Farming

Norman Stanier, a third-generation apple grower from Dragon Orchard in Putley writes:  In this small corner of Herefordshire, bordering on both Gloucestershire and Worcestershire, conditions in the past have been ideal for apples with cool enough winters to provide dormancy and store up vigour, sunny spring times for flowering and pollination and moist summers with about 600mm of rainfall a year, critically half of it falling in July and August to nourish the fruits which largely consist of water, before drier spells in the Autumn, ideally over harvest. Summer 2025 did have some heatwaves but the water table was high enough to