While UK growers can usually boast a near-perfect climate for cultivating many summer brassica lines, conditions early this year have put a slight crimp in the start of production for many. Like much new-season produce, the long, dry spring with its cool temperatures has meant many early summer crops have been held back, albeit by a relatively small amount of time - a similar scenario experienced by growers this time last year.
According to some of the UK’s top brassica-growing companies, the result is that many lines have suffered a staggered start. New-season cauliflower and broccoli have been delayed by up to two weeks in some growing areas of the UK, even though planting was on schedule this year.
However despite the setback, growers say they are not expecting any dramatic impact on the long-term supply picture, and are forecasting a good-quality reliable supply throughout the summer months. “Most crops were planted in good conditions so they should be able to catch up nicely, and we are not anticipating any quality or availability issues,” says Alasdair MacLennan, technical director for Cornish vegetable producer Southern England Farms (SEF).
As a Cornish brassica business, SEF normally enjoys up to a five-week lead on the start of Lincolnshire crops, but last year, the cool spring actually hampered this advantage. However, MacLennan says the summer is becoming increasingly busy thanks to the business’s strategic early growing position in the supply calendar - after Spain ends and before other areas of the UK begin. He says that as such, a lot of effort and expense is put into ensuring that the early-season crops are ready on time. The delay this year will inevitably cause a blip in availability in some lines in the short-term as the season changes over, but MacLennan says this will only be a temporary setback. “We, like everyone else, are struggling at the moment for cauliflower, but this will only be an issue for another week or two,” he explains.
Aside from the sluggish start, brassica growers, and the summer brassica sector in particular, are facing a more fundamental set of challenges. While the winter brassica season is more volatile in terms of crop quality and availability, the summer season carries its fair share of problems.
It seems the cost of production versus the sale price is one of the most pressing problems faced by the sector, and with prices falling by as much as 12 per cent year-on-year, one that needs to be addressed quickly. Richard Mowbray, managing director of Lincolnshire-based brassica-growing company TA Smith and Co. (Farm Produce) Ltd, which grows cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage and sprouts throughout the year, explains: “The summer is generally harder in terms of price whereas winter is harder in terms of quality,” he says. “If summer pricing continues the way it has over the past couple of seasons, there will be further reductions in the acreage grown, leading to bigger gaps in supply,” he says.
But it is not simply a case of falling prices becoming unsustainable - production costs are rising on the back of spiralling energy prices and the ability to offset them is becoming increasingly hard as supermarkets drop prices in an effort to tempt consumers. “Rising energy costs are our main concern,” reveals Andy Richardson, joint managing director and senior consultant from the Allium and Brassica Centre, an organisation which was set up to advise on alliums and all leaf and flowerhead brassica, including cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage and sprouts. “Both seasons have their problems but the cost of producing early summer crops is significantly higher - particularly those grown under polythene or fleece.”
Mowbray agrees: “Labour, oil and energy costs are increasing tremendously which has an impact on the production costs throughout the whole supply chain,” he says. “This is making it harder and harder for the UK producer to make a profit under the current competition pressures within the market.”
SEF Farms has also been feeling the rise in energy prices. MacLennan says the company has experienced a definite upturn in overall production costs, but the new-season summer brassica scene is presenting its own specific problems. “[Rises in costs are] particularly apparent with the new-season summer crops that are grown under polythene,” he explains. “The increasing oil price has pushed up the price of polythene massively.
“At the same time, new regulations make it more difficult and more expensive to get rid of used polythene. This has led to us questioning the wisdom of these poly crops next year,” he reveals.
These revelations come as particularly bad news for a sector that has, for many years, been suffering a general decline in the consumption of many traditional products. Over the past few years, growing areas for cauliflower, cabbage and sprouts have all been receding, although the last two to three seasons have seen cropped areas for these products stabilising, according to Richardson.
Broccoli has actually increased in popularity, and stands alone for many producers as the one traditional brassica line showing growth. Richardson explains: “With the exception of broccoli, brassica sales in general have declined in the past five years as these crops have an ‘old fashioned’ image,” he says, noting that the production area for cauliflower, cabbage and sprouts has reflected this, declining by 42 per cent over the past 12 years. “The only shining light is broccoli, which has increased [in production area] by 54 per cent,” he says.
In addition to the growing demand for broccoli, it seems exotic varieties of brassica are gaining more and more attention. Varieties such as romanesco, purple-sprouting and Tenderstem broccoli and pak choi, while grown on a much smaller scale, are adding interest and value to the supply chain, but undoubtedly cannibalising sales of some more traditional brassica lines. “Although only small in percentage terms, [demand for] baby cauliflower, cabbage and broccoli is increasing,” Richardson says. He also points out that prepared products such as sprout punnets, chopped greens and ready-packaged florets of cauliflower and broccoli have grown in popularity. Mowbray backs this up: “The biggest growth areas seem to be prepared or semi-prepared product,” he says.
The issue of competition from imports, often a problem for growers in many other fresh produce-growing sectors, is not a pressing problem for the summer brassica industry. It sees most lines starting in May and June and up until this time, Spanish imports fill the gap in the seasons. From June, the UK is pretty much self-sufficient. Mowbray explains that imports pose little threat during the UK season: “I guess the greatest volume of imports come from Holland and Poland, although they aren’t much of a threat as the haulage cost from the continent is quite high compared with domestic product,” he says. “There is, however, a concern that retailers pay higher prices for imports during periods of shortage. This effectively caps the prices for the UK product and means that the domestic grower does not have the high prices to set-off against the low ones.”
Overall, the long-term picture for the majority of brassica growers who are not at the top of their game or are not willingly diversifying into other products, is not a particularly healthy one. “The summer brassica industry is very competitive and grower numbers will continue to decrease,” MacLennan predicts. “For SEF [our core problem is] relatively low demand as there are a lot of areas in the UK growing brassica in the summer and as such, competition is fierce,” he says.
Mowbray is equally unsure that the summer brassica sector will experience any real reversal of fortunes, and thinks that growers will look to fill their land with other, more lucrative crops: “Generally the industry is quite depressed,” he says, “The only reason that the decline is not more rapid is that there are few alternatives for many growers although, with wheat pricing increasing, this situation may soon change,” he predicts.
However, Richardson says that alongside more stable production levels, he wants to see the sector getting behind a solution to falling consumption levels amongst consumers. “As an industry we must do something to halt the decline,” he says. “Particularly from our younger consumers.”
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