English orchards at risk as imports take a bigger bite of the market

England's world-renowned fruit orchards are being chopped down at a record rate, raising fears that English apples and pears will disappear from supermarket shelves within 10 years.

The latest official figures reveal that the number of fruit trees across the country has nearly halved since 1990, when there were 41,200 hectares of orchard producing millions of Cox's Orange Pippins, Conference pears and Victoria plums each year.

The figures are released at a time when the Prince of Wales is urging the Government to do more to support British agriculture. Last week he said that hospitals, schools and other public bodies should spend their catering budgets on home-grown produce rather than foreign imports.

The drop in fruit orchards – more than 2,500 hectares were destroyed this year – has shocked the country's leading fruit growers, who say it deepens fears that commercial fruit-growing in Britain is in terminal decline.

The biggest cuts were in apple production, where more than 15 per cent of the orchards have been destroyed. Since the autumn picking season last year, 1,000 hectares of dessert-apple orchards and 600 hectares of cooking-apple trees have been cut down.

Adrian Barlow, chief executive of the trade association English Apples and Pears, says that at the current rate of decline, English fruit will become an expensive luxury found only in delicatessens, up-market stores and farmers' markets.

Faced by supermarket chains driving down prices, and competition from overseas producers, about 400 growers have gone out of business since 1990, he said. "If this continues there will be very, very limited supplies of English apples in supermarkets."

One Kent grower who sold his 25 hectares of orchards this year said he was forced out by having to sell his Cox's apples at 20p a pound – when they cost 35p a pound to produce. "No one in their right mind would come into this industry from scratch," said Nick Swatland, from Doddington, near Sittingbourne. "Any accountant would look at it and just laugh."

Fruit growers claim the big supermarkets and the Government have failed to help them enough to fight off foreign competition and over-production by overseas growers, particularly in South America and, recently, China.

Global apple production has leapt by a third since 1990 to 56 million tonnes, although demand has grown only slightly. As a result, prices have fallen so low that English producers, who must also battle our poorer climate, cannot compete.

Friends of the Earth said that nearly two-thirds of consumers believed the supermarkets fail to do enough to help the home fruit industry. Supermarkets such as Sainsbury's, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer reply that they are paying for new varieties to be developed and planted, funding research into improved production techniques, and promoting English produce in peak season.

Five famous fruit varieties under threat

Cox's Orange Pippin

Raised by a retired brewer named Richard Cox, of Slough, Berkshire, in 1825, it is Britain's most widely grown dessert apple. In 1990, there were 7,603 hectares of Cox's orchards; that has now fallen to 3,015.

Conference Pear

Created by Thomas Rivers, of Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, it was named after the National British Pear Conference in 1885. It is one of Europe's most popular pears, yet UK orchards have fallen from more than 2,500 hectares in 1990 to 1,648.

Fiesta Apple

Bred in 1972 by a horticultural scientist in Kent, it was named to appeal to Britons returning from Spanish holidays but the public thinks it's imported and the industry wants it renamed.

Victoria Plum

Discovered in a Sussex garden and raised by a nurseryman in Brixton, London, in the 1840s. He named it after the Queen. In 1990 there were 837 hectares of Victoria orchards; now there are 493.

Bramley's Seedlings

First bred in Nottinghamshire in 1809 after it was found in the garden of a butcher called Bramley. In 1990 there were 6,460 hectares; now, 2,567.