The first new season English cauliflower, courgettes and broccoli are set to hit Tesco shelves next week.
Cornish product will come on stream up to four weeks earlier than elsewhere around the UK this week as other growing regions battle testing conditions.
Regular rainfall and warm temperatures have produced a “high quality” new season crop in Cornwall but frosts and dry weather in Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire have left growers in the eastern counties fretting over their crops.
A gap in production between the covered crop supply ending in early June and outdoor crops coming on stream at the end of that month is likely, but Tesco said it was not concerned about this gap.
Tesco technical manager for brassica, potatoes and root crops, Tim Pratt, told FPJ: “Most years there is a bit of a lull in production and we normally get through that fine.
“Conditions may be slightly more challenging this year. There has to be some concern about the very dry conditions but it’s too early to say at the moment how the crops will cope.”
Greville Richards, owner and director of Cornish supplier Southern England Farms (SEF), said: “It would be nice to see a bit more rain but we have had regular rainfall over the last two months. A lot of the Cornish potato farmers have had their irrigators on all weekend and I’m sure it’s worse elsewhere.”
SEF has 2,000 acres of broccoli and 1,500 acres of cauliflower in production as well as 300 acres of courgettes over two sites.
No comments yet