At Arbuckle’s Farm Shop outside Invergowrie, the sun is shining, the strawberry fridge is stocked and the season has just begun.
There is little sign that the busy farm team just off the A90 is facing its toughest ever year.
Farmer Peter Arbuckle and manager Michal Lupina have not been short of ideas on ways to diversify Star Inn Farm’s offering.
Peter started farming 50 years ago, and has always been in the soft fruits business. It’s never been as difficult as it is today.
Back in the 70s, strawberries came in a can swimming in a syrupy juice. As more households got freezers throughout the 80s, the cans went out of fashion and frozen fruit became popular.
Peter also grew berries for home jam makers, but this also slowly went out of fashion. Now he grows strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and honeyberries mainly to be sold in supermarkets.
In 1999, the farm got its first polytunnels covering two acres. Without them, the farmer would be struggling.
“We’d be just about out of fruit, had it not been for the advent of the polytunnels,” he says.
“We now have 40 acres, I never thought we’d reach that, but it just developed. At that stage, it was a profitable enterprise and easily managed.
“As the years have gone on, the techniques have become more efficient and profitability has declined to the stage where it’s struggling to be to be profitable at all.
“This year looks to be the toughest of all.”
How the shop stays afloat
Rising costs of energy, labour and fuel have hit farmers hard. On top of that, plants, compost, transport and packaging is also more expensive.
To keep labour costs down, Star Inn Farm has spread its cropping programme to make crops ready at different times over summer. It means just 50 staff are needed to pick berries over the season.
While Peter and his team source pickers themselves, he knows many farmers who have struggled to get workers at the right time.
He says: “We’re going to start to lose growers in the industry, there’s no question. There are some cutting back and some leaving already.
“It’s difficult to see how it’s going to work in the next few years, but something’s got to happen to make it profitable again.
“I’m not painting a very rosy picture for you, but it’s the truth of the situation and it’s the way it seems to have gone.”
This is why the farm shop is so important, as the different products on offer brings extra income and are available outside of the berry season.
Open every day throughout the season, the shop offers jams, honeys, oils, ice cream and coffee, as well as fresh, frozen and freeze-dried berries.
Arbuckle’s Farm Shop new snack
In an effort to cast its net even wider, Arbuckle’s Farm Shop also has an online store with all its pantry products on offer.
Amazon and eBay even sells its popular freeze-dried berries, an idea brought about by farm manager Michal.
To freeze-dry the berries, they go through a machine that takes around 85% of the moisture out leaving all the nutrients and giving the berries a longer shelf life.
New this season is chocolate coated strawberries and honeyberries, creating a more indulgent snack.
Peter says: “It’s taken the fancy of a lot of people, it’s very tasty. I’m not so sure about the nutritious part, but the fruit is still in there.
“It’s also a way of getting more fruit sales, and they’re superb, if I do say so myself. The white chocolate is just to die for.”
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