Cauliflower, broccoli, pointed cabbage, Brussels sprouts, spinach and spring greens are just some of the vegetables grown across Cornwall in various windows throughout the season, with the sought-after winter brassica offer coming on stream in early November and stretching until early April.
Now nearly halfway through the season, growers and suppliers of Cornish winter vegetables admit that this year has been harder than most, with mounting pressure on the sector, 52 days of continuous rain at the start of the season, fluctuating market prices and, most recently, bitterly cold temperatures, frost and snow.
In fact, this season has marked something of a turnaround for growers in the south-western corner of the UK, who have traditionally enjoyed more advantages than most when it comes to vegetable production, with a temperate climate and reliable water resources extending the UK season for many lines.
This head start has not alleviated the pressure faced this year and, like last season, Cornish growers are struggling to make the market work for them. Prices in November and December were well below the cost of production, but growers and suppliers are hoping that increases this month will offset this. However, it is clear that profitability for the season will hinge on yield and the results of the frost.
One of the main challenges for Cornish growers is competition and oversupply from elsewhere in the UK and Europe, forcing prices to fall well below the costs of production. This means that, in the current climate, the Cornish sector will have to work hard to maintain its strong reputation in the field.
David Pearson, from the Bristol Fruit Sales depot in Bodmin, admits that Cornish winter vegetable supply started out badly, “oversupplied from all sources and prices on the floor”, calling it “a disaster” and “no good to anybody”. However, even though the season misfired and then the big freeze set in across the UK, he insists that growers and suppliers have done their best to try to turn the situation around.
“We have managed to get enough volumes to keep our regular customers satisfied throughout southern England and London,” says Pearson. “Logistically though, this has been very hard work in the bad weather. This is where the far west of Cornwall comes into its own as the cutting of cauliflower and other vegetables was still able to continue on most days.
“It is hard to say what impact the weather will have had until we see what frost damage has been done to the crops,” he continues. “At present, there will be decreases in yield, but it may not be as bad as last year, as the temperatures have not got as low as they did then.”
The winter vegetable job tightened up just before Christmas when the colder weather came in, halting Lincolnshire supply, but the Cornish offer continued, albeit in reduced volumes. In many cases, growers were able to shift anything they had to offer and returns increased - but some say not to the extent that had been hoped.
Nigel Clare, joint managing director of DG Produce, says prices did not recover from the initial oversupply until the third week in December. “This was horrendous for the Cornish farmer and the marketing companies who shared the losses,” he explains. “And some of the early varieties were too lush in November, which gave us horrendous problems with quality.
“The season has not been good,” he continues. “With the early start clashing with Lincolnshire and then the coldest winter for 30 years, we have gone from feast to famine and this has really had a drastic financial effect on the season for Cornwall.
“However, Cornwall has seen a dramatic reduction in independent farmers growing cauliflower for the winter period, so I believe that in a normal growing year demand will outstrip supply, but this season’s weather pattern is not giving us a true picture.”
In fact, the bad weather is fast becoming the defining factor of this season, now for the second year in a row.
Alasdair Maclennan from Southern England Farms warns that the extreme weather has combined with the gradual decline in speculative production to cause problems for the sector, including buyers looking overseas to meet demand. “A lot of cauliflower is being purchased in France at the moment as the UK does not have sufficient stocks available,” he says. “Greens are not available elsewhere in Europe and hence there is not sufficient availability nationally to supply orders. There used to be a fair amount of cauliflower grown on speculation and not committed to any particular supply chain. However, as a result of poor returns, this is no longer the case and so when cold weather occurs, the effect on programmed availability is compounded as there are few trading opportunities.
“Over the last five years, the number of Cornish cauliflower growers has been decimated as returns have been below the cost of production. Supply is now dominated by a few much larger growers and even those with good economies of scale are now reducing their acreage due to poor returns year after year. A poor season this year will really hit next year’s acreage.”
But back to this year, and growers are battling to offer the best quality in difficult circumstances in order to fulfil demand.
Catriona Mowbray, marketing manager at Marshalls, maintains that even though the weather conditions have affected availability this season, producing small frame sizes, poor leaf quality and pushing the period between cuts up to 18 days, she insists that demand has been strong, as the rest of country suffered worse weather conditions. “The early season saw poor yield and quality compared to last year,” says Mowbray. “But Cornish vegetables are perceived as high quality and have a really strong consumer appeal, especially within the current climate for local and regionally sourced products.”
And it seems that there is a glimmer of light expected at the end of tunnel when the big freeze finally thaws. Across the country, growers will be waiting to get back into the swing of production and make the most of the high demand.
David Simmons, managing director of Riviera Produce, expects that the balance of supply and demand will pick up after the worst of the weather, predicted to be in the next week or so. However, he warns that the winter vegetable job will be short in the coming weeks. “The very prolonged cold weather that we have had has slowed down the crop significantly and production is 20 per cent of what it normally would be at this time of year. However, the frost has damaged much of this, leaving volumes of supermarket-quality cauliflower very limited at the moment. But I don’t think this situation will go on for much longer,” says Simmons. “This week, the forecast is for the weather to get better, but supplies will still be short and we will be waiting for warmer temperatures to kick start production. Yield is starting to decline because of the impact of the frost and continued cold weather, but the quality is still better than it was last year.”
But Cornish growers are continuing to innovate, even in the face of the numerous challenges they face.
Bristol Fruit Sales is providing its customers with a regular supply of Class I lines through its Growfair - Pride of Cornwall brand, focusing on better programming with its growers rather than trading on a week-to-week basis. The brand, which has expanded into Devon and Wales, includes up to 30 different product lines across the year, including cauliflower, spring greens, new potatoes, asparagus and all cabbages. “We aim to plan larger, more consistent volumes to meet an increasing demand, as well as add value with good packaging and reliable quality and service,” says Pearson. “Next for Cornwall will be our first early new potatoes, followed by Cornish asparagus. However, this and last year’s winter may be a reminder to all that there is still a need for traditional, regional and seasonal growing areas for produce.”
Marshalls introduced the Bellaverde sweet stem broccoli, which was developed and brought to market six months ago to give consumers a sweeter, less bitter-tasting broccoli that is grown from June through to November, followed by a continuous supply stream from Spain from November to June.
Elsewhere, Riviera Produce is trialling a number of new varieties this year and DG Produce is to adapt its rig packing for Cornwall to reduce costs and improve yields next season.
But the main challenge, it seems, is for Cornish growers to maintain their reputation in the face of the last two seasons, when external factors have hit the crop and thrown the market. “The main thing is that we try to ensure that our customers keep faith with Cornish supply through the extreme weather we have had,” says Simmons. “However, I fear that the reputation of Cornish growers has been damaged by the cold weather and subsequent lack of availability of supermarket-quality material, which is proving quite a problem. On the other hand, while Cornwall is still producing limited volumes, production in other areas has stopped completely because of the cold weather, proving that Cornwall is still the best place in the UK for winter cauliflower production.
“I am hopeful that within a few weeks, production should be back to normal.”
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