Just as in the rest of Europe, vegetable production, especially for greens like iceberg lettuce and baby spinach, have been hit but the unpredictable weather this spring and summer.
"The weather has been really difficult this season, with temperatures around 29 during the day and dropping down to 10 degrees (or lower) at night. The weather has affected our production because a lot of the iceberg lettuce has been affected by tipburn, which makes it unacceptable for sale," shared Hubert Bisialski from Primavega.
Tipburn is a feature of rapidly growing summer lettuce (but it can also occur in spring and autumn) and reflects the inability of plants to move sufficient water and nutrients to the rapidly growing leaf tissues enclosed in the heart of the lettuce plant.
"Luckily we do have enough lettuce to supply our contracts, but any additional exports and sales are no longer possible. The coming 2 to 3 weeks is expected to stay dry and warm and I am afraid that the situation is only going to get worst. We supply a lot of our exports to Italy, but I think that the UK and Ireland are going to be feeling the shortage most," Hubert lamented.
According to Hubert, current prices have doubled from what they were this time last year. This year we are getting EUR 6-/per box this year, compared to EUR 3- last year. Although lettuce is currently an issue, Hubert said that the situation with baby spinach could become even worse.
"With 100% of our production being open ground, we are very vulnerable when the weather acts up, which has been the case this year. Right now there is not much that we can do, bar continually checking and reassessing the situation on the fields daily."
Source - http://www.freshplaza.com
