Carrot growers in the UK are struggling with a difficult season, following another summer of low light levels and unseasonably heavy rainfall.
Martin Evans, chairman of the British Carrot Growers’ Association, said: “We had poor light levels in July and August and now we have had a poor autumn as well, which has been wet and cold. October is the most important month for a carrot grower to get out into the fields to try and get straw on the best carrots and harvest the rest. But bear in mind that most of the straw was baled wet, so the quality is not as good and it is heavier because of the rain, and it is a grindingly hard situation. On top of that, there are disease problems in Scotland.”
Some Scottish growers report not just cavity spot problems that are affecting English growers too, but sclerotinia.
Evans said: “Most of us in England only have about 85 per cent yields because of the lack of sunshine in August, and the wet conditions have caused cavity spot too, but in Scotland the situation is worse.” One trade observer estimated that some Scots growers will lose 50 per cent of the crop to sclerotinia, which affects the top of the carrot if it is under water for too long. “Parts of Perthshire had a third of their annual rainfall in August,” said the observer. “It is just too much.”
The fact that an increasing number of agri-chemicals are no longer available to growers in the fight against pests and disease is having an impact. Evans said: “We have lost four of our herbicides and even more are going next year. I think organic growers almost have more chemistry available to them than conventional growers do now.”
Growers are also frustrated that the low light levels are affecting product quality, as the lack of sunshine means lack of sugars. “We are below par in terms of flavour and that is disappointing,” said Evans.
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