Food security, changing weather patterns and labour availability were key topics at Fruit Focus 2025, with an emphasis on how innovation could help tackle these challenges.

More than 1,500 visitors from the fresh fruit and wine-making sectors gathered for Fruit Focus 2025 on July 9. The annual event once again served as a key meeting point for growers, researchers, and suppliers to explore the latest innovations, insights, and strategies shaping the future of UK horticulture.

Food security has never been more important, particularly in the face of climate change and other challenges, said Martin Emmett, chair of the NFU Horticulture Board. “I want to highlight the opportunity brought to us by the government’s food strategy; we would hope this is our big opportunity to get the level of Government support we know our sector needs,” he said. “But it’s not a simple shoe-in – we have to fight our corner.

“This current heatwave is yet another opportunity to assert the value of what we do, if we start to see temperatures up to 30°C again, people will start to realise what impact that has on our entire food infrastructure,” explained Mr Emmett. “But, how much worse is it going to be in Europe? How much does that highlight the need for food security based on UK food production?”

EU trade remains a critical but underutilised opportunity for growers. “We’ve got a massive opportunity to export fresh berries to Europe,” said Nick Marston, chair of British Berry Growers. “That opportunity is being stopped dead by border friction. Everything requires a phytosanitary certificate. In England, it takes four to five days to get one, that’s longer than the shelf life and order cycle,” he explained. “In the EU and Scotland, you can get a phytosanitary certificate in less than 24 hours - this is purely resource. We just don’t have enough inspectors, or a system that works properly.”

As labour shortages continue to challenge the fresh produce sector, automation becomes increasingly vital. Dogtooth Technologies demonstrated its latest innovation for the first time at Fruit Focus - the Dogtooth Gen 5. Designed and built entirely in the UK, the advanced robotic strawberry picker is engineered to analyse crops and predict yields with precision, helping growers optimise production and reduce waste.

“It ensures each punnet weighs similarly and fills (a tray load of punnets) at the same time, providing consistency and quality,” said the firm’s Daniel Stockhill. “What’s more, one human can oversee 12 robots, massively improving labour efficiency and addressing workforce challenges.”

And the one thing the UK isn’t short of is research. Aurélie Bovi, innovation sector lead at UK Agritech Centre highlighted projects improving strawberry quality and crop protection. One demonstrated how monitoring and guiding bee activity boosts pollination and nutrition in strawberries. Another, using Polybee drones, creates pollen troughs to enhance fruit quality. Finally, a Newcastle University project developed spore detection technology to identify pathogens early in soft fruit and vineyards.