Like many farmers, Jeremy Linsell hails from a farming family and spent most of his school holidays helping out on his grandfather’s Suffolk arable farm. He went on to study at a traditional agricultural college then travelled abroad before returning to work in training and educational development at Otley College. Eventually his farming roots drew him back into the practical side of the industry, and he went to work on a fruit farm, before buying his own apple orchard business near Eye in 2001. But the idea of carrying on with traditional varieties of apples on the farm didn’t appeal: “What motivated me, and continues to motivate me, is the idea of growing something with a point of difference,” says Jeremy when Adviser spoke to him recently.
This sounds like an obvious plan, so what was stopping other producers doing the same thing? “The simple answer is keeping up with technical advancements in this sector. Realising that there was an opportunity for specialist apple production for supermarkets I set up a structured programme of replanting, using some of the new varieties to produce the best commercial examples of those apples in the UK. These varieties needed to be carefully selected - often from overseas breeding programmes – an orchard is a long-term investment; it can be three years between ordering a tree and actually planting it on the farm. Then another two years before picking your first apples and year five after planting before you hit full production. Most financial models, will show an orchard which has been well managed with the right varieties, hitting breakeven at year 7; that’s 10 years after placing the tree order. Specialisation not generalisation? “I’d say that in farming, just like in many other fields, focusing on doing one thing really well is the key to success. Find that point of difference and then work on the detail to create the best product in your market. For me, this has meant focusing on a small variety of apples, and growing them for the UK market. I now also work part time as a technical consultant with, Worldwide Fruit Ltd, to assist UK growers in a technical capacity with varieties grown in the UK under licence. This has involved travelling around the world to meet with other grower organisations and scientists to work on the programmes and select the best examples to commercialise. Two thirds of the apples we eat are imported into the UK and some varieties like Pink Lady are 100% imported, so even though we think of an apple as being a quintessentially English fruit, we still have some way to go before we can call the market our own.”
Can you talk a bit about the early days of your business? “Like every entrepreneur setting up a new business, my resources were stretched as I set up the new enterprise. The first ten years were immensely challenging, and I was helped in having knowledgeable independent financial advisers who were able to give me the guidance and support I needed to get the business of the ground - and continue to advise me nearly twenty years later.” How has the industry developed since you started? “When I bought the farm the UK apple industry was going through an unprecedented period of change, resulting in a contraction in the number of apple growers. At that time (the late 1990s and early 2000s) consumer tastes were changing and customer supply requirements were getting higher. Larger growing businesses, became increasingly vertically integrated, being able to provide a complete service for customers, alongside their production operations. But my business wasn’t (and isn’t) on that scale. I knew that to thrive in this new environment my business needed to find that point of difference, so I decided to take out the older varieties such as Cox and Bramley and introduce some new ones of apples.”
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