From November, all of the apples we use in our schools, colleges and universities will be both British and organic!
They are grown by father and son John and Mike Thorn who started Rudford Farm from scratch, planting 17 hectares of disease resistant apple varieties such as Santana, Red Topaz and Modi.
They produce around 200 m tons of red organic eating apples.
The local wildlife plays a very important role on the farm and is home to a large quantity of bumble bees and other beneficial insects that thrive on organic farms amongst the plentiful wild fauna that inhabits the orchards. They are vitally important for pollination to ensure a good harvest of healthy apples growing on the trees. It was found that on average there are 79% more bees on an organic farm than on an conventional one.
Soil management is also very important in order to retain water, avoid flooding and maintain a beneficial soil quality for future generations and to ensure that the orchards are continually fed a generous volume of good quality compost.
Pictured above is Mike on the farm!
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