Potential newcomers to viticulture could pick up more than a tote bag, pen or bag of sweets on the Hutchinsons stand at the Vineyard & Winery Show.
The leading agronomy company, which now supports farmers and growers across more than one million hectares and employs over 500 staff across the country, was offering a comprehensive Hutchinsons Vineyard Guide to visitors to its impressive stand.
Described by horticultural agronomist Will Robinson as “a beginner’s guide to growing wine”, the guide is primarily aimed at new growers entering the sector but will also prove useful to those with more experience, acting as an ‘aide memoire’.
“It provides a wealth of useful information to help growers get started and will be particularly useful for diversifying farmers who won’t be as knowledgeable about things like pests and diseases when they set out to grow grapes for the first time,” he explained. “It covers topics such as establishment, plant spacing and how to calculate the number of vines per hectare in a concise and simple way.”
The guide is available for free, although an annual update which will provide the most up-to-date information on approved crop protection materials will mean signing up to Hutchinsons’ tailored subscription package costing just £285 a year.
The subscription package includes the Vineyard Guide and any updates, plus one leaf/petiole analysis a year, monthly agronomy bulletins and telephone agronomy support. Subscribers will also be able to book in-person visits during the season for an additional charge.
“The guide would be ideal for anyone who visited this show because they were thinking about getting started in viticulture and was looking for some initial advice – and it’s still available by registering on the Hutchinsons’ website,” Will added.
Will, who supports growers across 250 hectares in East Anglia, said the industry was “in good spirits” after this year’s “phenomenal” harvest. In a reference to the early ripening grapes, he said it had been “a good year for viticulture, but a bad one for Tate & Lyle”.
The ring-binder guide is divided into six easy-to-read sections covering soil preparation, rootstock selection and ongoing nutrition through to pest, disease and weed control, sprayer calibration and tank mix sequences plus conversion tables and the annually updated section listing crop protection materials and giving an outline spray programme.
Innovation agronomist Rob Saunders pointed out that many of the more than 1,000 vineyards registered in the UK were small sites covering as little as two acres. “Growers on these smaller sites may not necessarily be able to justify full, in-person agronomy support,” he said.
“Hutchinsons Vineyard Guide is part of a new service Hutchinsons is offering to provide those smaller-scale growers with access to sustainable, high quality agronomy advice and ongoing support.”
Will added: “We want to give new growers clear and helpful information that will allow them to get started with confidence. People don’t know what they don’t know; the guide will give them a helping hand and reassure them that they are getting things off to a good start.”
