English salad growers have faced a torrid time over the last two seasons with the weather swinging from drought to flood conditions, David Piccaver, chairman of the British Leafy Salads Association, told delegates while opening its annual conference on Wednesday.
The issues affecting the sector were up for discussion at the event in Peterborough.
Piccaver expressed fears that unless there was a dramatic shift in attitude towards the range of permitted chemicals in Europe, there could be more problems ahead.
But while next year’s weather forecast is still a matter for conjecture, the nearer impact of the current financial crisis was reflected in the theme of the conference, ‘Which way now?’.
It was business as usual at Marks & Spencer, stressed the retailer’s Hugh Mowat, who told producers that the solution was to plan for every contingency up and down the distribution chain. He described daily decision-making in the produce industry as difficult as “nailing jelly to the wall” because of the variables.
He said: “Challenging times will also bring opportunities for the companies with the best response.”
The future is likely to bring food scares where the impact on public perception remains even after the headlines have disappeared.
At the same event, a US initiative through Cornell University called Food Safety in the Field was introduced by co-ordinator Betsy Bihn as a way forward. There have been 454 outbreaks of food scares in the last decade, of which 15.6 per cent were attributed to fresh produce - but these contributed 37.3 per cent of diagnosed illness.
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