Blackcurrant growing in the face of climate change

Pixley Berries began supplying innocent Drinks with 20kg packs of blackcurrant juice in 2004, making it the company’s longest-standing supplier.

Now, over 20 years on, the Herefordshire family farm is using a grant from innocent Drinks’ Farmer Innovation Fund, to help tackle the effects of climate change. 

Once a livestock farm, for the past few generations Pixley has grown predominantly blackcurrants and in 2004 built its own on-site juice factory.

For Pixley, warmer winters, early springs, extreme heat in summer and wet autumns and winters are particular threats,  due to the nature of the crop. 

Challenging weather 

Pixley grows seven varieties of blackcurrant, of which three are currently approved for replanting. When choosing new varieties, managing director Anna Ralph said they look for varieties that will be better able to withstand climate change, as well as timings and flavour profile.

Looking at what growers are doing in Europe and New Zealand also provides important clues. 

“In the UK and around the world, climate is becoming less predictable and when you have a crop that requires a period of winter dormancy and sufficient accumulation of chill hours for a consistent bud break, the trend towards warmer winters is definitely a problem,” explained Anna.  

In 2024, spring effectively started on 21st January with warm, wet weather which interferes with the crop’s natural processes in dormancy, and the alleviation from dormancy. Ground conditions also prevented husbandry tasks for the Pixley team.  

“Within Europe as well as the UK we’d heard reports of early and uneven bud break. The challenge with that is you’re then more susceptible to spring frosts which obviously you don’t want,” Anna shared.

In one of their varieties, a third of the buds failed to break and therefore didn’t fruit this year, and they also suffered some flower loss – run off.

Overall, Anna said it wasn’t too bad a year, but each year is getting more difficult and summer temperatures of high 30s or even 40ºC expose blackcurrants to sunburn. 

“What we’re trying to do here is use bud breaking technology and biostimulants to help mitigate the challenges that repeated warm winters, very hot summers and wet autumns is  having on our plant vigour and the life of our plantations.”  

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Grant funding

These are issues that Pixley has been discussing with innocent Drinks for some time, and when the smoothie and juice company launched its Farmer Innovation Fund, Pixley was very keen to get involved.

The Fund is an annual pot of money (£1 million in 2024) to help innocent’s growers transition to regenerative agriculture practices that improve soil health, water resources, biodiversity, sustainability and continuity in 
the face of climate change. 

Pixley is looking to improve the leaf canopy over the berries to mitigate against very intense sunshine – and to this end started using biostimulant Megafol in 2022.

There was a visible difference in the plantation and innocent Drinks funding allowed them to start an official trial the following year. The trial, which is ongoing, is looking at three varieties – with three plots of around 0.5 acres per variety.

Leaf chlorophyll is recorded using a simple non-disruptive sensory device, across different areas of the plant, and leaf area is indexed – the cropping plant and the regrowth.

Anna said that while it’s too early to assess the results, because they haven’t recorded the regrowth yet, the most important climatic effect was related to dormancy and the fact that plants did not suffer severe stress from lack of water or excessive heat.

But with 2024 being such a wet year, it’s possible there is some root damage, she added. 

The farm’s advisors also recommended trying a different biostimulant which influences harvest date, fruit quality and the health of the plantation.

This had a marked impact in 2024 so this trial will be extended into 2025 with innocent’s help. In 2025 Pixley will also be introducing microbials 
into the mix.

The wider intention is to reduce fertiliser inputs while maintaining plant yield and extending plantation life, which are key parameters in determining the lifecycle of carbon for their blackcurrants.

Pixley hopes to holistically establish that its sequestration of carbon exceeds its carbon footprint.

Natural solutions

When it comes to pests and disease, gall mite and leaf spot are key challenges, and botrytis at flowering. Whilst they try to reduce inputs where possible, approved pesticides remain the only management option for these. 

Sawfly, however, has not been an issue for some time – they have stopped spraying and rely on birds to tackle the issue instead.

They are fortunate in having lots of hedgerows and ancient woodlands at the site, which make excellent habitats – and they also use bird boxes.

Farm manager and resident beekeeper Keith Stuart monitors pests and disease to ensure they can get on top of any issues as soon as possible.

For the last couple of years, Pixley Berries has had no need of insecticides apart from for gall mite. But that may not last, Anna acknowledged.

The farm’s spread of varieties, meanwhile, helps to mitigate frost risk – if frost does occur, often only one or two of the varieties will be affected.

