Niab Soft Fruit Day - 3 December 2025

Niab staff member explaining work in a growth room

This year’s annual Soft Fruit Day was a hybrid event. Sessions included the latest developments in pest management in soft fruit crops, new Growing Kent & Medway funded research to improve post-harvest quality, and research to support the improvement of resource use efficiency in the soft fruit sector. The final session was dedicated to presenting and discussing progress in the soft fruit genetic improvement network (SF GIN).

You can now watch the sessions from the day below

Session 1: New developments in pest management and soft fruit storage 

09:30     Growing Kent & Medway support for the horticulture, food and drink sector (Simon Barnes, Niab)

09:45    Tackling the ever increasing threat of the large raspberry aphid (Francis Wamonje, Niab)

10:00     Deploying hoverflies for aphid control in soft fruit (Sarah Arnold, Niab)

10:15     Modern technology for thrips identification (Francis Wamonje, Niab)

10:30     A new delivery system for predatory mite release in strawberry (Damian Flynn, Saga Robotics)                                                                

10:45     Optimising the timing of predatory mite release in strawberry (Adam Walker, Niab)

11:15     Parasitoids for SWD control (Michelle Fountain, Niab)

11:30     Brown marmorated stink bug surveillance in 2024 and 2025 (Francis Wamonje, Niab)

11:45     The impact of landscape diversity on pest control and pollination (Michelle Fountain, Niab)

12:00     Improving the post-harvest storage of soft fruit (Richard Colgan, University of Greenwich)

Session 2: Improving resource use efficiency in soft fruit

13:00     Managing activity of pollinators in protected cropping systems (Sarah Arnold, Niab)

13:15     Coir recycling – an opportunity to reduce our carbon footprint (Mat Papp-Rupar, Niab)

13:30     Maximising strawberry yield potential using vertical farming (Katia Zacharaki, Niab)                                                                                            

13:45     Matching nitrogen supply to demand in strawberry (Mark Else, Niab)

Session 3: Soft fruit genetics to support commercial breeding programmes

14:15     Introducing The Soft Fruit Genetic Improvement Network – GIN (Xiangming Xu, Niab)

14:25     Industry perspectives (and needs) for pre-breeding genetics in soft fruit (Lucy Wilkins, Angus Soft Fruits)

14:40     Understanding water use efficiency in strawberry (Graham Dow, Niab)

14:55     Understanding nitrogen use efficiency in blueberry (Susan McCallum, the James Hutton Institute)

15:10     Resistance to large raspberry aphid (Andrew Gladman, ADAS and Feli Fernandez, Niab)

15:25     Genetics of resistance to powdery mildew in strawberry (Samantha Lynn, CTP Student)

15:40     Industry engagement (Rob Hancock, the James Hutton Institute)