The cancellation of music festivals this summer due to the coronavirus pandemic has led to a huge surplus of cider which is devastating apple growers.
Farmers in the West Country say that millions of cider apples that are now ready to be picked and pressed to make the traditional drink will be left to rot instead.
The problem has been compounded by the vast amounts of left-over barrels and bottles of cider produced 12 months ago which have gone unsold and are collecting dust on shelves.
Julian Temperley (pictured) who owns Somerset Cider Brandy in Kingsbury Episcopi near Martock, Somerset, reckons his staff will produce about 50,000 gallons of cider this year, half of what they usually make
The closure of festivals such as Glastonbury as well as pubs and restaurants led to demand for traditional apple cider to dry up this year.
One leading West Country cider producer fears some farmers will be hit so hard that may end up axing their apple orchards to grow other crops instead.
Julian Temperley owns Somerset Cider Brandy in Kingsbury Episcopi, near Martock, Somerset, which produces about 1,500 tonnes of apples across 170 acres of orchards.
Mr Temperley, who supplies the Cider Bus at Glastonbury, reckons his staff will produce about 50,000 gallons of cider this year, half of what they usually make.
He said he is lucky as he can use the rest of the apples to make cider brandy which can last for years in barrels, but other farmers will have to bin their stock.
He added: ‘Normally at this time of the year the smell of apples hits you when you enter the village, but it will be a smell of rotten fruit this year.
‘This is one of the worst crises that we have ever had.
Matilda Temperley (pictured) who is the manager at Somerset Cider Brandy fears the company will end up with huge stocks
‘As a result of the music festivals and events being cancelled and restaurants and pubs closing the market has dropped like a stone and cider makers have been left with considerable stocks of cider that should have been sold by now.
‘I feel very sad for farmers who have orchards full of apples that they can’t sell on. We have been getting a lot of farmers phoning up asking if we want to buy their apples this year.
‘If you have apples in orchards that can’t be sold then you will probably find the grower reaching for the chainsaw as they may as well grow barley instead and the world will be a poorer place for it.
Matilda Temperley (pictured) inspects the stocks. Many apple growers may resort to selling their unwanted fruit to bio-digesters to be turned into bio-gas but there is little profit in that
‘We will survive this year but will end up with huge stocks.
‘We are able to turn quite a lot of our apples into Somerset Cider Brandy that can sit in barrels for years. But others won’t have that option and will just have to put up with it and let their apples rot.’
Mr Temperley, 65, said many apple growers will resort to selling their unwanted fruit to bio-digesters to be turned into bio-gas but there is little profit in that.
But on the plus side overwintering birds like thrushes and starlings will have a ‘field day’ this autumn by feasting on the rotten apples left on the ground.
The reduced demand for cider and luxury pressed juices seems to be widespread.
Gabriel David who is the founder of Devon-based Luscombe Drinks one of the UK’s only organic cider producers said it should have been an absolute vintage year.
He told The Observer: ‘After such amazing sunny weather in lockdown, the apple blossom was perfect. The bees were everywhere: it was a stunning spring.
The owner at Somerset Cider Brandy hopes to turn quite a lot of the surplus cider apples into their signature brandy that can sit in barrels for years
‘Then it rained at just the right time so our cider apples are bigger, with a higher sugar content, resulting in a greater complexity of flavours.’
‘We’d normally supply small chains of cinemas, theatres, pubs, hotels and restaurants. But, with coronavirus, so many venues just aren’t open.’
David, who relied on the hospitality trade for 80% of sales until early 2020, said the backlog of unsold cider has added to the problem.
‘That’s where a lot of the wastage is: we’re still selling last year’s cider, and the cider we’re producing now won’t sell until February,so we need to produce less.’
David normally processes 400 tonnes of apples every year on his five-acre orchard.
A quarter of that goes into bottled cider and the rest is pressed into organic apple juice. This figure will be halved this autumn.
According to the National Association of Cider Makers, between 170,000 and 200,000 tonnes of cider apples are grown each year in the UK, and 1.4 billion pints of cider are produced.
The company’s CEO Fenella Tyler said: ‘Over the lockdown period, when the hospitality sector was shut, there were around a quarter billion fewer pints of cider sold across the UK.
‘It is difficult to predict how many fewer pints will be sold in late summer and autumn when pubs, bars and restaurants have reduced opening times and are only able to accommodate smaller numbers of customers.