Also, thanks to new early-maturing varieties emanating from the Long Ashton Research Station (LARS) breeding programme, the harvesting and pressing season can be extended to make better use of equipment.

“Good promotion (by cider makers) has certainly helped to increase cider sales, and consumers are also being attracted by the many good-quality bottled products becoming available,” said Liz Copas, a cider pomologist and orcharding adviser for the National Association of Cider Makers.

She estimated that the orchards planted by cider makers like Bulmers, Westons and Thatchers account for around 50 per cent of the total of just over 6,000ha (compared with 8,670ha for dessert and culinary apples). This total represents an increase of nearly 50 per cent over the past 10 years, according to Defra statistics.

“Quite a few” growers whose 30-year contracts with cider makers have recently expired have retained their orchards and are selling the fruit on the open market because prices have been pretty good due to buoyant demand for cider, Copas explained.

Planting generally is becoming more intensive to increase fruit yield and quality, although row spacing is still dictated by the width of machinery. Tree density (in new orchards) averages 620/ha to 740/ha, with MM106 being the preferred rootstock.

However, Copas has a trial with trees spaced at 4.6m by 1.5m, giving a population of around 1,280/ha. To reduce vigour the trees are on M25 with an M9 interstem.

Encouraged by cider makers, growers have been improving fruit quality by greater care over harvesting rather than increased expenditure on pest and disease control, Copas explained. Poor-quality fruit, particularly that infected with brown rot, is no longer acceptable.

Of the 1,200 or so DabinetJames Grieve/Worcester Pearmain seedlings produced by the LARS programme, 24 have been selected for commercial production.

They comprise a range of types, some of which are suitable for fresh-juice production. They are harvested from mid- to late September, about a month earlier than the earliest existing varieties.

“This year’s fruit-set looks massive,” Copas said. “If we do get a good summer, people will drink more cider.”

He told some 80 members of BIFGA during an orchard walk, following its annual general meeting on 3 June, that the farm, which is run on a high-output, high-cost system, produces an average net profit of only 3p/kg of fruit.

The apples, including Gala, Braeburn, Cox, Cameo, Egremont Russet and Early Windsor are stored and marketed by local co-operatives, AGA and SGT, and graded and packed by packhouses run by their members.

Extra income is provided by a seasonal farm shop, a fishing lake, a 1,500m training track for race horses, honey, apple juice, the rental from five offices and two workshops and agricultural consultancy and computer software businesses.

The 0.4ha lake, which was made 12 years ago by damming a stream, is let to a fishing club. Bees housed in 24 hives produce the honey and pollinate the fruit. They are managed by a local beekeeper who, thanks to “constant vigilance and good hygiene”, has kept on top of the Varroa mite that infests virtually all UK honeybees.

Knight said that he employed no permanent staff. Routine work is done by contractor Barry Collins and harvesting by HOPS-recruited labour that he shares with a neighbouring grower. The farm’s machinery and equipment is his own.

Among the apples is a small 21-year-old orchard planted to supply the farm shop. Its 24 varieties on MM106 include many old ones such as Ashmead’s Kernel.

Rabbits are an expensive problem on the farm, said Knight. They are able to lift the guards round trees trunks and climb into the trees to cause ring barking and tree death. They also chew holes in the bird netting that protects young cherries on Gisela 5 rootstock.