Progress on the new location is sufficiently advanced for it to have already started to accept apples to be milled and pressed, when it was expected that the development would first become operational for the 2014 harvest.
“While it will be a number of years before the new orchards yield a crop at the level we expect, we are adding some 350,000 trees to the landscape and we need to have the quality of infrastructure to cope with up to 30,000 tonnes of fruit each season in just a few years from now,” said MD Gordon Johncox. “In its own right, Stourport represents a significant investment. However, it needs to be considered in light of the commitment we are making to our growers. On a conservative estimate, we will spend over £50m in the next 25 years on just the apples grown from the planting scheme.”
The new cider press will handle around 800 tonnes of fruit a day, six days a week throughout the harvest period. There is scope to extend the capacity of the new facility.
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