Unseasonably warm temperatures have provided a fillip for salad and soft-fruit sales - but have created problems for brassicas.
At prepared salad specialist Florette, sales for the last week of September climbed 42 per cent on last year’s figures for the same period.
Protected crop producer Hedon Salads has also enjoyed the late season boost for its cucumbers, tomatoes, aubergines and capsicum. “The hot weather just came at the right time and boosted crops at the end of the season, when plants were in a strong position,” said MD Tom Salmon. “Demand and supply have matched each other quite well.”
Although the warm temperatures were not accompanied by summer light levels, soft-fruit has also benefited with Nick Marston, MD at Berry Gardens, reporting an uplift in strawberry sales of 15-20 per cent and in raspberries of “the best part of 20 per cent”.
Jon Barfoot of Sussex sweetcorn supplier Barfoots of Botley said: “Demand has been exceptional, and we have been working 24/7 just to maintain fresh stocks into the supermarkets. Many of our seasonal workers returned home mid-September as the official British summertime drew to a close and the colder weather appeared. What has prevailed has caught us all on the hop.”
Labour provider Concordia’s CEO Rob Orme added: “There are now fewer and fewer students who are seasonal workers but that does still have an impact on the labour force as they return to university. We have had greater difficulty sourcing labour from Latvia and Poland in particular this year.”
This has been felt particularly by vegetable growers. One said: “Everyone has had problems this last weekend as the weather improved and the students are starting to go home. They are going back to uni and some of the other workers are starting to go home after a long, hard summer.”
And Chris Gedney, MD at brassica grower TH Clements & Sons, said: “The hotter weather has seen crops develop faster, putting us under pressure to harvest faster and now quicker than normal.”
