Drought conditions in some brassica production areas in Lincolnshire are already leading some buyers to hedge their bets and place orders elsewhere for summer supplies of broccoli and cauliflower.
According to one supplier some supermarkets are already casting the net wider and looking to source from Cornwall.
“The Lincolnshire drought is definitely starting to take its toll,” he said. “We have already heard of one customer that has moved a proportion of their order for summer cauliflower to Cornwall so as to spread their risk geographically because of the drought in Lincolnshire. From what I understand, there are some that are now starting to move proportions of their order to Scotland for the same reason.”
But in Lincolnshire itself grower Roger Welberry believes it is producers on less good quality land that will be most affected, and this could even do the marketplace a favour.
“At the moment we’ve got enough white cabbage in Lincolnshire to supply the whole of Europe as well as onions, potatoes, red cabbage, masses of everything. But prices have never been so poor. There isn’t any cauli because growers lost their whole crops last year to the harsh winter and have not wanted to risk it. Good silt land holds moisture; it is those with marginal land and sandy soil that have the problem. So if they have to grow wheat or barley instead, then that is a good thing as there might be a better return for those with the good silt land. If customers want to spread their risk and look to supplies from Cornwall and Scotland, then that is good too as we might see returns go up.”
Planting for summer crops started on Lincolnshire silt this week, as it did in Scotland. Alistair Ewan of East of Scotland Growers said planting of summer broccoli started on Monday, adding that water availability is not an issue there.
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