Work to improve plant vigour with biostimulants and ensuring the soil has all the plant-available nutrients required also help to manage the risk.

Otherwise, it’s a case of “go to church and pray”, Anna said.

British juices

Unusually for a blackcurrant grower, Pixley only supplies its products in the form of juice and aroma. Its juice goes to a range of brands including innocent Drinks – around 60 different consumer products for blackcurrant, from craft start-ups to large well-known brands.

Its Pixley Berries Cordials are also available from some retailers and local farm shops and delis. Pixley’s USPs are a combination of quality and origin.

Pixley works with British growers and its factory processes not only blackcurrants but a range of other top fruits and soft fruits, as well as rhubarb. 

All of the farm’s blackcurrant (around 1,000 tonnes) goes into juicing. Most is for their flagship, NFC (not from concentrate), but some concentrate is supplied to various brands too.

Blackcurrant fruit is picked and pressed on the same day, packed aseptically and delivered to cold store for marketing across the whole year. 

Pixley Berries Cordials are made to Pixley recipes, and then sent to a local farm around seven miles away for bottling. Just fruit, sugar and water, nothing else. 

As the harvest is mechanised with the help of three Pattenden harvesters, finding labour has not been too much of a challenge. Pixley Berries has 22 permanent, full-time employees across the farm and factory, and takes on an additional 10 seasonal staff for harvest – many of whom return year after year. 

Machinery is a mix of new and second hand – Richard Tooby near Pixley in Herefordshire, and NP Seymour in Kent are used if they need anything out of the ordinary.

Mechanics on the farm are still on the traditional side, Anna said, but they are always thinking about what will be needed in future, looking to other sectors for inspiration.

SFI limitations

As well as allowing them to trial biostimulants, the innocent Drinks funding has helped Pixley implement a number of nature-friendly initiatives to improve soil structure and biomass.

While some of the farm is under the government’s Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), it can be restrictive for fruit growers, Anna noted, as application windows don’t always fit in with the farm’s plans. 

“It’s not a case of one rule fits everyone, which is frustrating but it is what it is. And you’ve got to make it work,” she added.

Out of Pixley’s 200ha, around 120ha is in blackcurrants – either cropping or a grubbing and replanting programme. The remainder is in hedgerow management (around 11km of mature oak, ash, thorn, cherry, willow and alder), ancient woodland, coppices and headland. 

The farm has 20ha of what they call ‘ecological orchards’ and permanent grassland. Wildflowers are encouraged to establish on headlands to provide habitat for moths and butterflies, and a reedbed alongside the reservoir provides a home for frogs and toads. At night the farm is a hive of activity, with owls, otters, bats and buzzards.

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New approaches

Other measures being taken on the farm include limiting ploughing to once across the cycle of grubbing and replanting including withdrawing from residual herbicides in the years prior to grubbing.

They grub up immediately after harvest and sow a winter cover crop – sowing pollinator and soil enhancing crops in the summer to get the biomass up. 

Additionally, when blackcurrants are pressed, they take out the pomace (skin and seed) and mulch it down to create their own compost, which is spread back on the field using a side delivery spreader with a camera and hydraulic controls.

Pixley is also trying to manage weed control in young plantations slightly differently, using an adapted mechanical weeder which has been quite successful, but is very different to the traditional methods of blackcurrant growing that they’re used to.

“It’s been quite a change but we all know it’s the right thing to do and some of the results have been really interesting, so it gives you the motivation to keep at it,” Anna said.

Next up they are going to purchase a soil microbe meter and carry out regular, extensive soil sampling. The farm’s first soil organic carbon (SOC) soil readings were done on farm back in 2007 and as the technology has moved on significantly since then, it’s difficult to draw many conclusions – so it’s time to update it, Anna said.

“We’re doing some really good things on the farm so it will be interesting to understand what we’re doing to the soil and how we can do better.”

Another forward-looking measure is putting solar panels on some sheds with the aim of having battery storage on-site.

This will mean that should they decide they want to go down the electric route in future – for mowers or gators for example – they will be self-sufficient in electricity.

Farm facts: Pixley Berries

• Managing director: Anna Ralph
• Location: Herefordshire
• Total size in ha: 200ha (120ha in blackcurrants)
• Varieties grown: Pixley Black, Pixley Silk, Pixley Velvet, Pixley Noir, Ben Tirran, Ben Gairn and Ben Hope
• Soil type: Silty clay loam.

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