It would be good to have more customers for UK fruit, and of course have disease resistant crops

 

What is your motto in life?

“Keep it simple, and enjoy life”

 

What do you like to do in your spare time when you’re not up to your eyes in blackcurrants?

Family, skiing, travel, tennis, theatre, gardening

 

What is the first thing you do when you go to work in the morning?

Make some coffee, and check the e-mails!

 

Do you get your 5 a day?

Lots of Ribena; bananas, satsumas and apples

 

What’s the best bit about being a blackcurrant grower?
Close partnership with our customers

 

 

 

 

 

Anthony Snell - Board Member

Anthony produces and packs fresh and frozen soft fruit in partnership with his wife Christine in South Herefordshire. Their conventional and organic blackcurrant business involves primarily supplying processing fruit for Ribena, but also producing ‘strigged’ IQF frozen fruit for yoghurt and ice-cream makers, and mixed fruit packs for Marks and Spencer. Anthony is Chairman of the N.F.U. West Midland Horticulture Board, as well as being a member of the National Horticulture Board. He is also a board member of soft fruit cooperative K.G. Growers. In 2008 the business was voted ‘UK Soft Fruit Grower of The year’.

 

Anthony's Grower Profile

 

What did you want to be when you were a child?

A grown up! And a farmer

 

If you could change one thing in modern blackcurrant farming what would it be?

I would love to help to educate people more to recognize this superfruit ,and use blackcurrants in more than just drinks!

 

What is your motto in life?

The old one! ‘Work hard and play hard’

 

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I love going with my family to the Isle Of Jura in the Hebrides, one road,poor mobile phone coverage,sailing,fishing,and walking among the ‘Paps’.

 

What would you request as your final meal?

Roast Free Range chicken with all the trimmings, followed by [for me] recently rediscovered blackcurrant pie and cream!

 

What is the first thing you do when you go to work in the morning?

I’d like to say something like’walking in the fields watching the sun rise’,but like most people today,I’m afraid it is’switching on the computer and checking e-mails.

 

Do you get your 5 a day?

I have to honest,and say not always! But as a fruit grower,I get pretty close in the summer with all the sampling!

 

What’s the best bit about being a blackcurrant grower?
Knowing we are producing an exceptionally healthy fruit crop,which is carefully grown in an environmentally friendly way. Also it’s great to walk through the fields at late flowering,seeing and hearing the bees,and smelling the unique aroma of blackcurrants, and trying to guess if we will get a good crop, or not!

 

 

 

 

 

John Hinchliff - Board Member

John has been running the family farm based at Canterbury in Kent since 1982 and has been growing blackcurrants for processing from about this time. The farm also grows Strawberries, Apples and Pears for the fresh market.

 

John's Grower Profile

 

What did you want to be when you were a child?
A policeman

 

If you could change one thing in modern blackcurrant farming what would it be?

The weather

 

What is your motto in life?

Success is not in never failing, but rising up each time you fall.

 

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I love a good game of hockey. I’m involved in Canterbury Hockey Club and still playing!

 

What is the first thing you do when you go to work in the morning?

Look at e-mails

 

Do you get your 5 a day?

I must confess, most days I am more of a carnivore that anything else – if I were an animal I’d be a lion!

 

What’s the best bit about being a blackcurrant grower?
Having a crop which I can mechanically harvest. One day I will be able to harvest strawberries in the same way I hope!

 

 

 

 

Edward Keene - Board Member

Edward Keene runs the family farm in Gloucestershire, which specialises in growing crops for UK processing Companies. He is a third generation blackcurrant grower, his Grandfather and Father having introduced the crop to the farm in the 1950's to supply blackcurrants to Ribena. He is chairman of Blackcurrants UK, which has been established to look after the interests of growers at a national level. Other enterprises on his farm include apples, sugar beet and cereals.

 

Edward's Grower Profile

 

What did you want to be when you were a child?
A Harrier Jump Jet Pilot

 

If you could change one thing in modern blackcurrant farming what would it be?

The British Summer – having had three wet harvests, we want to see the sun.

 

What is your motto in life?

We don’t have problems, just solutions

 

What do you like to do in your spare time?

What spare time?...Relax with friends, play tennis and watch Gloucester Rugby

 

What would you request as your final meal?

That’s a bit morbid! Roast Beef with pavlova for pudding – coated in blackcurrants of course.

 

What is the first thing you do when you go to work in the morning?

Open the post – we have an early postie.

 

Do you get your 5 a day?

Probably not.

 

What’s the best bit about being a blackcurrant grower?
Getting the harvest in.