At New Forest Fruit, the focus is on producing high-quality fruit at scale, while running a system that is efficient and sustainable for the long term.
Producing around 5,000 tonnes of strawberries each year, the business has grown by combining modern production techniques with a practical, whole-farm approach to resource use.
“We’re always looking at how everything fits together,” explains New Forest Fruit CEO, Sandy Booth. “It’s not just about one crop, it’s about how the whole system works.”
Consistency is a key priority, particularly in strawberry production, where uniformity underpins both yield and quality. Botanicoir Precision Plus Ultra coco coir grow bags play an important role here, providing a reliable and controlled growing medium that supports precise irrigation and nutrition.
But for New Forest Fruit, the value of coir doesn’t stop at the end of the strawberry season.
Rather than using coir for growing strawberries alone, the business has integrated it into a wider recycling approach across the farm. “We recycle around 90% of the coir we use,” explains Sandy. “The remining 10% is spread on the arable fields of our neighbouring farms to help improve aeration.”
Once removed from the strawberry crop in late autumn, the coir is repurposed for other crops, becoming a key part of the farm’s broader growing system.
Recycled coir is now used extensively in field-based crops, particularly asparagus and vines.
“We top our asparagus beds with it, with around 80cm of coir, and we’re now using it in our vineyard as well,” explains Sandy. “It’s something that’s worked well, so we’ve expanded it.
“Asparagus requires a soil temperature of at least 10 degrees to grow. We use high-quality coir from used strawberry growing bags, which is repurposed into a blended compost and enriched with microbiology to build up the soil around the asparagus plants, allowing them to warm up faster in the spring.”
“The spears are housed in unheated tunnels and start off covered in a fleece for the first two weeks; this is then removed as the temperature increases. The quality of the soil and natural approach to growing, helps to give our asparagus its delicious taste, and to be harvested earlier,” says Sandy.
In these systems, coir delivers clear agronomic benefits. It improves soil structure, increases organic matter and helps retain moisture, all of which contribute to more consistent crop performance.
“It creates a better growing environment,” says Sandy. “On asparagus, it can help bring crops forward to a February harvest, and with vines we’re seeing similar benefits in terms of establishment and soil condition.”
This ability to move materials across the farm is central to how the business operates.
“It’s about thinking beyond a single crop,” Sandy says. “If something still has value, we’ll find a way to use it.”
By linking strawberry production with field crops through coir reuse, New Forest Fruit has created a more circular system, one that reduces waste while improving performance across multiple enterprises.
Long-term thinking
At its core, the approach reflects a wider mindset within the business: making decisions that support both immediate performance and long-term sustainability.
“You’re getting consistency where you need it, but also improving the soil and the system as a whole,” says Sandy. “It’s about building something that works year after year.”
For New Forest Fruit, coir is not just a growing medium, it’s a key part of a wider strategy that underpins the entire farm.
