WHILE many people recognise Pershore Group of Colleges for its excellent teaching, few will appreciate the huge impact the colleges have made on the local economy.

The Vale of Evesham would not be the place it is today if it were not for Pershore College, not least because it is a major employer in the area.

And yet anyone driving along the B4084 from Pershore to Evesham could easily miss the campus, set back from the road nestling among trees and shrubs.

Richard Toft, who runs the Fruit and Organic Crop Unit, is quick to highlight the many virtues of the college. And with good reason.

Over the years it has not only produced thousands of highly-trained horticulturists, it has also acted as a catalyst in rural communities, helping producers adapt to the many changes in farming.

Richard recalls that one of their greatest successes started life as the basis of a humble student project.

The student wanted to produce farm-pressed apple juice and so the college acquired a press. Once they had the press it seemed silly not to put it too good use and Richard began bottling the college's own apple juice sold under the trading name of Avonbank Fruits.

"The whole thing just snowballed. We owed a local farmer a favour and he suggested we took some of his apples and turned them into apple juice for him."

After the initial success of those 1,000 bottles, Hayles Fruit Farm, in Winchcombe, went on to buy its own press and now produces 50,000 bottles of farm-pressed apple juice a year.

Richard said: "Farm-pressed apple juice is now a major factor in the viability of that farm."

Although the price which supermarkets will pay for top quality apples is roughly equivalent to the price a farmer can expect from selling his apples as juice, there is one major benefit.

The farmer can use a much greater proportion of his crop and this means greater profits.

Pershore College's Fruit Unit has 17 hectares of crop land and, as well as producing its own apple juice, the college sells a further 50 tons of apples each year to the Safeway/Morrisons group, along with five tons of plums.

Richard is also gearing up for the college's Pick Your Own season which is due to begin in the second week of June with strawberries and raspberries and will continue until the last weekend in July.

The fruits of all these labours means the unit is self-financing.

But it's sphere of influence goes far beyond crop growing, fruit pressing and practical demonstrations.

For many years it has been providing Worcestershire Farmers' Markets Group with an accreditation service which has proved so successful that it is to be copied in other areas of the country.

Richard explains: "Part of our brief from the Government said that we should engage with the local community and local employers, giving support to land-based businesses. So we try to help wherever we can.

'The accreditation service has proved hugely successful. We check that the produce sold at a farmers' market in Worcestershire are bone fide and of good quality. The public can then be confident that they are indeed buying local produce from genuine producers.

"They know that, when they visit a Worcestershire farmers' market they are supporting the local rural community.

"Over the years we have established a close working relationship with the group and local producers and farmers. We're in a good position to point them in the right direction if they are lacking certain expertise or experience.

"We also make sure they are in contact with Environmental Health and Trading Standards officers."

The college was also instrumental in starting up a farmers' market in Pershore, which Richard proudly describes as one of the best in the region and where the college's own produce can be bought. For more details call Richard Toft on 01386 551151 or visit www.pershore.ac.uk

Pick Your Own at the college is open from the second week in June, from Thursday to Sunday.